Letter IEDI n. 629 – The Twelve Disruptive Technologies that Will Change the World, According to McKinsey Consulting
Publicado em: 18/06/2014
Letter IEDI n. 629 – The Twelve Disruptive Technologies that Will Change the World, According to McKinsey Consulting
This Letter IEDI summarizes a study by McKinsey & Company "Disruptive technologies: advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy". The document presents and estimates the impacts by 2025 of the twelve new technologies with the greatest potential to revolutionize the industry and the economy.
The purpose of determining which are the most important technologies in terms of transforming power in the next 10 years, more than trying to predict the future, is to provide subsidy for a structured updating of public and private policy.
After all, radical innovations, as suggested by Joseph Schumpeter, have the power to break paradigms and change the life and work of individuals and businesses, cause a revision of values, shake political, economic and cultural relations of a society. Therefore, companies and governments should be aware of new technological trends in order to upgrade their market strategies and governance.
Accordingly, it makes sense to pay attention to the twelve technologies that revolutionize and will continue revolutionizing the global economy over the next decade, according to McKinsey:
- Mobile Internet: increasingly inexpensive mobile computing devices and internet connectivity.
- Automation of knowledge work: intelligent software systems that can perform knowledge work tasks involving unstructured commands and subtle judgments.
- The internet of things: networks of low-cost sensors and actuators for data collection, monitoring, decision making and process optimization.
- Cloud technology: use of computer hardware and software resources delivered over a network or the Internet, often as a service.
- Advanced robotics: increasingly capable robots with enhanced senses, dexterity and intelligence used to automate tasks or enhance human performance.
- Autonomous or near-autonomous vehicles: vehicles that can navigate and operate with little or no human intervention.
- Next-generation genomics: Fast, low-cost gene sequencing, advanced analysis of large databases, and synthetic biology (DNA).
- Energy storage: devices or systems that store energy for later use, including batteries.
- 3D printing: additive manufacturing techniques to create products by printing layers of materials based on digital models.
- Advanced materials: materials designed to have superior functionality or features (e.g., strength, weight, conductivity).
- Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery: Exploration and recovery techniques for economic and unconventional oil and gas extraction.
- Renewable Energy: generation of electricity from renewable sources, with reduced negative climate impact.
The report estimated the impacts of these technologies by 2025, concluding, for example, that additional 2 to 3 billion people will have mobile internet access, that the automation of knowledge should yield 5-7 trillion dollars, that over the next decade the genome sequencing of any person should cost US$100 and will take one hour to be done and that wind and solar power will account for 16% of total world energy generation in 2025.
The study elaborates many other estimates and also forecasts the distribution of impacts between developed and developing countries.
