Forget one hour photo processing, in the next decade you’ll be able to sequence your genome in one hour – for just $100. Here’s a speed summary of McKinsey’s latest 2013 report on disruptive technology (PDF) – enumerating the 12 disruptive technologies that will transform life, business, and the global economy – including the 1$ trillion marketing economy
From a marketing perspective – the $1trillion spent on communicating the value of products or services to customers in order to sell them – the usual suspects of the Mobile Internet, the Internet of Things, Automation of Knowledge Work (marketing decisions!) and Cloud Technology are the big disruptors…
- Mobile Internet: Increasingly inexpensive and capable mobile computing devices and Internet connectivity will transform the $1.7 trillion Internet economy, and bring 2-3 billion more people online
- Automation of knowledge work: Intelligent software systems that can perform knowledge work tasks involving unstructured commands and subtle judgments, impacting on the 230+ million knowledge workers with a $-7 trillion economic impact
- The Internet of Things:Networks of low-cost sensors and actuators for data collection, monitoring, decision making, and process optimisation that make up the 100 million 100 million global machine to machine (M2M) device connections
- Cloud Technology: Use of computer hardware and software resources delivered over a network or the Internet, often as a service – renting in the cloud costs 1/3 of earning a server
- Advanced robotics: Increasingly capable robots with enhanced senses, dexterity, and intelligence used to automate tasks or augment humans – and cost-effective too; the new Baxter industrial robot costs 75–85% less than a typical industrial robot
- Autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles: Vehicles that can navigate and operate with reduced or no human intervention – potentially saving 1.5 million driver-caused deaths: Google’s autonomous cars have driven over 300K miles with only 1 (human-cased) accident
- Next-generation genomics: Fast, low-cost gene sequencing, advanced big data analytics, and synthetic biology (“writing” DNA): sequencing speed (per dollar) doubles every 10 months
- Energy storage: Devices or systems that store energy for later use, including batteries – electric vehicles batteries have dropped 40% in cost since 2009
- 3D printing: Additive manufacturing techniques to create objects by printing layers of material based on digital models – prices for home 3D printers have dropped 90% vs. 4 years ago
- Advanced materials: Materials designed to have superior characteristics (e.g., strength, weight, conductivity) or functionality – $1,000 vs. $50 materials Difference in price of 1 gram of nanotubes over 10 years
- Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery: Exploration and recovery techniques that make extraction of unconventional oil and gas economical – fracking and horizontal drilling are set to increase US oild production 100-200% by 2025 – already there’s 3x increase in efficiency of US gas wells since 2007, 2x Increase in efficiency of US oil wells
- Renewable energy: Generation of electricity from renewable sources with reduced harmful climate impact will account for 16% of global electricity generation by 2025 (85% Lower price for a solar photovoltaic cell per watt since 2000)
