We are in the midst of the 4th industrial revolution and technology is evolving faster than ever. Here are the seven most imminent trends that everyone should prepare for in 2020.
The IA as a service

The artificial intelligence ( AI ) is one of the most transformative technological developments of our time. As highlighted in Bernard Marr's book, Artificial Intelligence in Practice , most companies have started to explore ways to use AI to improve the customer experience and streamline their business operations. This will continue into 2020 and, as people become more used to working with AI , designing and deploying our own AI- based systems will remain an expensive proposition for most businesses.
For this reason, a large part of artificial intelligence applications will continue to be produced via platform providers "as a service", which allows us simply to introduce our own data and to pay for algorithms or computing resources. during their use.
Currently, these platforms, provided by companies such as Amazon , Google and Microsoft, tend to be fairly broad in scope, with the custom engineering (often costly) needed to apply them to the specific tasks an organization may require. In 2020, we will witness a wider adoption and an increasing number of suppliers likely to start offering applications and services more suited to specific or specialized tasks. No company will have more excuses for not using AI .
5G data networks
The 5th generation of mobile Internet connectivity will allow us ultra-fast download and load speeds, as well as more stable connections. Although 5G mobile data networks first became available in 2019, most of them were still expensive and could only work in confined spaces or big cities. 2020 is likely to be the year that 5G really starts to develop, with more affordable data plans as well as greatly improved coverage, which means everyone can benefit.
The ultra-fast data networks will not only give us the possibility to watch movies in streaming and listen to music, with superior quality, even when we are on the move. Significantly increased speeds will make mobile networks more usable than wired networks operating in our homes and businesses. Businesses need to consider the business implications of high-speed, stable, anywhere Internet access. Increased bandwidth will allow machines, robots and autonomous vehicles to collect and transfer more data than ever before, leading to advances in the Internet of Things ( Internet of Things , IoT) ) and intelligent machines.
Autonomous driving
Even if we are not yet at the stage where we can hope to travel regularly in autonomous vehicles, or even see their appearance, in 2020, they will undoubtedly continue to generate great enthusiasm.
Tesla chief Elon Musk said he expects his company to create a truly “complete” autonomous vehicle by the end of the year, and vehicles capable of operating with less autonomy - like automated braking and lane change - will become commonplace. In addition, other on-board systems not directly related to driving, such as safety and entertainment functions, will become increasingly automated and will depend on data capture and analysis. Google's sister company Waymo has just completed a trial of autonomous taxis in California.
Of course, it won't be just cars, road and sea transport will also become increasingly self-reliant, and breakthroughs in this area will likely continue to make the headlines throughout 2020.
With the development of autonomous driving technology, we will also hear more and more about the measures taken by regulators, legislators and authorities. Changes to laws, existing infrastructure and social attitudes will likely be necessary before autonomous driving becomes a practical reality for most of us. In 2020, the debate about autonomous driving is likely to spread outside the world of technology, with more and more people questioning the idea that the question is not “if”, but “when ”, This will become a reality.
Personalized and predictive medicine
Technology is transforming health care at an unprecedented rate. Our ability to collect data from portable devices such as smartwatches will allow us to predict and increasingly treat health problems in people before they even develop symptoms.
When it comes to treatment, we will see much more personalized approaches. There is also talk of precision medicine, which will allow doctors to prescribe drugs more precisely and apply treatments, thanks to a database that will help them see their likely effectiveness for a specific patient.
Thanks to recent technological advances, particularly in the fields of genomics and AI , this idea is not new, but it allows us to better understand how the bodies of different people are more or less well equipped to fight specific diseases, and whether they are likely to respond to different types of drugs or treatments.
Throughout 2020, we will see new applications of predictive healthcare and the introduction of more personalized and effective treatments to ensure better outcomes for each patient.
Computer vision
In computer terms, "vision" involves systems capable of identifying elements, places, objects or people from visual images - those gathered by a camera or a sensor. It is this technology that enables your smartphone's camera to recognize which part of the image it is capturing is a face and to feed technology such as Google Image Search .
In 2020, we will see tools and technology with computer vision deployed for an increasing number of uses. This is fundamental to the way autonomous cars can “see” and manage the danger. The production lines will use computer vision cameras to detect defective products or equipment failures, and the security cameras will be able to alert us of anything out of the ordinary, without requiring 24 hour surveillance, 7 days on 7.
Computer vision also allows facial recognition, which we will hear a lot about in 2020. We have already seen how technology can control access to our smartphones in the case of Apple's FaceID and how the airport from Dubai uses it to offer the customer a more peaceful trip. However, as the use cases increase in 2020, there will also be more and more debate over limiting the use of this technology due to the potential privacy risks and the possibility of 'state control similar to that of' Big Brother '.
Extended reality
Extended reality ( Extended Reality , or XR) is a broad term that covers several new and emerging technologies used to create more immersive digital experiences. More specifically, it refers to virtual, augmented and mixed reality. Virtual reality (in English Virtual Reality , or VR) offers a fully digital immersive experience in which you enter a computer-generated world, using headsets that blend into the real world. Augmented reality (in English Augmented Reality , or AR) superimposes digital objects on the real world via smartphone screens (think of Snapchat filters). Mixed reality (in English Mixed Reality, or MR) is an extension of AR, which means that users can interact with digital objects placed in the real world (imagine that you are playing on a holographic piano that you have placed in your room via AR headphones).
These technologies have been around for a few years now, but they are largely confined to the entertainment world - with Oculus Rift and Vive headsets currently providing cutting-edge video game technology, and smartphone features such as camera filters and games in the style of Pokemon Go, are the most visible examples of AR.
From 2020, all this should change, as companies seize all the exciting possibilities offered by the two current forms of extended reality (XR). Virtual reality and augmented reality will be used more and more for training and simulation, while offering new ways of interacting with customers.
Blockchain technology
The blockchain is a technological trend storage and transmission of information without oversight body. The blockchain is essentially a digital register used to record transactions, but secure because of its encrypted and decentralized nature. In 2019, some commentators began to say that this technology was promoted in an exaggerated way and perhaps less useful than expected. However, continued investments from FedEx, IBM, Walmart and Mastercard in 2019 are expected to start to show real results and, if they can prove their case, could quickly lead to increased adoption by smaller players.
And if things go well, 2020 will also see the launch of Libra , the blockchain- based Facebook cryptocurrency that will make a big splash.