Predictions on Tech Trends That Will Shape 2022

• We’ve collected industry expert predictions on the tech trends expected to shape 2022.
• The continued impact of COVID-19 has yielded interesting trends in the industry throughout 2021, which ones will continue to flourish throughout this year and beyond?
• Here, we explore predictions from experts in the industry including FPT UK’s Mohan Naidu, Sensei’s Diana Morato and NSC Global’s Sascha Groeger.

As we enter a new year, it’s hard not to reflect on what 2021 brought to both business and the tech industry overall. While continuing to work our way through the COVID-19 pandemic, many new trends within the sector emerged and flourished, with NFT sales volume going from the millions to the billions, glimpses into the Metaverse revealed, while the increased adoption in working from home fuelled demands for tech that assists with this way of work.

Looking ahead, how could these trends develop throughout 2022? And what technological innovations will help to define the year?

We asked a panel of industry experts to give their predictions on what trends they think will shape this year…

 

Our Panel of Experts:

• Marc Epstein – Interiors Expert and Co-Founder of Carme Home
• Brad Hyett – CEO of Phos
• Mike Peplow – CEO of Paynetics UK
• Sascha Groeger – Chief Commercial Officer NSC Global
• Mark Boost – CEO of Civo
• Ajay Patel – Senior Vice President and General Manager of VMware’s Modern Applications & Management Business Group
• Michael Coté – Developer Advocate at VMware Tanzu
• Gareth Cummings – Chief Technology Officer at eDesk
• Will Kinnear – Founder of HEWN
• Laurence Dellicott – Director of Supplier Management & Supply Chain Services at MySupply by Avnet Silica
• Mark Sherman – Managing Director at Global VC Firm Telstra Ventures
• Aaron Goldman – CMO at Mediaocean
• James Dean – Founder at Sensat
• Jiaqi Pan – CEO and Co-Founder of Landbot
• Mohan Naidu – FPT UK Managing Director
• Prith Banerjee – CTO at Ansys
• Scott Jones – Managing Director of Illustrate Digital and Director of FinTech Wales
• Diana Morato – Chief Growth Officer of Sensei
• Pete Hanlon – Chief Technology Officer for Moneypenny
• Trenisha Goslee – Digital Instructor at Ada Developers Academy
• Rob Jolly – CEO and Co-Founder of Onto
• Nathan Moore & Samuel Worsley – Co-Founders & Co-CEOs of Live Tech Games
• Rob Nash – CEO and Founder of 4 Roads
• Tom Newbald – Chief Executive Officer at Swycha
• Eslam Darwish – Partner at Global Ventures

 

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Marc Epstein, Interiors Expert and Co-Founder of Carme Home

 

 

Smart Furniture: “Integrating user-friendly smart technology into the home is undoubtedly a trend prevalent in both the consumer technology and interior design industries. Our lives are always blending with new technology, especially in the home – just look at Alexa’s and Echo’s! But technology can still be simple, providing huge convenience at home, such as dressing tables with charging ports or mirrors with LED lights. There are so many ways we can upgrade our homes with small touches that don’t break the bank.”

 

Brad Hyett, CEO of Phos

 

 

Crypto acceptance will become simpler and more widespread: “Acceptance of cryptocurrencies will become easier and more widespread than ever in 2022, as merchants seek to capitalise on the crypto boom. We’ve already seen countries like Venezuela and El Salvador move to adopt crypto as legal tender.”

“Meanwhile, in the US, there are signs that regulators are becoming more comfortable with digital currencies, as they rapidly begin to establish an oversight framework. If a leading world government, like the US, came out in favour of crypto adoption, it could pave the way for widespread acceptance and, with the technology to support this already freely available, this should be incredibly straightforward. Therefore, with the mobile infrastructure becoming more prevalent in the market, it makes the acceptance of crypto much easier. Whereas, this would be much more difficult to implement on a traditional terminal hardware estate.”

“As with every year, it’s vital that merchants stay ahead of the curve by enabling customers to purchase goods and services via the payment options they want to use. Most recently, the focus has been on e-commerce with firms racing to adopt new settlement options, from online payment platforms to Buy Now Pay Later. Likewise, merchants have worked to grow their customer base by developing cross-border capabilities, enabling them to accept payments from key international growth markets – especially in the Asia Pacific. Crypto is the next frontier in this trend and will be a key differentiator for merchants over the next 12 months.”

iOS adoption could drive softPOS growth: “One of the biggest challenges to the widespread adoption of software point of sale (SoftPoS), the technology that enables merchants to accept card payments directly on their phone or mobile device, is that it’s not currently supported by iOS operating systems. However, Apple’s acquisition of SoftPoS startup Mobeewave last year signals that the tech giant is aware of the growing requirement for this technology and is actively looking at how to address this demand in the market. This appetite is only going to grow as consumers continue to turn their back on cash in favour of contactless payments.”

“It’s likely we’ll hear more on Apple’s plans in 2022 and this could open the floodgates to the SoftPoS opportunity over the next 12 months, with wide-ranging implications for merchants, banks, and their customers.”

 

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Mike Peplow, CEO of Paynetics UK

 

 

Open banking will revolutionise banking: “Open Banking is not only transforming the way we track and understand our spending but the very concept of what a bank is and who can provide our financial services.”

“When Open Banking was brought in by regulators in 2018, it was to increase competition and encourage innovation in finance. However, this was done too quickly with not enough education on its value to businesses and consumers. As a consequence, six out of the nine biggest account providers in the UK missed the initial Competition Market Authority’s implementation deadline. Since then, however, there’s been a lot of work done to communicate the value of Open Banking. And while some traditional financial institutions have been slow to offer Open Banking solutions, newer and more nimble fintechs have come in and dominated the innovation happening in this space.”

“More recently, we have seen many of the more traditional banks provide open banking products to their retail customers. We have also seen the government lead from the front, for example, The Inland Revenue now allows tax payments via open banking – replacing more traditional payment methods such as card and cheque.”

“Building on the work done over the last few years, we will see Open Banking reach new heights of adoption in 2022. One of the most exciting applications we will see is Request to Pay (RtP), which enables users to proactively request payments from other bank accounts. RtP provides debtors with a notification of the amount due, granting full visibility over what they owe. Similarly, payees can track the status of all bills and invoices on a single device, providing them with a simple and efficient way to reconcile accounts.”

“We will see more businesses adopt Open Banking due to the cost-saving benefits. Digital transactions mitigate the risk of cash mishandling. And lower transaction costs from online purchases has made it attractive to customers and merchants alike. With 87% of UK households now shopping online, retailers will turn to Open Banking for its cost-saving benefits.”

 

Sascha Groeger, Chief Commercial Officer NSC Global

 

 

The Distributed Enterprise: “With the continued rise in remote and hybrid working patterns, traditional office-centric organisations are evolving into distributed enterprises. Therefore, delivering secure agile enterprise-grade IT solutions to support the new hybrid workforce with secure and seamless connectivity will remain a key priority for all businesses.”

Data storage: “A key businesses trend that is set to endure is reliance on data to create new business models – having constant access to data is critical. Finding a storage solution that is flexible and simplifies the burden on stretched-thin IT departments is essential as it will expedite operations, reduce the need for training, and reduce the risk associated with supporting a diverse application environment.”

Sustainable, Resilient Operations: “Finally, as we push towards a more sustainable society, expect to see businesses of all sizes begin to adopt more environmentally and socially conscious practices. Every organisation is looking to eliminate or reduce the environmental costs of doing business. Sustainability is of course closely linked to resilience, as resilience means being able to adapt and survive for the long term.”

Cloud-Based IT is now Considered all but Essential for Businesses: “IT infrastructure has become a key defining feature of a successful business, prompting organisations of all sizes to redesign networks to meet increased demand for networking solutions. Cloud-first strategies are now common, even among risk-averse organisations resolving many of the issues companies have experienced in scaling their operations.”

 

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Mark Boost, CEO of Civo

 

 

“I think we’re going to see the dominance of public cloud hyperscalers start to crumble. There is a growing awareness that the prices they charge, and the surprise billing structures they employ are unfair, and therefore unsustainable.”

“With the increasing number of providers that deliver a better service at a lower cost, customers will become aware they don’t have to accept the supposedly monopolised services hyperscale providers offer. The likes of AWS will have to reduce their prices to compete.”

“In the broader tech world, the sector is moving towards greater simplicity and automation. Managing infrastructure is much less of a priority for companies than it used to be, with businesses wanting to be able to deploy applications on the cloud and other services automatically. You’re already seeing this with a big shift towards cloud native services such as Kubernetes and other serverless offerings, so end users don’t need to necessarily employ engineering specialists to help configure and manage their infrastructure.”

“I think this can only be a good thing. Whether it be DevOps engineers, software developers, or AI engineers, shifting their workload away from the nuts and bolts of maintenance and configuration will allow these specialists to focus on the skilled aspects of their jobs and drive innovation in the new year and beyond.”

“2022 is likely to be a big year for AI and automation. Data has never been more important, and AI is rapidly becoming a business-critical investment to help firms analyse and extract maximum value from their data. As cloud spend becomes an increasing concern for organisations, AI tools have a key role to play in helping firms understand their usage patterns. We are also likely to see AI become more closely integrated with business growth, with self-heal capabilities allowing firms to intelligently scale and automatically scale capacity to meet application demand.”

 

Ajay Patel, Senior Vice President and General Manager of VMware’s Modern Applications & Management Business Group

 

 

“In 2022, Spring Boot with Kubernetes will be the platform of choice for app modernisation due to its large community ecosystem and proven track record. According to the Jrebel Java Developer Productivity Report 2021, 69% of customers’ main applications are developed with older Java and are primed for modernisation.”

“Likewise, a Jakarta EE Developer Survey Report shows that 60% of surveyed respondents report Spring/Spring Boot as the leading framework for building cloud native applications. In an increasingly digital world where business requirements can change overnight, the only way for organisations to thrive and meet app modernisation goals is to prioritise developer productivity and agility.”

“Even as modern architectural patterns and multi-cloud infrastructure become the norm, software engineering leaders continue to use Spring to deliver production results. VMware’s State of Spring 2021 report shows strong, sustained adoption of Spring, with 61% of organisations surveyed saying Spring is their primary or only development platform.”

“With Spring, developers can keep up with modern architecture styles without learning new languages or frameworks and run production software quickly, securely, and in a scalable manner. DevOps teams will continue to rely on Spring to build applications that take advantage of today’s infrastructure advancements while unlocking agility.”

 

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Michael Coté, Developer Advocate at VMware Tanzu

 

 

“With the near universal adoption of Kubernetes as the standard for cloud native applications, developers are beginning to gain more experience in the technology. In fact, 65% of companies report using Kubernetes in production (up from 59% in 2020), according to VMware’s The State of Kubernetes 2021 Report.”

“However, deployment and the developer experience with Kubernetes is still challenging. In 2022, we will see a better Kubernetes experience for developers and in turn, more industry focus on improving the developer experience – allowing for more innovation, flexibility, and increased productivity without the friction nor complexity of the past.”

“This will be done through solutions that provide multiple layers of abstraction on top of Kubernetes so that developers can focus on writing code and getting to production faster, rather than dealing with operational drag. More specifically, an application-aware platform will allow developers to have a superior experience no matter their degree of skill or experience with Kubernetes.”

“Utilising application-aware platforms allows developers to bring their different workloads, knowing confidently that their applications will be connected to the proper logging and observability systems without much friction. This need for a modular PaaS is evident now more than ever as it is the key that unlocks productivity for DevOp teams. This level of infrastructure abstraction removes the complexity from Kubernetes and the operational toil that has hindered the developer experience, and instead provides developers an easier path to deploy code consistently.”

 

Gareth Cummings, Chief Technology Officer at eDesk

 

 

The rise of chatbots: “The digital and mobile generation expect customer support in real time and nothing less in the new year will suffice. eDesk’s own research revealed that 57% of UK shoppers want a customer support response within just one day. Going into 2022, companies need to focus on customer service as their key competitive advantage, investing in appropriate tools, like eDesk, is key to both retaining customers in years to come and winning new ones. Artificial intelligence will help cater to the growing demands of consumers, with the evolution of chatbots to offer powerful and practical support to customers.”

“AI is always a hot tech trend every year, but the application of evolving AI technology is entirely new each year. In 2022, chatbots will be trusted with more sophisticated levels of customer support and to collect feedback, freeing up your agents’ time through the automation of repetitive tasks.”

 

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Will Kinnear, Founder of HEWN

 

 

“Flexible and remote working are now staples in offices across the world – outside of video calling, there’s little specific tech to support it. In 2022 we will see more property owners and employers adopting tech for work: in the office, this will map how and where people work, and at home this will monitor productivity and support wellbeing at home”

 

Laurence Dellicott, Director of Supplier Management & Supply Chain Services at MySupply by Avnet Silica

 

 

“Semiconductors are essential for modern-day electronics. And we’re bound to see the need for such components rise dramatically in 2022. This will place further strain on the tech supply chain across a variety of use cases.”

“It seems likely that the surge in corporate and consumer spending on laptops, monitors, webcams, and other devices will continue in line with the remote-working trend. This is sure to have a knock-on effect in terms of the demand for further investment in large data centres and communication infrastructure to support this trend. Remote work rising is beneficial for many but the tech industry will once again be in a challenging position to keep up with demand in 2022.”

“There looks set to be a continued high level of consumer spending for the foreseeable future as interest rates remain low, vaccination programs prove successful, and people opt against international travel. This will likely have a direct impact on people continuing to purchase more consumer electronics which will also be accelerated by the deployment of 5G technologies, including mobile phones and tablets, and the supporting infrastructure.”

“The campaign for the electrification of transportation will be continuing ahead of the oncoming ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2030. There will also be a push for the green transformation of public transportation, including buses, rail, and even early investigation into electrification of the aviation sector. Infrastructure will have to be set in place for the charging and control of electronic transportation. No cities and businesses want to be left behind so are aggressively pushing innovation, manufacturing, and adoption here.”

“Finally, there’s a desire for connected technology based on data-driven decision making, enabling artificial intelligent and machine learning platforms, coupled with the foreseen roll-out of the IoT now becoming a reality. This is sure to be a continuing trend through 2022, but once again, with the push for more smart devices comes further strain on the tech supply chain.”

“Ultimately, supply chain issues currently come hand-in-hand with tech innovation and growth, 2022 will be no exception to this rule.”

 

 

Mark Sherman, Managing Director at Global VC Firm Telstra Ventures

 

 

Common language for crypto and metaverses: “After announcements from Facebook and Microsoft in 2021, metaverses have fully entered the public consciousness. But with multiple metaverses that promise new ways to interact with the world, how will these metaverses interact with one another?”

“There is no winner-take-all dynamic here. We need interoperability and common infrastructure. In 2022 we’ll see innovators rushing to define and refine a ‘translation layer’ that allows for transactions, regardless of fiat, crypto or NFTs being exchanged across different platforms. This same infrastructure would connect and confirm our identities across siloed metaverses, helping to build a global, virtual economy. And from a user perspective, one metaverse inhabitant could buy a virtual item with Bitcoin, while the seller receives Ethereum or Solana —in a different metaverse. We’re even seeing this happen today in the real-world with traditional sports athletes opting to be paid in crypto vs. fiat currency.”

A stampede of decacorns: “Today, there are 41 companies around the world that claim the title of ‘decacorn’ ($10B+), while new unicorns pop up every week or so. We anticipate this number will triple in the next five years, with the majority focused on data, AI or the digital world. If you look at the S&P 500, there are 68 info-tech companies – more than any other sector. On the international stage, 39 of the Fortune Global 500 are technology companies, with two in the top 10. The major advantage of digital businesses is that they’re primed for a global consumer base. Netflix, for example, built on domestic success to offer original programming in 40 countries and in 21 languages, in just a few years. ‘Physical’ companies simply cannot move at the same pace.”

 

Aaron Goldman, CMO at Mediaocean

 

 

“It’s a bit premature to suggest that 2022 will see widespread adoption of the metaverse, with Mark Zuckerberg acknowledging that experiencing it is “a little tough, because it doesn’t fully exist yet”. Nonetheless, just as brands dipped their toe in the NFT waters this year, Zuckerberg’s starting pistol on the metaverse means that we’ll see marketers take AR and VR more seriously in 2022.”

“With the metaverse, we’re moving towards the future of the media, entertainment, communication, and commerce – and it’s going to be a mad scramble, not an orderly march. We’ve already seen brands adopting more AR and VR technologies over the last few years, and we’ll continue to see them honing these capabilities as the line between virtual and real gets thinner and thinner in 2022.”

“That will mean some high profile brands making experimental forays into the space, similar to the NBA and Disney’s NFT efforts. More importantly, though, it will lead to greater recognition of the widening gap between our traditional idea of what marketing looks like and how it needs to operate in this new reality.”

“None of this innovation, it needs to be said, will eliminate the billboard or TV spot. Taking an omnichannel approach will become the norm for marketing, and we’ll see the metaverse play an increasingly more important ­– and immersive – role. 2022 will be the year when marketing agencies and brands start thinking seriously about whether they’re ready for mixed reality and taking steps to ensure they’re not left behind.”

 

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James Dean, Founder at Sensat

 

 

Sustainability, Beyond Human Decisions: As the world wakes up to the need for a more sustainable future, James recognises sustainability is a jumping off point. James predicts businesses will harness the power of tech to take us to a place beyond sustainability. Access to data and information is almost instantaneous, and our ability to make sense of it in new and subtle ways to make decisions is practically automatic. But this technology is not replacing humans; it is augmenting how we engage with the world. As sustainability moves to the forefront of every business agenda, we will see companies explore tech’s ability to not only operate sustainability but give back to the planet.

The Metaverse, Beyond Social: After a year of metaverse hype, from Facebook’s rebrand to businesses across the globe expanding their digital offering, James predicts we are going to see it actually drive the biggest changes in the industrial and construction space in 2022. These sectors are where we have so far seen a detrimental impact on our planet, so with the metaverse already existing in gaming, social as well as digital replicas of cities and towns, this is an opportunity to drive decisions based on the abundance of, and bringing together of data, to start to reverse human destruction and drive huge sustainability wins.

Automation, Beyond Level 2: 2022 will be the year more industries are catapulted into a future of automation. As we have already begun to see the rise of autonomous vehicles through the five stages of automation, the infrastructure industry is next. Digital twin technology can already take construction from a Level 0 to a Level 2 (partial automation) and as AI in construction continues to evolve, the construction industry will automate at a level never seen before.

 

Jiaqi Pan, CEO and Co-Founder of Landbot

 

 

“The social commerce industry is already booming and valued as an approximate $585 billion industry. There are three clear front runners in the space: Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. WhatsApp has now staked its claim as a tool for customer engagement.”

“The WhatsApp Business API allows businesses to automate the sales process through conversational workflows. It provides a platform for mobile customer service to ensure customers can interact with organisations effectively and securely.”

“Diverse features such as ‘Catalogs’, ‘Carts’ and now ‘Collections’ offer more than just one way to market and engage in two-way conversations. We will see WhatsApp establish itself in 2022 as a contender to the other popular interactive platforms and become a dominant force in multiple industries.”

“With the average time spent on social media platforms increasing during the pandemic, compounded by the convenience that social commerce provides to users, it is clear how the sector has experienced such significant growth. We can expect to see much more opportunity for businesses to connect with customers on various social media platforms and something I see developing through 2022”

 

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Mohan Naidu, FPT UK Managing Director

 

 

Artificial Intelligence will continue to be a key driver to enhancing customer experience in banking: “Since the concept of banking first emerged, banks and financial institutions have gone through myriad drastic changes to expand their services, innovate their business models, offer better products and, crucially, improve the customer experience.”

“To help improve customer satisfaction – which is central to their success now and in the future – more and more banks are now turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).”

“A survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed that enhancing the user experience through better personalisation ranked first in the most valuable uses of AI, followed by customer fraud detection, digital marketing and product development.”

“But personalisation must go far beyond addressing the customer by their name or sending them birthday wishes. If done right, it consists of tailoring all communication, product and service offers to each individuals’ current needs and circumstances – whether they have just started their first job, had a baby or moved house. In 2022, customer propositions must be intelligent and customised, combining both banking and non-banking products and services.”

“Going forward, banks will have to adopt a design-thinking lens as they build experiences within and beyond banking to enable true tailoring and personalisation for their customers, reengineering back-end processes, and ensuring that data is captured at every step. The solution is not just to implement the right technology: Instead, business and technology must work hand in hand, with cross-functional teams breaking up organisational silos to improve the overall customer experience.”

 

Prith Banerjee, CTO at Ansys

 

 

AI Engineering: “AI engineering, in terms of simulation, involves feeding the simulation program multiple use cases – valves with different input and boundary conditions, for instance — which result in different outputs.”

“However, the amount of training data needed in simulation is extortionate, which caused many engineers to simply turn their backs on it. Ansys’ work with a machine learning-based partial differential equation solver allows for this training to occur with far less data, while retaining the same level of accuracy. This faster, more efficient way of running a simulation is set to pave the way for product development in the future.”

Generative AI: “You’ve likely heard of generative design, which enables an engineer to present an idea and define the design space constraints so that an algorithm can provide thousands of possible designs meeting those constraints. Topology optimisation is a common use of generative design. But, with generative AI, a program can use existing information – CAD models, images, text, video, etc. – to generate new ideas at scale.”

“With the power of fast simulation, these designs can be rapidly generated and the computer will offer up the best designs, saving huge amounts of time and money. Much like receiving recommendations after searching for a product on Amazon, generative AI will offer design recommendations that may not have been thought of initially. The resultant boost in creativity will prove to be important in 2022 and beyond, as companies look to keep up with the ever-evolving market demands.”

 

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Scott Jones, Managing Director of Illustrate Digital and Director of FinTech Wales

 

 

“2022 is certainly going to see the rise of Web3, the metaverse and the evolution of the world wide web. This doesn’t just mean people buying more crypto currencies or spending more time wearing Oculus headsets, although we can expect a wider endorsement of these, too.”

“With trust and understanding of decentralised technologies growing day by day, this year we will witness a greater adoption and bigger innovation in using blockchains, as well as the rise of the NFT (non-fungible token). As scary as the idea of an entirely virtual world may be, 2022 will see the greatest leap towards this, more than any other year in history.”

“Back in the real world – it would be criminal not to mention the advancements we will see this year in sustainability, electric vehicles and smart home technologies. I for one can control most of my house from my mobile phone, but then I’m a proud early adopter. And with brands like Rivian and even Mustang jumping on the much needed EV trend, we can only hope that the world can become a cleaner, better place to live as a result of the trends we’ll see exploding in 2022.”

 

Diana Morato, Chief Growth Officer of Sensei

 

 

“Autonomous technology will revolutionise the physical retail sector in 2022. In 2021, we saw an accelerated adoption of autonomous stores in the UK and continental Europe. Transforming both the shopper experience (eliminating the scanning of products and standing in line to pay) as well as retail management of stores, by employing technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision. Compared to traditional physical stores, autonomous stores are better equipped to maximise revenue and are operationally more efficient. We will see many more of these types of stores rolled out in 2022.”

“Autonomous retail technology will also be integral to the competitive advantage of physical retail. The technology is able to keep track of stock in real time, making inventory management much simpler and more accurate for retailers. As a result, this mitigates the risk of a customer coming all the way to a store only to find out that the product they want is out of stock. With consumers leading increasingly busy lives, they want their shopping experiences to be as quick and convenient as possible. Retailers recognise this need and are embracing the latest technology to amplify the shopping experience and build brand loyalty. Those that adopt this technology will be able to make better purchasing decisions in the future and reduce stock waste.”

“Stock waste is a major issue facing the retail industry. So many stores today end up discarding a lot of their unsold products, this is especially the case with supermarkets. And retailers can no longer afford to be inefficient and wasteful. Autonomous technology provides real time stock management capabilities, and offers insights on the product shelf-life and interactions with consumers. As such, we will see the adoption of autonomous technology continue to build in 2022, as more retailers look to give their stores an autonomous make-over.”

 

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Pete Hanlon, Chief Technology Officer for Moneypenny

 

 

Computers will better understand us: “Over the past few years technology companies such as Google, Facebook and OpenAI have been releasing increasingly complex natural language models to power Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. These language models are the foundation for much of the improvement we see today allowing computers to extract meaning from written text.”

“To give some idea of the rate of innovation, language models such as ELMo released in 2018 had approximately 94 million parameters. Think of a parameter as a neurone in the human brain. Today we are seeing models such as Megatron from NVIDIA with 530 billion parameters and we expect the upcoming GPT-4 model from OpenAI to have 100 trillion parameters. To put that into context, the human brain has an estimated 86 billion neurones.”

“As these models increase in size, they pick up more information about how we structure language, the relationship and meaning of words and the intent of sentences. The result being that computers will be better at understanding us.”

Quantum computing research will continue to break new ground: “Quantum computing is an exciting field within technology at the moment. These computers are capable of solving certain classes of problems significantly faster than conventional computers and the potential for this technology is vast. “

“In 2019, Google announced in the Nature Journal that they have achieved Quantum Supremacy. This means they have solved a problem on a Quantum Computer that would have taken a state-of-the-art supercomputer years to complete. Since then, there has been some challenge around the validity of this claim however the field of quantum computing is a hot topic and will be a game-changing technology that will start to creep into our lives over the next few years.”

 

Trenisha Goslee, Digital Instructor at Ada Developers Academy

 

 

“The Metaverse,” artificial intelligence, telehealth, immersive gaming, and NFTs. Companies a part of “The Metaverse” like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft are projected to release hardware to immerse its customers in virtual reality. Consumers could work and play in virtual 3D spaces. Artificial intelligence has shown up in apps, personal assistants, and cars using speech/image recognition.”

“As “smart” technology continues to grow, I believe we will continue to see more and more “smart” objects. Living in a pandemic the past two years has forced us to rethink how we interact. Telehealth has grown tremendously, and as we continue to live in a pandemic, I believe we will continue to see it grow in 2022.”

“With the assistance of artificial intelligence, health care professionals will be able to treat patients in the comfort of their homes. Immersive gaming is another trend that we will see trending in 2022. Like I mentioned before, the expansion of “The Metaverse” new hardware will make it possible to go swimming from your living room. One of the last trends we will see is NFTs (Non-fungible tokens)! NFTs create digital ownership and a different way to conduct business. With Beeple selling artwork for 69 million dollars as an NFT, artists, gamers, collectors, etc., have taken to NFTs to make a profit.”

 

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Rob Jolly, CEO and Co-Founder of Onto

 

 

“The electrification of personal transport has taken our roads by storm. The revolution is well underway, and we are edging ever closer to mainstream adoption. New AutoMotive predict diesel registrations to end by 2023 and petrol registrations by 2027. Whilst there is still some way to go, 2022 looks to be the year that will truly springboard electric car adoption.”

“Consumers have a desire to live more sustainable lives. Technological advances, more accessible charging infrastructure, and new models of ownership will be essential drivers in shaping the automotive landscape in the UK.”

“Electric car technology is evolving at a rapid pace. The Mercedes Vision EQXX concept car is setting a precedent with 1000km range on a single battery charge showing huge strides in battery performance and range potential.”

“We will continue to see significant investment in electric car infrastructure as well. There are already nearly 29,000 public charging points in the UK meaning that a charging location is likely just around the corner, allaying consumer fears of ‘range anxiety’.”

“As more of us move to electric, there will be an increase in demand for more flexible models of car ownership in order to help people make the switch. In particular, car subscription has seen phenomenal growth as a category with the number of startups in Europe multiplying by 19 in the last six years.”

“Much like electric cars, in 2022 car subscriptions will further expand into the mainstream as the new model of car ownership. One that is both more accessible and more flexible, for a 21st-century experience. At Onto, for instance, we have created an all-inclusive subscription model, making entry into the electric car world as simple and hassle-free as possible for newcomers.”

 

Nathan Moore & Samuel Worsley, Co-Founders & Co-CEOs of Live Tech Games

 

 

“2022 will be a year that boosts live, multiplayer games into the stratosphere. With increased 5G coverage in UK homes, improvement to internet access and creative ideas bursting to life across the mobile games industry, we expect to see more and more titles converted into mass, concurrently run platforms.”

“We saw in 2021 how our first title at Live Tech Games, Roshambo Live, stormed the live mobile games sector, with players winning prizes and getting a genuine thrill at the competition and adrenaline they experienced. It also provided a seamless and unique opportunity for brands to connect with users and drive a better customer experience through the power of live games; we hope to see more brands moving towards platforms like ours as we develop refined digital customer engagement strategies for businesses globally over the next few years.”

“Along the same vein, we also anticipate a huge move towards big media and loved IP brands becoming gaming titles, with Netflix already at the helm. We’ve seen a deep enjoyment of engaging with fictional fan favourites, through existing games and films. It’s a natural next step to envision new tech that allows us to explore worlds in different forms: it could be watching a film in the metaverse, or playing along in a story style format as your favourite TV character, or playing your favourite game show games virtually against others on your phone. The possibilities are limitless as big media can begin to see the value in and take advantage of smaller media platforms.”

 

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Rob Nash, CEO and Founder of 4 Roads

 

 

“The biggest trend by far is going to be NFT (Non-fungible token) as with immutable ledgers, the engine behind crypto currencies has created a world, both physical and virtual, where digital products can have perceived value. This will be the backbone of the metaverse growth. It will also allow the crypto currencies to find their feet in terms of valuation. Crypto is going through a gold rush period and this could end up with a massive adjustment.”

“Once this period is over however and things settle down there will be global adoption and for that, for a layman to understand the value of something, they need to relate it something that they know the value of. That translation in someone’s head needs to happen in digital and NFT’s help with this process as they put a fixed recorded value in time against something digital. Companies need to be investing in understanding how to capitalise on NFT’s if possible, investigating the metaverse and starting to get a grip on what it will be like to trade in crypto currencies for products.”

 

Tom Newbald, Chief Executive Officer at Swycha

 

 

“With technology positively shaping the world and environmental issues a major concern for individuals, people have begun to make more environmentally friendly purchase decisions with their technology by really going under the surface of the tech they choose to own in their lives.”

“I believe that more people are taking the time to focus on the human and environmental costs of our tech, which enables them to play their part in tackling the climate crisis.”

“We’ve seen this in past years happen to other industries – huge surges of concern over fast fashion, more people going vegan and fears on the environmental cost of transport. I feel 2022 is the year of sustainability and we’ve seen as many as 32% of consumers now express a strong desire to live a more sustainable lifestyle and are looking for the know-how on how to make ethically sound tech purchasing decisions.”

“For example, despite the intrigue and excitement generated by new technology launches from major brands, customers are more aware of labour rights, conflict mineral use, and the proper disposal of harmful chemicals used in the mobile phone sector. This has seen a rise in numbers of consumers who are increasingly criticising big brands for their production practices and human rights record.”

“This insatiable hunger for new improved devices (and the short average lifespan of mobile phones) is putting an immense strain on the environment. And it’s fantastic to see more people becoming aware of the demand for these raw materials, harmful chemicals, plastics, the creation of waste, and the production of C02 emissions during the mobile phone manufacturing process.”

 

Eslam Darwish, Partner at Global Ventures

 

 

“The pandemic has catalysed a global shift to digital financial services, translating into unprecedented levels of investments in FinTech, reaching $91 billion in 2021. This momentum will continue well into 2022 and beyond, to drive Fintech innovation across the industry verticals as well as Fintech enabled sectors through embedded finance solutions.”

“In 2022 Fintech Innovation will continue to be focused on democratising access to digital financial services in areas like payments, banking, insurance, investment, and lending; supported by enabling solutions like open banking, digital identity verification, alternative credit scoring and powered by technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain. We also anticipate new levels of cooperation and partnership between incumbent banks and FinTech companies to modernise the sector, reach new customers and reduce customer acquisition costs with reimagined business models.”

“Alternative payment methods and fintech solutions, such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) will continue to disrupt traditional financial services. BNPL is transforming consumer credit from a product to a service, aka Credit as a Service (CaaS) – a significant strategic shift for both merchants and payments service providers. Expect to see BNPL extend beyond consumer retail purchases into small business financing, thus making merchants a point of convergence for B2C and B2B credit solutions. We will also likely see specialised BNPL solutions focusing on industries such as agriculture, healthcare, and education.”

“With digitised banking services becoming the new normal, governments must embrace technology’s transformative role and ensure regulations support FinTech acceleration while protecting customer privacy and data.”

 

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