101 Trends Shaping Our World

Sometimes it’s useful for marketers to understand trends that may affect their businesses. Here are some of the current trends that I am monitoring:

1. 5G technology
2. The Internet of Things
3. Mobile Internet
4. Cloud technology and distributed infrastructure 
5. Democratization of technology
6. The world becomes hyperconnected
7. Move toward all media consumed through the Internet
8. Seamless language translation, making the world even smaller
9. Exploration of more direct human-computer interfaces (HCI)
10. Electrification
11. Electric vehicles (EVs)
12. Autonomous vehicles
13. Hydrogen powered vehicles
14. Drones
15. Battery technology, including sodium-sulfur molten salt batteries
16. Microgrids
17. Grid-connected renewable energy systems
18. All forms of clean tech
19. Atmospheric (electromagnetic) energy
20. Software defined vehicles (SDVs)
21. AI & machine learning
22. Deep structured learning
23. Autonomic systems
24. Generative AI
25. Big data analytics
26. Edge computing & tinyML
27. Quantum computing
28. Nanoparticles
29. Next generation materials including honeycomb lattice
30. Photonics
31. Quantum teleportation
32. Virtual and augmented reality
33. 3-D multisensor transmitters
34. Advanced robotics
35. 3-D printing 
36. Process automation and hyper-automation
37. Explosion of smart devices
38. Genomics/genetic engineering
39. Psychobiotics and microbiome therapeutics
40. Health care data analytics
41. Personal medical devices
42. Telehealth and mobile medicine
43. Hyper-personalized medicines
44. Social determinants of health (SDOH) receive greater attention
45. Mental health becomes a larger priority
46. Unbundling of health care
47. Living building material
48. Web 3.0
49. Homomorphic encryption
50. Blockchain (distributed ledger) technology and decentralized identifiers
51. Cryptocurrency
52. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
53. A cashless society
54. Privacy and cybersecurity
55. Open-source intelligence (OSINT)
56. Biometric technology (face, voice, eye, hand and signature security)
57. Deglobalization
58. Redesign of supply chains
59. Increased self-service
60. Recurring revenue streams
61. Distributed enterprises and remote employees
62. Increased flexible work 
63. Continued growth in the gig economy
64. Huge need for retraining for new economy jobs
65. Minimum living wages as an alternative to job loss
66. Increased time sharing of all things
67. Fractional CXOs
68. Extreme personal profiling
69. Hyper-targeting and hyper-geofencing 
70. OTT (Over-the-top) media service platforms
71. On-demand personalized customer experiences
72. Move from retail stores to Internet distribution centers and home delivery
73. Move toward unique and boutique in retail
74. Increasing use of personal digital assistants
75. Cameras, cameras everywhere
76. Struggle for personal privacy
77. Increasing popularity of veganism and vegetarianism
78. Increased focus on personal health
79. Decrease in romantic relationships
80. Increasing acceptance of sexual freedom 
81. Decrease in organized religion, increase in personal spirituality
82. Continued decreasing trust in traditional institutions, especially government
83. Shift from a patriarchal society to a matriarchal society
84. More focus on the home
85. Increasing self-care and compassion toward others
86. Increasing importance of pets as family
87. Increased frequency and severity of natural disasters due to climate change
88. More eco-friendly lifestyles
89. The private sector steps up its support of social and environmental issues
90. Distributed localized agriculture through hydroponics and aeroponics
91. Increased “fake news” and disinformation
92. Increased sophistication of deep fakes
93. Increased botnet activity
94. More censorship, less free speech
95. Increased public awareness of and pressure to address economic inequality
96. Less capitalism, more socialism
97. Continued urbanization
98. Continued population shifts to less expensive states
99. Less abundance thinking, more scarcity thinking
100. The blurring of war and crime with the emergence of terrorism
101. Rethinking of the criminal justice system

If you aren’t familiar with some of these, I would recommend that you search on and read about those that most interest you.