Telenor: 20 technology trends that will shape 2020

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In the last decade, mobile service providers, device makers and Internet companies built a virtual second world for us to live, work and play in - a digital one. At the start of this new decade, Telenor Group's research arm believes that people will reflect more on how our real world and this new digital reality should safely and productively intersect.

Many of the trends we spotlight for next year show innovation charging ahead faster than ever, enabled by more access and more demand, as well as by revolutionary new tech platforms and sociopolitical forces, says Bj rn Taale Sandberg, Head of Telenor Research.

At the same time, Sandberg adds, other trends suggest we are having a common technological epiphany, a kind of digital realisation. People are waking up and examining how and where technologies, including AI, Machine Learning, IoT, and new network innovations will best and most securely connect them with the people and things that matter most. The world of technology isn't a place that can be defined by a single storyline, it's our job to understand the larger sometimes contradicting contexts we live in - in both of our worlds - and then to home in on the most important developments that could reshape our lives.

Here are the 20 trends that point to an exciting, chaotic and complex 2020:

Green innovations go beyond hype and get real Reusable shopping bags, plastic straw bans and flight shaming have been the causes du jour among the Instagram Influencer set, but big picture in 2020, no one will be satisfied with empty words, greenwashing or drop-in-the-bucket efforts anymore. In 2020, we will see green innovations go beyond the hype, using combinations of IoT, big data and AI tech to measure consumption, reduce demand and significantly reduce carbon footprints while cutting costs and building new revenue streams. This action comes as a result of consumers, investors, purchasers in the business world and employees demanding that we get our act together.

The telco industry will be a crucial foundation of the future economy and can drive real change across multiple sectors in society, in collaboration with its suppliers, investors and customers. Telcos can encourage their equipment vendors, IoT hardware and mobile phone manufacturers to commit to higher climate ambitions, by using recycled raw materials, responsible minerals provisioning, renewable power, new modes of transportation and sustainable packaging.

Moving into 2030; businesses, particularly in Europe, will move toward sourcing 100 percent renewable electricity, laying the foundation of climate neutral business operations. And for consumers, mobile services will continue to provide the capacity for individuals to access apps and services that will drive more widespread and effective green habits wherever they are. Finally, in the tech space, we'll see increasingly generous public and private financing for green startups and scale-ups. What will drive successful green cases in business? A combination of sustainable business models, availability of data, digital competence and strong leadership.

A growing internet of connected health, medical and communications devices - attached to our bodies The term, Internet of things (IoT) has been given copious column inches in recent years, particularly in the business, tech and trade press. But sensors on shipping containers, manufacturing systems and agriculture infrastructure, while broadly impactful, aren't relatable to the everyday tech user. But 2020 promises to bring all of this much, much closer to home. If you thought that people and mobile technology were already more or less attached at the hip , well, be prepared to be taken literally. This next year will see the Internet of Bodies become a much bigger thing.

Today and even more so starting next year, we are connecting our bodies through a host of monitors that measure blood pressure, blood oxygen, activity, heart rate, arrhythmia and even snoring. And in 2020 we will see the first applications that go beyond just monitoring and into actual auto-interventions. One such example is insulin pumps. A large community of patients and health advocates, We are Not Waiting , have pushed the frontier for a long time, and in 2020, we will see the first commercial systems closing the loop between reading blood sugar and delivering insulin to the body. Biohacks such as Elon Musk's Neuralink startup are still far from commercialization, but there are diseases and conditions that are costly and care intensive where the IoB will have great potential.

5G, IoT and AI will spur industry collaborations that share competence and co-create world-changing platforms 2019 was year 0 for commercial 5G launches. In 2020 we will see widespread launches in most developed economies. Mobile providers will put 5G's speed and capacity on centre stage, but the real innovations, and with them, sweeping societal changes, will come from behind the scenes where industries are getting together and mixing things up.

These innovations include network-slicing, with which business-critical systems can run unencumbered over the mobile internet. Or something called Network Function Virtualization (NFV), where network services can be developed by software, which will radically speed up how services are developed. With lower latency (meaning: no signal delays, everything in real-time) and a vastly higher number of IoT devices out in the world, emergency, eHealth, logistics, security systems and remote investigations will be enabled by quality networks that allow remote investigations using video, drones and sensors that securely transmit data.

2020 will mark the beginning of this innovation journey. Turning these opportunities into scalable innovations will require industries and governments

LINK:	https://www.telenor.com/media/press-release/telenor-20-technology-tren...
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