Yes, it's the time of the year when everyone and their cousin reveals their bold predictions and big trends for the coming year. Tech giant IBM just released one of the better forward-looking reports: "The 5 in 5: Innovations That Will Change Our Lives in the Next Five Years," complete with videos and colorful infographics (see below).
As you would expect from IBM, all five innovation predictions are driven by emerging technologies, such as cloud computing, big data analytics, and learning technologies. At least three of their predictions have a direct relationship with the built environment, and all five are related to construction in some way.
Here are IBM's 5 in 5 innovation predictions (descriptions and graphics courtesy IBM):
1. The Classroom Will Learn You
The classroom of the future will learn about each individual student over the course of their education, helping them master the skills that match their goals.The rapid digitization of educational institutions will allow unprecedented instrumentation of the learning process. Cognitive computing, or learning technologies, will help us calculate everything we can about how each student learns and thrives, then create flexibility in the system to continually adapt and fine-tune what we deliver to that student and how this supports teachers and employers. More on this trend.
2. The City Will Help You Live In It
For citizens, smart phones enabled by cognitive systems will provide a digital key to the city. People can have fingertip access to information about everything that’s happening in the city, whether an experience is right for them, and how best to get there. Because these learning systems have interacted with citizens continuously, they know what they like—and can present them with options they might not find easily. More on this trend.
3. Doctors Will Routinely Use Your DNA To Keep You Well
Today, full DNA testing to help make treatment decisions is still rare. But cognitive systems and cloud computing may make this form of treatment mainstream. It could be done faster, more affordably and much more frequently. In addition to DNA testing for cancers, we may even see DNA-specific personalized treatment options for conditions such as stroke and heart disease. More on this trend.
4. Buying Local Will Beat Online
The technology trends will move us back to brick and mortar—but with a difference. In the future, retailers will layer increasing levels of engagement and personalization on top of the shopping experience, ultimately merging the instant gratification of physical shopping with the richness of online shopping and making same-day delivery a snap. More on this trend.
5. A Digital Guardian Will Protect You Online
Security is evolving from being based on rules, like passwords, to being automatic and made stronger through us just being us.This guardian will have your back, trained to focus on the people and items it is entrusted with based on a 360 degree of an individual’s data, devices and applications. It will make inferences about what’s normal or reasonable activity and what’s not, ready to spot deviations that could be precursors to an attack and a stolen identity. More on this trend.
Related Stories
| Jun 10, 2014
Gaudi’s famed cathedral on ice: Dutch students to construct 132-foot ice replica of Sagrada Familia
"Sagrada Familia in Ice" will be built with a mixture of wooden fibers and plain ice that is three times stronger than ice.
| Jun 10, 2014
Built-in balcony: New skylight windows can fold out to create a patio
Roof window manufacturer Fakro offers a skylight window system that quickly converts into an open-air balcony.
| Jun 9, 2014
6 design strategies for integrating living and learning on campus
Higher education is rapidly evolving. As we use planning and design to help our clients navigate major shifts in culture, technology, and funding, it is essential to focus on strategies that help foster an education that is relevant after graduation. One way to promote relevance is to strengthen the bond between academic disciplines and the campus residential life experience.
| Jun 9, 2014
Green Building Initiative launches Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors program
The new program focuses exclusively on the sustainable design and construction of interior spaces in nonresidential buildings and can be pursued by both building owners and individual lessees of commercial spaces.
| Jun 9, 2014
10 projects named 2014 AIA Small Project Award winners
Yale's funky new Ground café and a pavilion made from 53,780 recycled plastic bottles are among the nation's best new small projects.
| Jun 9, 2014
Eli Broad museum files $19.8 million lawsuit over delays
The museum, meant to hold Eli and Edythe Borad's collection of contemporary art, is suing the German company Seele for what the museum describes as delays in the creation of building blocks for its façade.
| Jun 8, 2014
What’s the word of the day? It’s all about ‘resiliency’
Just for the sake of argument, let’s put aside the rhetoric about climate change—whether it’s actually happening, whether it’s a result of manmade activity—and agree that we are experiencing some pretty dramatic weather events that are having huge impacts on populations here in the U.S. and worldwide.
Smart Buildings | Jun 8, 2014
Big Data: How one city took control of its facility assets with data
Over the past few years, Buffalo has developed a cutting-edge facility management program to ensure it's utilizing its facilities and operations as efficiently, effectively, and sustainably as possible.
| Jun 6, 2014
Must see: Can a floating city offset urban population growth in China?
AT Design Office has proposed a design for a floating city to offset increasing urban populations in China. To create the new city, a 10-square kilometer island would be made out of prefab blocks.
| Jun 6, 2014
KPF, Kevin Roche unveil design for 51-story Hudson Yards tower in NYC [slideshow]
Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group are teaming to develop Fifty Five Hudson Yards, the latest addition to the commercial office tower collection in the 28-acre Hudson Yards development—the largest private real estate development in the history of the U.S.