Future Tech

Welcome to the first installment of an ongoing series, Future Tech - a look into tomorrow's ways of doing business. The goal is not just to predict the future but to see it from a variety of perspectives. This edition offers two features: Books for Tomorrow and Where the Opportunities Are.

Books for Tomorrow: The Future of Tech, Business, and Society

Leave it to an old medium to predict new tomorrows. The books below come recommended by Bill Gates, TechRadar, Inc. magazine, and other authorities on business and technology.

The Future Starts Now: Expert Insights into the Future of Business, Technology and Society
Edited by Theo Priestly and Bronwyn Williams
With titles like "We Welcome Our New Robot Overlords" and "Keeping Up with the Cadavers," this collection's essays examine sustainability, cyber war, space exploration, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and a spectrum of other topics.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
By Yuval Noah Harari
Historian Yuval Harari considers how humans conquered the Earth, then uses that knowledge to forecast how our ingrained habits of action, feeling, and thinking will affect how we'll use tech such as genetic engineering and artificial intelligence.

2030: How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything
By Mauro Guillén
Wharton management professor Mauro Guillén predicts that robot arms will outnumber humans, currencies will outnumber countries, and sensors will outnumber eyes. He adds that the economy will shift from ownership to sharing, and he tells how to handle the changes.

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
By Max Tegmark
How will people cope when computers' metal brains become smarter than our spongy, meaty ones? MIT physicist Max Tegmark explores what may happen if machines' goals diverge from ours. He also delves into the ways that people can use AI for a better future.

The Future of Disruptive Technologies: Impacts on Business, Workforce, and Societies By Srikanth Gaddam Not sure where to turn your career - or your company? Srikanth Gaddam can help. The CEO of ERPA Group, a consultancy that's worked with Oracle and Amazon, forecasts what's next in big data, artificial intelligence, data security, human-machine interaction, and other technologies.

Where the Opportunities Are: New Research on Growing Markets

Do you want to profit from the growth in technology? Some recent studies have named specific tech markets that are booming or soon will be.

Experts at research organizations expect the market for artificial intelligence to grow for most of this decade and possibly beyond. They're also optimistic about the Internet of Things and technology related to health. Other strong runners are big data, 3D printing, and digital transformation. (Digital transformation is the business of Digital Mailroom: using technology to replace or upgrade traditional business processes.)

Technology Growth Areas: Recent Forecasts