FTI - Tech Trends Report 2017

2017
Tech Trend Report

Emerging technology trends that will influence business, education,
politics, government, education and society in the coming year.
1
A great wave of disruption—anchored in artificial intelligence, robotics, self-driv-
ing cars, genomic editing, cognitive computing, the Internet of Things, and big
This is a robust,
data—is underway. As these technologies move from the fringe to the main-
stream, they promise to forever change how we live, work and play.
detailed document–
The 2017 Tech Trends Report, now in its 10th year, focuses on mid- to late-stage
don’t try to read it
emerging technologies that are on a growth trajectory. We have identified more in one sitting. Start
than 150 trends for the coming year across numerous industries, and our broad
scope was intentional. In this era of rapidly accelerating technological advance- with the executive
ment, changes within one industry necessarily impact another. We listen to sig-
nals across different sectors, and we encourage you to do the same. summary, and read
Now more than ever, organizations must examine the potential impact of tech through the top
trends. Whether you are a Fortune 500 company, a government agency, a start-
up, a university, a foundation or a small business, you must factor the trends trends listed for
in this report into your strategic thinking for the coming year, and adjust your
planning, operations and business models accordingly. Failing to track trends in your industry. In the
a meaningful way will put your competitive advantage and growth at risk.
coming weeks, spend
This is a robust, detailed document—don’t try to read it in one sitting. Start with
the executive summary, and read through the top trends listed for your industry. some time with all
In the coming weeks, spend some time with all of the trends. I hope you will take
your time with our 2017 report, and allow your mind to wander productively.
of the trends. I hope
If you use our trends during an annual meeting to set your strategy for the com- you will take your
ing year, that’s a good start—but it isn’t enough to safeguard your organization
from what’s on the horizon. Organizations that use a formal process to research
time with our 2017
and track trends are more likely to reduce risk, harness new opportunities and
drive change within their fields. What comes next won’t arrive fully formed. The
report, and allow
future is yours to build. The Future Today Institute is eager to help you in 2017 your mind to wander
and beyond.
productively.
Amy Webb | Founder | Future Today Institute

© 2017 Future
2 Today Institute
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Our mission at the Future Today Institute is to help Key Takeaways
organizations see around corners. Leaders tend to make • Convergence: In 2017, a critical mass of emerging technologies will start to converge,
bad decisions under duress. When surprised by a new, finding advanced uses beyond initial testing and applied research. That’s a signal
disruptive technology, their “flight-or-fight” response worth paying attention to. We have devoted extra attention to artificial intelligence,
mixed reality, object recognition systems, robots, autonomous vehicles, genomics,
system kicks in, and they either ignore important tech
bioelectronics and automation.
trends and imperil their companies, or they act rashly and
make ill-informed investments. Right now, all organizations,
• Artificial Intelligence: For the first time, artificial intelligence research has advanced
regardless of their size and scope, should be paying close enough that it is now a core component of most of our trends. It is vitally important
attention to the fringe so that when a new technology that all decision-makers within an organization familiarize themselves with what AI
arises, teams can evaluate their options rationally. is, what it is not, and why it matters. We have included an AI Primer in our Trend Re-
port this year to aid in that effort.
• Crossover Trends: Leaders must pay attention to signals outside their immediate
industries. In 2017 and beyond, technology developments in one industry sector
will impact many others. For example, why should a logistics company like UPS or a
grocery store chain like Kroger pay close attention to gene editing? Well...advance-
ments in the CRISPR gene editing technique will lead to seeds for hyper-productive
plants that require just a few feet of space and don’t need much water. Those plants
could be farmed within dense urban areas, decreasing a reliance on local grocery
stores. This would impact merchants, importers, truck drivers, UPC code sticker pro-
viders, and marketing agencies, which would all experience a loss in profit. It would
devastate the farmers in countries such as Brazil, Thailand and Mexico, who could
rise up or revolt, causing political instability in those countries. This scenario isn’t
guaranteed, but it is plausible, and it’s why UPS and Kroger should at least have
gene editing on their 2017 radar. We can very easily build scenarios connecting the
dots between myriad technologies, companies and industry sectors. For that rea-
son, we encourage you to pay close attention to technology trends adjacent to
your industry.
3 © 2017 Future Today Institute

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• New Ecosystems: Many of the areas we’ve included in this report during the past
decade have moved from the fringe towards the mainstream. In the process entire
new ecosystems have blossomed: autonomous vehicles, genetics, robotics and the
like. We have grouped these together in this year’s report to help you gain a deeper
understanding of their ecosystems.
• R&D Moves From Universities To Corporations: One observation we made while

preparing our 2017 report: some of the unusual suspects we tracked on the fringes
turned out to be R&D departments within very large, established corporations. This
is because companies are courting academia now more than ever, and in some cases
poaching entire research teams. Companies are successfully mimicking a university
culture within their walls, with one big exception: money. They’re able to provide
significantly more resources and exponentially higher salaries than what’s offered in
academe.
• Government Policy: Both in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, policy, privacy
and security will be more complicated than ever in the coming year. Technology is
changing faster than the government’s ability to legislate and regulate it—this will
lead to complicated discussions and debates in the year ahead.
• More Trends Than Ever: Our biggest takeaway (perhaps yours too, if you took a
peak at the very end of the report) is that there are many more tech trends to pay
attention to in 2017 than in previous years. Technology begets technology. We
are witnessing an explosion in slow motion.
Real trends worth your time and attention don’t have clever names. They don’t sound
“trendy.”

10 QUESTIONS
How to relate these trends back to your organization in 2017
Our Trend Report this year is intentionally dense—there’s a lot here to digest.
That’s because it’s meant as a practical resource for you and your organiza-
This is a big report.
tion. We don’t want you to skim through this during your lunch break. Instead, We don’t want you
use it to listen for the signals talking and to advise your strategic thinking
throughout 2017. to skim through this
Don’t discount a trend simply because at first glance it doesn’t seem to relate during your lunch
directly to you or your field. Instead, think about these 159 trends and ask
yourself the following questions: break.
01 How does this trend impact our industry and all of its parts?
02 Who are the drivers of change in this trend? Which companies, leaders, founders, startups, researchers?
03 How are companies/ agencies/ organizations in adjacent spaces addressing this trend?
04 Where does this trend create potential new partners or collaborators for us?
05 How are our competitors/ related agencies harnessing this trend (or failing to do so?)
06 Which of our customer segments—existing, former, potential, theoretical—does this trend address?
07 How will the wants, needs and expectations of our customers change as a result of this trend?
08 Will this trend create new competitors for us?
09 How does this trend inspire us?
10 How does this trend help us think about innovation?
© 2017 Future
5 Today Institute
THE MOST
IMPORTANT TRENDS Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
FOR YOUR INDUSTRY 01 Artificial Intelligence 56 Crowdlearning
AND ORGANIZATION
(whole section)
57 Blocking the Ad Blockers
12 Hidden Bias in AI
59 Leaking
13 Accountability and Trust
60 The First Amendment
We’ve created lists to help you find the most important tech 14 Bots in a Digital Age
trends that will matter most to you, your organization and
15 Deep Learning 63 Virtual Reality
your industry in 2017. For your convenience, industries are
16 Cognitive Computing 64 Augmented Reality
listed alphabetically along with the corresponding trends.
17 Smart Virtual Personal Assistants 65 360-degree Video
18 Ambient Interfaces 66 Holograms
19 Deep Linking 67 Data Retention Policies
20 Consolidation in AI 71 Glitches
24 Robot Companions 75 Prize Hacks
Advertising, Public Relations 26 Ethical Manufacturing 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks
Key Trend Themes For 2017 29 Productivity Bots 80 Anonymity
33 Faceless Recognition 81 Differential Privacy
Artificial Intelligence 34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms 83 Trolls
Recognition 35 Adversarial Images 84 Authenticity
Digital Frailty 36 Ambient Proximity 91 Ownership

37 Character Recognition 93 Organizational Doxing
Video and Analytics
98 VR Marketing
Mixed Reality 38 Attention
99 FOBO (Fear Of Being Offline)
Security 39 Digital Frailty
100 Retail APIs
41 Limited-Edition News Products
Privacy 102 Sense and Avoid Technology
43 One-To-Few Publishing
Big Data 121 Internet Mob Justice
47 Conversational Interfaces
133 Head Mounted Displays
Drones 48 Dynamic Listicles
134 Smartwatches
Automation 50 Connected TVs
137 Women/ Wearables
Internet Mobs and Trolls 51 Cord Cutting
53 Streaming Social Video
Wearables
54 Media Consolidation

Agriculture Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 110 Open Source Systems
02 Real-Time Machine Learning 111 Adaptive Driving Systems
Artificial Intelligence 13 Accountability and Trust 112 Vehicle-to-Vehicle
Robotics Communications
15 Deep Learning
115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation
Recognition 16 Cognitive Computing
126 Molecular Programming
20 Consolidation in AI
Augmented Reality 129 Synthetic Biology
22 Smart Dust
Security 131 Norms and Regulations
25 Collaborative Robots
(Biological)
Privacy 26 Ethical Manufacturing
148 Deep Learning For
Big Data 32 Sharing Economy Food Recognition
and Lendership
Drones 149 Smart Farms
35 Adversarial Images
150 Terraforming
Internet of Things 61 Synthetic Data Sets
151 Cultivated Food and Beverage
Automation 64 Augmented Reality
152 Anthropocene and Climate
Self-Driving Vehicles 67 Data Retention Policies
69 Zero Day Exploits
Genomic Editing
71 Glitches
Deep Learning
73 Open Source App
Anthropocene and Climate Vulnerabilities
75 Prize Hacks
81 Differential Privacy
84 Authenticity
87 Eye in the Sky
88 Right to Eavesdrop/
Be Eavesdropped On
89 Drone Surveillance
103 Drone Lanes
106 Microdrones
107 Drone Delivery
108 Internet of Things
109 Intelligent Cameras

Infrastructure Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 88 Right to Eavesdrop/
Be Eavesdropped On
02 Real-Time Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence 13 Accountability and Trust
Robotics 93 Organizational Doxing

15 Deep Learning
Human-Machine Interfaces 16 Cognitive Computing
100 Retail APIs
18 Ambient Interfaces
Recognition 103 Drone Lanes
Mixed Reality 104 Clandestine, Disappearing Drones
21 Human-Machine Interfaces
Security 24 Robot Companions
105 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
106 Microdrones
Privacy 25 Collaborative Robots
107 Drone Delivery
Big Data 31 Nanodegrees
32 Sharing Economy and Lendership
Drones 109 Intelligent Cameras
33 Faceless Recognition
Internet of Things 110 Open Source Systems
34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms
Automation 35 Adversarial Images
111 Adaptive Driving Systems
112 Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications
Self-Driving Vehicles 36 Ambient Proximity
113 Autonomous Testing Facilities
Smart Cities 56 Crowdlearning
114 Solar Highways
61 Synthetic Data Sets
Wearables 115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation
64 Augmented Reality
123 City-Level Cyber Security
66 Holograms
124 Smart City Systems
67 Data Retention Policies
132 Biointerfaces
68 Remote Kill Switches
134 Smartwatches
70 Backdoors
136 Connected Fabrics
71 Glitches
143 Thinkables
73 Open Source App Vulnerabilities
74 Selfie Security
153 Space Exploration
75 Prize Hacks
154 Invisibility Cloaks
76 Automated Hacking
157 Internet of X
158 5G
86 Encryption Management

Business Associations Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 88 Right to Eavesdrop/
Be Eavesdropped On
Artificial Intelligence 12 Hidden Bias in AI
90 Private Networks
Recognition 91 Ownership
93 Organizational Doxing
Digital Frailty 14 Bots
95 E-Residents
16 Cognitive Computing
Security 96 Social Payments
17 Smart Virtual Personal Assistants
Privacy 97 Bitcoin and Blockchain
Big Data 26 Ethical Manufacturing
100 Retail APIs
E-Residents 27 Universal Basic Income
101 Digital Associates
Social Payments 28 Artificial Intelligence in Hiring
118 Old Laws Clash With
29 Productivity Bots
Bitcoin and Blockchain New Technology
31 Nanodegrees
Automation 121 Internet Mob Justice
156 3D Printing
Internet Mobs and Trolls 34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms
157 Internet of X
36 Ambient Proximity
158 5G
37 Character Recognition and Analytics
39 Digital Frailty
63 Virtual Reality
70 Backdoors
71 Glitches
72 Darknets
75 Prize Hacks

Colleges, Universities & Schools Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence (whole section) 69 Backdoors
12 Hidden Bias in AI 71 Glitches
Artificial Intelligence 13 Accountability and Trust 72 Darknets
Robotics 14 Bots 73 Open Source App Vulnerabilities
Human-Machine Interfaces 16 Cognitive Computing 74 Selfie Security

18 Ambient Interfaces 75 Prize Hacks
Recognition
20 Consolidation in AI 76 Automated Hacking
Digital Frailty
21 Human-Machine Interfaces 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks
Mixed Reality 27 Universal Basic Income 81 Differential Privacy
Security 30 Adaptive Learning 82 Digital Self-Incrimination
Privacy 31 Nanodegrees 83 Trolls

33 Faceless Recognition 84 Authenticity
Big Data
34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms 85 Revenge Porn
Internet of Things
36 Ambient Proximity 86 Encryption Management
Automation 37 Character Recognition and Analytics 88 Right to Eavesdrop/
Be Eavesdropped On
38 Attention
91 Ownership
39 Digital Frailty
92 Uploading Photos To Law
Enforcement Databases
48 Dynamic Listicles
59 Leaking
in a Digital Age
157 Internet of X
158 5G
62 Torrents
63 Virtual Reality
65 360-degree Video
66 Holograms

Consumer Package Goods & Retail Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 143 Thinkables
02 Real-Time Machine Learning 148 Deep Learning For
Food Recognition
Mixed Reality 151 Cultivated Food and Beverage

14 Bots
156 3D Printing
Security 32 Sharing Economy and Lendership
157 Internet of X
Privacy 158 5G
Big Data
Social Payments 61 Synthetic Data Sets
Drones 63 Virtual Reality
Internet of Things 64 Augmented Reality

65 360-degree Video
Wearables
66 Holograms
75 Prize Hacks
83 Trolls
96 Social Payments
100 Retail APIs
101 Digital Associates
107 Drone Delivery
134 Smartwatches
136 Connected Fabrics
137 Women/ Wearables
138 Kids/ Wearables
139 Pets/ Wearables
142 Earables

Corporate Boards Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 97 Bitcoin and Blockchain
12 Hidden Bias in AI 118 Old Laws Clash With
New Technology
Robotics 121 Internet Mob Justice

Human-Machine Interfaces 26 Ethical Manufacturing

28 Artificial Intelligence in Hiring
Security
31 Nanodegrees
Privacy
Big Data 59 Leaking
E-Residents 60 The First Amendment
in a Digital Age
Bitcoin and Blockchain
Automation 69 Zero Day Exploits
Internet Mobs and Trolls 70 Backdoors
71 Glitches
75 Prize Hacks
76 Automated Hacking
79 Weaponizing Wikileaks
80 Anonymity
82 Digital Self-Incrimination
83 Trolls
84 Authenticity
88 Right to Eavesdrop/
Be Eavesdropped On
91 Ownership

Defense Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence (whole section) 74 Selfie Security 114 Solar Highways
12 Hidden Bias in AI 75 Prize Hacks 115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation
Artificial Intelligence 13 Accountability and Trust 76 Automated Hacking 119 Digital Caliphate
Robotics 14 Bots 77 Offensive Government Hacking 120 Asking Tech Companies
To Help Fight Terrorism
Human-Machine Interfaces 15 Deep Learning 78 Cyber Mission Forces in the Field
121 Internet Mob Justice
16 Cognitive Computing 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks
Recognition 125 Precision Medicine
20 Consolidation in AI 81 Differential Privacy
Mixed Reality 126 Molecular Programming
21 Human-Machine Interfaces 82 Digital Self-Incrimination
Security 22 Smart Dust 83 Trolls
128 Neuroenhancers
129 Synthetic Biology
Privacy 23 Soft Robotics 86 Encryption Management
131 Norms and Regulations (Biological)
Big Data 25 Collaborative Robots 87 Eye in the Sky
132 Biointerfaces
33 Faceless Recognition 88 Right to Eavesdrop/
Bitcoin and Blockchain Be Eavesdropped On 133 Head Mounted Displays
Drones 89 Drone Surveillance 134 Smartwatches
Internet of Things 36 Ambient Proximity
90 Private Networks 135 Wireless Body Area Networks
92 Uploading Photos To Law 136 Connected Fabrics
Automation 37 Character Recognition and Analytics
140 Tattooables
Self-Driving Vehicles 52 WebRTC
141 Ingestibles/ Implantables
56 Crowdlearning
Internet Mobs and Trolls 99 Bitcoin and Blockchain
142 Earables
103 Drone Lanes
Genomic Editing 62 Torrents
143 Thinkables
104 Clandestine, Disappearing Drones
Wearables 144 Smart Thread
63 Virtual Reality
145 Bioelectronics
106 Microdrones
147 Touch-Sensitive Prosthetics
66 Holograms
107 Drone Delivery
154 Invisibility Cloaks
155 Quantum Computers
109 Intelligent Cameras
156 3D Printing
110 Open Source Systems
157 Internet of X
70 Backdoors
111 Adaptive Driving Systems
158 5G
71 Glitches
72 Darknets

Doctors & Other Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Health Professionals 01 Artificial Intelligence (whole section) 142 Earables
Key Trend Themes For 2017 13 Accountability and Trust 143 Thinkables
14 Bots 144 Smart Thread
Artificial Intelligence 15 Deep Learning 145 Bioelectronics
Human-Machine Interfaces 16 Cognitive Computing 146 Patient-Generated Health Data
Recognition 18 Ambient Interfaces 147 Touch-Sensitive Prosthetics

20 Consolidation in AI 156 3D Printing
Mixed Reality
21 Human-Machine Interfaces 157 Internet of X
Security 24 Robot Companions 158 5G
Privacy 56 Crowdlearning
Big Data 61 Synthetic Data Sets

63 Virtual Reality
Internet of Things
Genomic Editing
Wearables 99 FOBO (Fear Of Being Offline)
125 Precision Medicine
127 Nanobot Treatments
128 Neuroenhancers
130 Running Out of Space
For Genome Storage
132 Biointerfaces
134 Smartwatches
135 Wireless Body Area Networks
140 Tattooables

Drug Manufacturers/ Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Pharmaceuticals 01 Artificial Intelligence 145 Bioelectronics
Key Trend Themes For 2017 02 Real-Time Machine Learning 146 Patient-Generated Health Data
13 Accountability and Trust 147 Touch-Sensitive Prosthetics
Artificial Intelligence 15 Deep Learning 156 3D Printing
Robotics 16 Cognitive Computing 157 Internet of X
Human-Machine Interfaces 20 Consolidation in AI 158 5G

Recognition
22 Smart Dust
Security 23 Soft Robotics
Privacy 56 Crowdlearning
Big Data 61 Synthetic Data Sets

Internet of Things
Automation
Genomic Editing 125 Precision Medicine
Wearables 126 Molecular Programming
Bioelectronics 127 Nanobot Treatments

128 Neuroenhancers
For Genome Storage
132 Biointerfaces
134 Smartwatches
135 Wireless Body Area Networks
140 Tattooables
142 Earables
143 Thinkables
144 Smart Thread

Finance Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 76 Automated Hacking
02 Real-Time Machine Learning 81 Differential Privacy
Artificial Intelligence 03 Image Completion 86 Encryption Management
Recognition 05 Natural Language Generation 93 Organizational Doxing
Bots 08 Zero Knowledge Proofs 95 E-Residents

10 Algorithm Marketplaces 96 Social Payments
Security
11 Pre-Trained AI Chips 97 Bitcoin and Blockchain
Privacy
12 Hidden Bias in AI 118 Old Laws Clash With
Big Data 13 Accountability and Trust
New Technology
E-Residents 14 Bots
Social Payments 15 Deep Learning

Automation
Internet Mobs and Trolls 19 Deep Linking
31 Nanodegrees
56 Crowdlearning
70 Backdoors
71 Glitches
74 Selfie Security
75 Prize Hacks

Foundations, Philanthropists Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
& Non-profits 01 Artificial Intelligence 67 Data Retention Policies
Key Trend Themes For 2017 12 Hidden Bias in AI 73 Open Source App Vulnerabilities
13 Accountability and Trust 74 Selfie Security
Artificial Intelligence 14 Bots 75 Prize Hacks
Robotics 16 Cognitive Computing 76 Automated Hacking
Recognition 20 Consolidation in AI 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks

24 Robot Companions 93 Organizational Doxing
Digital Frailty
26 Ethical Manufacturing 95 E-Residents
Mixed Reality 27 Universal Basic Income 96 Social Payments
Security 30 Adaptive Learning 97 Bitcoin and Blockchain
Privacy 31 Nanodegrees 121 Internet Mob Justice

33 Faceless Recognition 123 City-Level Cyber Security
Big Data
34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms 124 Smart City Systems
35 Adversarial Images 152 Anthropocene and Climate
Internet Mobs and Trolls 39 Digital Frailty
Smart Cities 40 Nutritional Labels For News

41 Limited-Edition News Products
Anthropocene and Climate
44 Journalism as a Service (Jaas)
56 Crowdlearning
59 Leaking
in a Digital Age
63 Virtual Reality
65 360-degree Video
66 Holograms

Government, Politics, Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Legal, Policy
01 Artificial Intelligence (whole section) 61 Synthetic Data Sets 93 Organizational Doxing
Key Trend Themes For 2017
12 Hidden Bias in AI 62 Torrents 95 E-Residents
13 Accountability and Trust 63 Virtual Reality 97 Bitcoin and Blockchain
Artificial Intelligence
14 Bots 64 Augmented Reality 103 Drone Lanes
Robotics 15 Deep Learning 65 360-degree Video 104 Clandestine, Disappearing Drones
Human-Machine Interfaces 16 Cognitive Computing 66 Holograms 105 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
17 Smart Virtual Personal Assistants 67 Data Retention Policies 106 Microdrones
Recognition
18 Ambient Interfaces 68 Remote Kill Switches 107 Drone Delivery
Digital Frailty 19 Deep Linking 69 Zero Day Exploits 108 Internet of Things
Mixed Reality 20 Consolidation in AI 70 Backdoors 110 Open Source Systems
21 Human-Machine Interfaces 71 Glitches 111 Adaptive Driving Systems
Security
22 Smart Dust 72 Darknets 112 Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications
Privacy 24 Robot Companions 73 Open Source App Vulnerabilities 113 Autonomous Testing Facilities
Big Data 26 Ethical Manufacturing 74 Selfie Security 114 Solar Highways

27 Universal Basic Income 75 Prize Hacks 115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation
33 Faceless Recognition 76 Automated Hacking 118 Old Laws Clash With
Drones New Technology
34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms 77 Offensive Government Hacking
119 Digital Caliphate
Internet of Things 35 Adversarial Images 78 Cyber Mission Forces in the Field
120 Asking Tech Companies
36 Ambient Proximity 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks
Automation To Help Fight Terrorism
37 Character Recognition and Analytics 80 Anonymity
Self-Driving Vehicles 39 Digital Frailty 81 Differential Privacy
122 Overhauling Government
40 Nutritional Labels For News 82 Digital Self-Incrimination Tech Infrastructure
Internet Mobs and Trolls
43 One-To-Few Publishing 83 Trolls 123 City-Level Cyber Security
Genomic Editing 47 Conversational Interfaces 84 Authenticity 124 Smart City Systems
49 Real-Time Fact Checking 85 Revenge Porn 130 Running Out of Space
52 WebRTC 86 Encryption Management For Genome Storage
54 Media Consolidation 87 Eye in the Sky 131 Norms and Regulations (Biological)
56 Crowdlearning 88 Right to Eavesdrop/ 146 Patient-Generated Health Data

Be Eavesdropped On 152 Anthropocene and Climate
58 Natural Language Generation 89 Drone Surveillance 155 Quantum Computers
for Reading Levels 90 Private Networks 157 Internet of X
59 Leaking 91 Ownership 158 5G
60 The First Amendment 92 Uploading Photos To Law
in a Digital Age Enforcement Databases Human Resources
Key Trend Themes For 2017 Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
01 Artificial Intelligence 75 Prize Hacks
02 Real-Time Machine Learning 80 Anonymity
Robotics
03 Image Completion 81 Differential Privacy
Recognition 04 Predictive Machine Vision 82 Digital Self-Incrimination
Mixed Reality 05 Natural Language Generation 83 Trolls
Security 08 Zero Knowledge Proofs 86 Encryption Management

09 Algorithmic Personality Detection 93 Organizational Doxing
Privacy
12 Hidden Bias in AI 99 FOBO (Fear Of Being Offline)
Big Data 13 Accountability and Trust 118 Old Laws Clash With
Automation New Technology
14 Bots
128 Neuroenhancers
Mixed Reality 15 Deep Learning
Security
19 Deep Linking
Privacy
Big Data 24 Robot Companions
Automation 25 Collaborative Robots
30 Adaptive Learning
31 Nanodegrees
63 Virtual Reality
65 360-degree Video
66 Holograms
70 Backdoors

Law Enforcement Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence (whole section) 76 Automated Hacking 111 Adaptive Driving Systems
12 Hidden Bias in AI 77 Offensive Government Hacking 112 Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications
Artificial Intelligence 13 Accountability and Trust 78 Cyber Mission Forces in the Field 113 Autonomous Testing Facilities
Robotics 14 Bots 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks 114 Solar Highways
Human-Machine Interfaces 15 Deep Learning 80 Anonymity 115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation

16 Cognitive Computing 81 Differential Privacy 118 Old Laws Clash With
Recognition New Technology
18 Ambient Interfaces 82 Digital Self-Incrimination
Mixed Reality 120 Asking Tech Companies
20 Consolidation in AI 83 Trolls To Help Fight Terrorism
Security 21 Human-Machine Interfaces 84 Authenticity 121 Internet Mob Justice
Privacy 22 Smart Dust 85 Revenge Porn 123 City-Level Cyber Security
Big Data 24 Robot Companions 86 Encryption Management 124 Smart City Systems
25 Collaborative Robots 87 Eye in the Sky
Social Payments 132 Biointerfaces
33 Faceless Recognition 88 Right to Eavesdrop/ 154 Invisibility Cloaks
Bitcoin and Blockchain Be Eavesdropped On
34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms 155 Quantum Computers
Drones 89 Drone Surveillance
35 Adversarial Images 157 Internet of X
90 Private Networks
Internet of Things 36 Ambient Proximity 158 5G
91 Ownership
56 Crowdlearning
Self-Driving Vehicles Enforcement Databases
62 Torrents 93 Organizational Doxing
Internet Mobs and Trolls 63 Virtual Reality 96 Social Payments
Smart Cities 64 Augmented Reality 97 Bitcoin and Blockchain
67 Data Retention Policies 103 Drone Lanes
68 Remote Kill Switches 104 Clandestine, Disappearing Drones
69 Zero Day Exploits 105 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
70 Backdoors 106 Microdrones
71 Glitches 107 Drone Delivery
72 Darknets 108 Internet of Things
73 Open Source App Vulnerabilities 109 Intelligent Cameras
74 Selfie Security 110 Open Source Systems
75 Prize Hacks

Lawyers, Law Firms & Lobbyists Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks
02 Real-Time Machine Learning 80 Anonymity
Artificial Intelligence 03 Image Completion 81 Differential Privacy
Recognition 04 Predictive Machine Vision 82 Digital Self-Incrimination

05 Natural Language Generation 83 Trolls
Mixed Reality 08 Zero Knowledge Proofs 84 Authenticity
Security 09 Algorithmic Personality Detection 85 Revenge Porn
12 Hidden Bias in AI 86 Encryption Management
Privacy
13 Accountability and Trust 87 Eye in the Sky
Big Data 14 Bots 88 Right to Eavesdrop/
Be Eavesdropped On
E-Residents 16 Cognitive Computing
Drones 90 Private Networks
Internet of Things 33 Faceless Recognition 91 Ownership
Automation 34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms
Self-Driving Vehicles 93 Organizational Doxing
95 E-Residents
Internet Mobs and Trolls 49 Real-Time Fact Checking
96 Social Payments
62 Torrents
97 Bitcoin and Blockchain
63 Virtual Reality
103 Drone Lanes
104 Clandestine, Disappearing Drones
106 Microdrones
107 Drone Delivery
70 Backdoors
71 Glitches
110 Open Source Systems
72 Darknets
115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation
74 Selfie Security
75 Prize Hacks New Technology
76 Automated Hacking 120 Asking Tech Companies
77 Offensive Government Hacking To Help Fight Terrorism
78 Cyber Mission Forces in the Field 121 Internet Mob Justice

Medical, Health, Life Sciences Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 135 Wireless Body Area Networks
02 Real-Time Machine Learning 136 Connected Fabrics
Artificial Intelligence 04 Predictive Machine Vision 140 Tattooables
Robotics 03 Image Completion 141 Ingestibles/ Implantables
Human-Machine Interfaces 12 Hidden Bias in AI 142 Earables

13 Accountability and Trust 143 Thinkables
Recognition
15 Deep Learning 144 Smart Thread
Mixed Reality
16 Cognitive Computing 145 Bioelectronics
Security 20 Consolidation in AI 146 Patient-Generated Health Data
Privacy 21 Human-Machine Interfaces 147 Touch-Sensitive Prosthetics
Big Data 22 Smart Dust 156 3D Printing

23 Soft Robotics 157 Internet of X
Internet of Things
24 Robot Companions 158 5G
Genomic Editing
Wearables 56 Crowdlearning
Bioelectronics 61 Synthetic Data Sets
63 Virtual Reality
125 Precision Medicine
128 Neuroenhancers
For Genome Storage
132 Biointerfaces
134 Smartwatches

News, Journalism, Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Media, Publishing 01 Artificial Intelligence 45 Transparency in Metrics 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks
Key Trend Themes For 2017 02 Real-Time Machine Learning 46 Intentional Rabbit Holes 80 Anonymity
03 Image Completion 47 Conversational Interfaces 81 Differential Privacy
Artificial Intelligence 04 Predictive Machine Vision 48 Dynamic Listicles 82 Digital Self-Incrimination
Recognition 05 Natural Language Generation 49 Real-Time Fact Checking 83 Trolls
Digital Frailty 06 Generative Algorithms For Voice 50 Connected TVs 84 Authenticity

07 Generative Algorithms For Sound 51 Cord Cutting 86 Encryption Management
Accountability
09 Algorithmic Personality Detection 52 WebRTC 91 Ownership
Video 12 Hidden Bias in AI 53 Streaming Social Video 93 Organizational Doxing
Mixed Reality 13 Accountability and Trust 54 Media Consolidation 96 Social Payments
Security 14 Bots 55 CARv2.0 103 Drone Lanes

15 Deep Learning 56 Crowdlearning 118 Old Laws Clash With
Privacy New Technology
16 Cognitive Computing 57 Blocking the Ad Blockers
Big Data 121 Internet Mob Justice
17 Smart Virtual Personal Assistants 58 Natural Language Generation
Social Payments 18 Ambient Interfaces
for Reading Levels 157 Internet of X
59 Leaking 158 5G
Drones 19 Deep Linking
Automation 20 Consolidation in AI in a Digital Age
22 Smart Dust
Internet Mobs and Trolls 61 Synthetic Data Sets
29 Productivity Bots 62 Torrents
33 Faceless Recognition 63 Virtual Reality
34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms 64 Augmented Reality
35 Adversarial Images 65 360-degree Video
37 Character Recognition and Analytics 66 Holograms
38 Attention 67 Data Retention Policies
39 Digital Frailty 69 Zero Day Exploits
40 Nutritional Labels For News 71 Glitches
41 Limited-Edition News Products 73 Open Source App Vulnerabilities
42 Artificial Intelligence For News 75 Prize Hacks
43 One-To-Few Publishing 76 Automated Hacking
44 Journalism as a Service (Jaas)

Professional Services Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence
09 Algorithmic Personality Detection
Robotics 13 Accountability and Trust
Recognition 14 Bots
Mixed Reality
Security
Privacy 30 Adaptive Learning
Big Data 31 Nanodegrees
Automation 32 Sharing Economy and Lendership

58 Natural Language Generation
for Reading Levels
75 Prize Hacks
83 Trolls
84 Authenticity
91 Ownership
157 Internet of X
158 5G

Technology Companies/ Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Manufacturers 01 Artificial Intelligence (whole section) 73 Open Source App Vulnerabilities 108 Internet of Things
Key Trend Themes For 2017 12 Hidden Bias in AI 74 Selfie Security 120 Asking Tech Companies
75 Prize Hacks To Help Fight Terrorism
Artificial Intelligence 76 Automated Hacking 121 Internet Mob Justice
14 Bots
77 Offensive Government Hacking 124 Smart City Systems
Robotics 15 Deep Learning
78 Cyber Mission Forces in the Field 153 Space Exploration
Human-Machine Interfaces 16 Cognitive Computing
79 Weaponizing Wikileaks 155 Quantum Computers
Recognition 80 Anonymity 156 3D Printing
19 Deep Linking
Mixed Reality 20 Consolidation in AI 81 Differential Privacy 157 Internet of X
Security 82 Digital Self-Incrimination 158 5G

83 Trolls
Privacy 25 Collaborative Robots
26 Ethical Manufacturing 84 Authenticity
Big Data
29 Productivity Bots 85 Revenge Porn
E-Residents 86 Encryption Management
31 Nanodegrees
Drones 33 Faceless Recognition 87 Eye in the Sky
Internet of Things 34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms 88 Right to Eavesdrop/

Be Eavesdropped On
Automation 35 Adversarial Images
Internet Mobs and Trolls 90 Private Networks
51 Cord Cutting
Smart Cities 91 Ownership
52 WebRTC
Space Exploration 63 Virtual Reality Enforcement Databases
64 Augmented Reality 93 Organizational Doxing
65 360-degree Video 95 E-Residents
66 Holograms 96 Social Payments
67 Data Retention Policies 97 Bitcoin and Blockchain
68 Remote Kill Switches 103 Drone Lanes
69 Zero Day Exploits 104 Clandestine, Disappearing Drones
70 Backdoors 105 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
71 Glitches 106 Microdrones
72 Darknets 107 Drone Delivery

Trade, Professional Associations, Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Interest Groups 01 Artificial Intelligence 84 Authenticity
Key Trend Themes For 2017 09 Algorithmic Personality Detection 86 Encryption Management
12 Hidden Bias in AI 92 Uploading Photos To Law
Artificial Intelligence Enforcement Databases
Recognition 14 Bots
95 E-Residents
Digital Frailty 20 Consolidation in AI
Mixed Reality New Technology
26 Ethical Manufacturing 152 Anthropocene and Climate
Security 27 Universal Basic Income 157 Internet of X
Privacy 28 Artificial Intelligence in Hiring 158 5G
Big Data 29 Productivity Bots
31 Nanodegrees
E-Residents
32 Sharing Economy and Lendership
Automation
Anthropocene and Climate 36 Ambient Proximity
39 Digital Frailty
56 Crowdlearning
63 Virtual Reality
75 Prize Hacks
79 Weaponizing Wikileaks
80 Anonymity
83 Trolls

Travel, Entertainment Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence
09 Algorithmic Personality Detection
Robotics 13 Accountability and Trust
Recognition 15 Deep Learning

Mixed Reality
Security
Privacy 24 Robot Companions
Big Data 32 Sharing Economy and Lendership
Drones 43 One-To-Few Publishing

Automation
63 Virtual Reality
Space Exploration 65 360-degree Video
66 Holograms
74 Selfie Security
75 Prize Hacks
83 Trolls
84 Authenticity
103 Drone Lanes
107 Drone Delivery
153 Space Exploration
158 5G

Work (Future of) Pay Special Attention To These Trends In Our Report
Key Trend Themes For 2017 01 Artificial Intelligence 73 Open Source App Vulnerabilities
02 Real-Time Machine Learning 81 Differential Privacy
Artificial Intelligence 03 Image Completion 86 Encryption Management
Robotics 04 Predictive Machine Vision 93 Organizational Doxing
Recognition 05 Natural Language Generation 95 E-Residents

08 Zero Knowledge Proofs 110 Open Source Systems
Mixed Reality
09 Algorithmic Personality Detection 112 Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications
Security
12 Hidden Bias in AI 115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation
Privacy 13 Accountability and Trust 158 5G
Big Data 14 Bots
E-Residents 15 Deep Learning

Automation
19 Deep Linking
Self-Driving Vehicles
24 Robot Companions
26 Ethical Manufacturing
27 Universal Basic Income
30 Adaptive Learning
31 Nanodegrees
63 Virtual Reality
66 Holograms
72 Darknets

METHODOLOGY
The Future Today Institute’s forecasting
model relies on quantitative and qualitative
data. Our six steps alternate between
broad and narrow scopes, which include:
identifying very early stage fringe research,
focusing on patterns, interrogating trend
candidates, calculating a trend’s trajectory,
writing scenarios and finally pressure-testing
strategies and recommendations.
© 2017 Future
29 Today Institute
HOW TO USE THE
2017 REPORT
Our 2017 Trend Report reveals strategic opportunities and
challenges for your organization in the coming year.
The Future Today Institute’s annual Trend Report prepares leaders and organ-
izations for the year ahead, so that you are better positioned to see emerging
technology and adjust your strategy accordingly. Use our report to identify
near-future business disruption and competitive threats while simultaneously
finding new collaborators and partners. Most importantly, use our report as a
jumping off point for deeper strategic planning.
Explaining why these trends matter.

Rather than simply offering an overview of the trends that will matter in 2017,
our annual report takes the additional step of explaining why and how these
trends will impact your organization. In some cases, you will see very specific
use cases and descriptive illustrations, so that you can more clearly envision
the potential outcomes of these trends during the next 12 months.

HOW TO USE
OUR REPORT You’ll find six important pieces of information with each trend in
this report.
01 Key Insight
Short, easy explanation of this trend so that you can internalize it and discuss
with your colleagues.
06
05
02 Examples
01 04
Real-world use cases, some of which will sound familiar.
02
03 What’s Next
What this trend means for you and your organization in the coming year.
03
04 Watchlist
Notable companies, founders and researchers working in this trend space.
05 Years On The List

We’ve noted how many years we’ve been tracking the trend, even as it has
evolved. This is an indication of how the trend is progressing.
06 Action Meter Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action
An easy-to-read graphic indicating where the trend is along it’s trajectory.

It tells you whether the trend needs monitoring, should inform your strategy,
or requires action.
We recommend using our 2017 Tech Trends Report as part of a formalized

process to evaluate disruptive technologies throughout the year.

WHAT IS A TREND,
EXACTLY? Mapping the future for your organization begins with identifying early signposts as
you look out on the horizon. In order to chart the best way forward, you must un-
derstand emerging trends: what they are, what they aren’t, and how they operate.
At any moment, there are hundreds of small shifts in technology—developments on

the fringes of science and society—that will impact our lives in the future. A trend is
a new manifestation of sustained change within an industry sector, society, or hu-
man behavior. A trend is more than the latest shiny object.
Fundamentally, a trend leverages our basic human needs and desires in a meaning-
ful way, and it aligns human nature with breakthrough technologies and inventions.
All trends share a set of conspicuous, universal features:
• A trend is driven by a basic human need, one that is catalyzed by new

technology.
• A trend is timely, but it persists.
• A trend evolves as it emerges.
• A trend can materialize as a series of unconnectable dots which begin out

on the fringe and move to the mainstream.
Identifying something as a trend means connecting the dots, or relating changes in

the present to what’s coming in the future. To map what the future holds, seek out
the early adopters, the hackers, the developers with seemingly impossible ideas. It’s
within these circles that meaningful changes begin. As the trend evolves, the work
of these disparate groups begins to overlap, until it converges in a single point—be-
fore perhaps evolving once again.

WHAT IS A TREND, EXACTLY?
Because trends are a different way of seeing and interpreting our current reality, they provide a useful framework to
organize our thinking, especially when we’re hunting for the unknown and trying to learn something about which we
do not yet know how to ask.
There are ten modern sources of change in society with technology as the primary connector.
01 02 03 04 05
Wealth
Education Government Politics Public health
distribution
Media
(our individual and
Demography Economy Environment Journalism collective use of social
networks, chat services,
digital video channels,
photo sharing services
and so on)
06 07 08 09 10
Therefore, if we want to forecast the future of anything, we would need to plot out the intersecting vectors of
change—their direction and magnitude—as they relate to new developments in emerging technology.
These features are what make up a trend. Together they distinguish a trend from a fad, which will invariably pass.
Trends are what help us to forecast the future.
© 2017 Future
33 Today Institute
WHAT IS A TREND,
EXACTLY? Futures of Cars, 2017 - 2057
Now: within the next 12 months.
The future is simultaneously 250 By the end of 2018, cars will be equipped with software updates and new sensors that
perform more functions for the driver, such as parking and adaptive cruise control.
years, 3 decades, 1 months, 88
hours, 37 minutes and 14 seconds Near-term: 1 - 5 years.
from right now. By 2022, most cars will be equipped with cross-path cameras to sense nearby objects
and they will have adaptive cruise control for driving in stop-and-go traffic. They will
offer many driverless functions—but you will still need to operate the car in neighbor-
hoods and many city streets.
The future is simultaneously 250 years, 3 decades, 1 months,
88 hours, 37 minutes and 14 seconds from right now. Forecast-
ing the future requires thinking in contradictory ways. We must Mid-range: 5 - 10 years.
accept that the future is not predetermined—that we can both By 2027, advanced Lidar and WiFi technology will transmit your vehicle’s location and
know what’s past the horizon and intervene to shape it—while will recognize other vehicles sharing the road. This will begin to enable cars to drive
simultaneously acknowledging that any number of variables, at themselves on highways and many city streets.
any time, can influence an outcome. We must solve the paradox
of the present by practicing ambidextrous thinking.
Long-range: 10 - 20 years.
When it comes to technology, it is helpful to organize the evolu- By 2037, the highway system will have been upgraded to work in symbiosis with
tion of trends along six general time zones. They are not arbitrary; semi-autonomous vehicles. Human drivers will take over on smaller streets. On man-
they follow the pattern of acceleration across various sectors of dated autonomous highway lanes, people will be free to read, watch videos or con-
the tech ecosystem. For example, consider the evolution of cars: duct work.
Far-range: 20 - 30 years.
By 2047, we may no longer own cars and cities might no longer operate buses. In-
stead, automated buses could be subsidized thought taxes and offered at no cost.
Those with the means to do so may subscribe to a transportation service, which op-
erates vehicles that are fully automated and will take them to destinations as desired.
Distant: more than 30 years.

By 2057, autonomous vehicles could be connected to a series of high-speed maglev
trains, which may have started to supplant commercial air routes on the East and
West coasts.

TRENDS
001 - 013
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action HBO’s new series Westworld contemplates
a world in which artificially intelligent
humanoids are built for our amusement.
Second year on the list
Key Insight program is the set of meticulous, step-by-step instructions that tell a system
precisely what to do so that it will accomplish a specific task. How you want
Many facets of artificial intelligence (AI) have made our list since we first started
the computer to get from start to finish—essentially, a set of rules—is the “algo-
publishing this report a decade ago. For 2017, we have grouped them all under
rithm.”
one trend.
Machine learning programs run on neural networks and analyze data in order to
What You Need To Know About AI help computers find new things without being explicitly programmed where to
Think about AI as the next layer of technology that will be integrated into look. Within the field of AI, machine learning is useful because it can help com-
everything you do professionally. Simply put, AI is a branch of computer sci- puters to predict and make real-time decisions without human intervention.
ence in which computers are programmed to do things that normally require
human intelligence. This includes learning, reasoning, problem-solving, under-
standing language and perceiving a situation or environment. AI is an extremely
001 Deep Neural Networks (see also “Deep Learning”)
large, broad field, which uses its own computer languages and even special kids Deep learning is a relatively new branch of machine learning, and it will soon be
of computer networks WHICH are modeled on our human brains. The idea that an invisible part of every organization. Programmers use special deep learning
we might someday create artificially intelligent, sentient robots was first sug- algorithms alongside a corpus of data—typically many terabytes of text, images,
gested by prominent philosophers in the mid-1600s. videos, speech and the like. The system is trained to learn on its own. While con-
ceptually, deep learning isn’t new, what’s changed recently is the amount of com-
There are two kinds of AI: weak (or “narrow”) and strong (or “general”). When
pute power and the volume of data that’s become available. In practical terms,
Netflix makes recommendations to you, or Amazon displays books you might
this means that more and more human processes will be automated. Including
like to read, that’s narrow AI. The H.A.L. supercomputer from 2001: A Space
the writing of software, which computers will soon start to do themselves.
Odyssey, which was not only sentient, but decided it no longer had use for us
humans, is a representation of artificial general intelligence.
For the past six decades, researchers have been modeling AI using our own hu-
man brain as inspiration. Neural networks are the basic computer architecture It is recently possible to use a continual flow of transactional data and adjust
that attempts to mimic some of what we know about how the human brain and models in real-time. Potential use cases include: matching customers to the right
central nervous system transfers signals. product as they are looking at a website, re-writing content on a site to match the
needs of each individual user, real-time fraud detection, and security measures
A neural network is the place where information is sent and received, and a such as authenticating someone based on her typing habits.

TRENDS
001 - 013
In the near-future, we won’t write code for

computers. Instead, we’ll train them like dogs.
Artificial Intelligence cont.
003 Image Completion 006 Generative Algorithms For Voice

If a computer system has access to enough images—millions and millions—it can Researchers at MIT are studying how children learn new words in order to train
patch and fill in holes in pictures. There are practical applications for amateur computers on automatic speech recognition. As humans, we are able to master
photographers: if the foreground of a mountain is out of focus, another version of a new concept from just one or two examples; for machines, this is a more diffi-
the scene can be swapped in to generate the perfect picture. Image completion cult task when it comes to language. In the coming year, we expect to see more
is also a useful tool for law enforcement and military intelligence officers—com- research emerging in this area.
puters can now assist them in identifying who or what is in the frame.
007 Generative Algorithms For Sound
004 Predictive Machine Vision MIT’s CSAIL researchers have trained computers to watch videos and predict cor-
Researchers at MIT’s CSAIL have trained computers to not only recognize what’s responding sounds in our physical world. For example, what sound is generated
in a video, but to predict what humans will do next. Trained on YouTube videos when a wooden drumstick taps a couch? A pile of leaves? A glass windowpane?
and TV shows such as “The Office” and “Desperate Housewives,” a computer sys- The focus of this research is to help robots understand how objects interact with
tem can now predict whether two people are likely to hug, kiss, shake hands or each other in the physical realm. But future versions of the algorithms could be
slap a high five. This research will someday enable robots to more easily navigate used to automatically produce sound and sound effects for news videos, mov-
human environments—and to interact with us humans by taking cues from our ies and TV shows. It also raises the specter of audio fraud—what happens when
own body language. computers are able to spoof our voices and natural sound?
005 Natural Language Generation 008 Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Algorithms can transfer data into a narrative using natural language generation. With all of the hacking scandals that have plagued us in the past few years, smart
Dozens of news and other organizations, including Bloomberg and the Asso- businesses and organizations are turning to zero-knowledge proofs, which allows
ciated Press, are using Automated Insights, which mines data and is capable one party to verify data without conveying any additional information (like how
of writing more than 2,000 stories per second. They will use natural language or why the mathematical statement is true). In essence, this eliminates the need
generation to produce stories about fantasy football, earnings reports and the for a company to store private identity data during the verification process. Ze-
like. Narrative Science employs its NLG system to build narratives out of big data ro-knowledge proofs aren’t new, but deploying them to protect our credit cards
sets and to help non-data science people make better sense of what’s happening
within their organizations.

TRENDS
001 - 013
Algorithmia is a marketplace for algorithms.
and online identities is an emerging application. Irish startup Sedicii recently 010 Algorithm Marketplaces
launched its zero-proof software, which promises to reduce fraud. Researchers
at Microsoft and Princeton University are working on a zero-knowledge proof Most organizations can’t staff a team of developers who have unlimited time to
so that inspectors can identify something as a nuclear weapon without requiring create, test and refine algorithms. As a result, communities of developers are of-
them to take it apart, which would spread information about how to build one. fering up their algorithms in emerging algorithm marketplaces. Algorithmia and
DataMapper are a sort of Amazon for algorithms, where developers can upload
their work to the cloud and receive payment when others pay to access it. DataXu
009 Algorithmic Personality Detection offers a marketplace for its proprietary algorithms. PrecisionHawk has launched
Marketers will soon have access to algorithms that can assess your personality a marketplace for predictive agriculture algos. A number of other networks, such
and predict your specific needs and desires. Nashville-based startup Crystal and as Nara Logics, MetaMind, Clarifai offer tools for developers to build deep learn-
IBM’s Personality Insights both use social data and will rewrite everything from ing into any application. Look for even more niche marketplaces in 2017.
emails to resumes based on each of your intended recipients. Meanwhile, some
life insurance underwriters are attempting to assess your personality—via your 011 Pre-Trained AI Chips
magazine and website subscriptions, the photos you post to social media, and
more—in order to determine how risky an investment you are. Some lenders have A number of companies, including IBM, Google, Intel and Movidius, are working
used personality algorithms to predict your future financial transactions. (The on extremely powerful chips, and some come pre-trained. In short, this means
data show that if you look at two people with the same professional and personal that the chips are ready to work on AI projects. Google’s chip is called a Tensor
circumstances, the one with a higher college G.P.A. will be more likely to pay off Processing Unit (or TPU), and was specifically built for the deep learning branch
a debt.) Algorithms will harness your data in order to assess your predicted suc- of AI. It is designed to work with the company’s TensorFlow system. For refer-
cess at work, how likely you are to bounce around jobs and more. ence, TPUs are what was used in the famous AlphaGo match between Goog-
le’s DeepMind system and a world Go champion. Marketing pre-trained chips to
businesses will speed up commercialization and as a result will further R&D.

TRENDS
001 - 013
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action As of October 6, 2016, the first instance of
a woman returned for “CEO” in a Google
Images search was a marketing photo for the

CEO Barbie doll.
012 Uncovering Hidden Bias in AI

Every single day, you are creating unimaginable amounts of data, both explicitly Researchers at a number of universities—including Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Prince-
(uploading and tagging photos on Facebook) or implicitly (searching online for ton, University of California-Berkeley, International Computer Science Insti-
cooking utensils, cars, or doctors). That data is mined and used, often without tute, among others—have started to discover unintended, but explicit bias in
your direct knowledge or understanding, by algorithms. It is used to create ad- algorithms. In 2016, Google was shown to display high-income job ads to men
vertising, to help potential employers predict our behaviors, to determine our six times more often than women, while searching for “C.E.O.” in Google Images
mortgage rates and even to help law enforcement predict whether or not we’re returned 89% men. (As of October 6, 2016, the first instance of a woman was
likely to commit a crime. In May 2016, ProPublica.org published an exceptional actually a marketing photo for the CEO Barbie doll.)
investigation on machine bias and the problem of using AI to predict future crim-
Part of the problem has to do with the building blocks of AI: computers are
inals. Their findings: so-called “risk assessment” software is increasingly com-
trained using a limited initial set of data, and the training programs are built by
mon in courtrooms across the nation, and it is used to inform decisions about
humans. Often, the training sets reveal unacknowledged bias hidden within us.
everything from bond amounts to the length of a criminal sentencing. Perhaps
So if the training data predominantly shows white male CEOs, algorithms won’t
unsurprisingly, the software is biased against black people. (We encourage you
recognize people who look different. How can we push the limits of data and
to read ProPublica’s full report: https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bi-
algorithms without accidentally creating future socio-economic, religious and
as-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing.)
ethnic divides?

TRENDS
001 - 013
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Trust and accountability are important trends
within AI in 2017.

We will soon reach a point when we will no longer be able to tell if a data set has
been tampered with, either intentionally or accidentally. AI systems rely on our
trust. If we no longer trust the outcome, decades of research and technological
advancement will be for naught. Leaders in every sector—government, business,
the nonprofit world and so on—must have confidence in the data and algorithms
used.
Building trust and accountability is a matter of showing the work performed. This
is a complicated process, as understandably corporations, government offices,
law enforcement agencies and other organizations want to keep data private.
Committing to transparency in method would create trust without necessarily
divulging any personal data used.
In addition, hiring an ethicist to work directly with managers and developers, as
well as greatly diversifying the pool of developers to include people of different
races, ethnicities and genders will solve for inherent bias in AI systems.

TREND 014
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The Tay.ai Twitter bot went on a
homophobic, sexist, racist, anti-Semitic
bender within 24 hours of its launch.
Bots
Key Insight free-wheeling internet. During the recent campaign cycle, we witnessed the rise
of botnets—networks of computers designed to send out spam. Fake social me-
You’ve no doubt heard of a bot: a software application that’s been designed to
dia accounts, many of which originated in Russia, artfully tricked people into hav-
automate certain tasks, such as scheduling or managing basic customer service
ing arguments about everything from Donald Trump to immigration to taxes.
requests. In the past year, bots have emerged from the fringe and have started
to enter our mainstream vocabulary. There are now 12,000 Facebook Messenger The intelligence community should deploy bots for surveillance and for digital
bots available, as well as a number of platforms that make it easy for anyone to diplomacy. HR managers can use bots to train employees. Meantime, as Slack
build a bot. continues to grow in scale and popularity, bots within that environment will help
automate meetings and status updates and more, saving time and increasing
Examples productivity.
In the 1960s, Joseph Weizenbaum wrote a computer program called Eliza that
was capable of simulating a conversation between a psychiatrist and patient. It Watchlist
offered up plausible responses to common questions. In March 2016, the world Russia; Weibo; WeChat; Alphabet (Google); Snapchat; China; Microsoft; Chatfuel;
watched as @Tai.ai, a Microsoft experimental Twitterbot, went on an anti-Semitic, Pandorabots; Twilio; Amazon; Facebook; Slack
homophobic, racist rampage within 24 hours after its first tweet.
What’s Next
Many brands you recognize (1-800-Flowers.com, Pizza Hut and Dutch airline
KLM) are using chatbots for marketing and customer service. Disney partnered
with bot developer Imperson to deploy character bots, including Miss Piggy.
Tai.ai was built on the same platform as Microsoft’s experimental Mandarin-lan-
guage bot, Xiaoice. Both were capable of intimate conversations with users, be-
cause the program is able to remember details from previous conversations and
because it mined the Internet for human conversations in order to synthesize
chat sessions. The key difference: Xiaoice was released in a country where cit-
izens carefully guard their activity online, while Tai.ai was born into America’s

The Botness Scale
We are training bots in our own image. When developing your bots in 2017, we
recommend that you rate your work before deployment. Use this scale to rate
your bot on its effectiveness—and to determine, in advance, whether or not
you’ve accidentally encoded bias into your system. Rate your bot on a scale of
0 - 10, with 10 being the highest (and preferred) score
01 Is your bot’s purpose explicit? Will people interacting with your

06 Does your bot provide people with the necessary context
bot clearly understand what its purpose is after the first few
to have a good conversation?
interactions?
07 Does the corpus (the initial, base set of questions and answers)
02 Does your bot perform its designated function well?
you’ve created reflect only one gender, race or ethnicity?
If so, was that intentional?
03 Is your bot easy to access, either on a designated platform
or across platforms?
08 Did you assign your bot a traditional gender, ethnic or racial
identity? If so, does it reference any stereotypes?
04 Is it intuitive and easy to use?
09 Does your bot respond to gendered or sexist remarks?

05 Does your bot help people learn something new, or does it Does it respond to racial epithets or religious slurs?
effectively reinforce something that people already know? If it does respond, are the responses appropriate to people
of the group targeted?
10 Does your bot help people learn about their own biases
or broaden their worldviews?

TREND 015
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Google’s DeepMind challenge a champion
Go player to a game—and won.
Deep Learning
Key Insight What’s Next

Programmers use special deep learning algorithms alongside a corpus of data— Deep learning isn’t just used by Google, though researchers on the DeepMind
typically many terabytes of text, images, videos, speech and the like. The system team are working on a host of applications for neural networks. Internet searching
is trained to learn on its own. will be aided by deep learning—we’ll have conversations and get to our desired
answers far more quickly than we do today searching through pages of content.
Examples Chip designers at Fujitsu and Intel are using deep learning to design smaller,
Deep learning is a relatively new branch of machine learning. The Oregon Trail faster systems. Scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology developed a
was easy for anyone to play because a person created the game, and he only in- deep neural network that can automatically identify people’s faces using infrared
cluded straightforward choices and outcomes. But in real life, during 1810 - 1840, cameras—law enforcement will soon be able to see as clearly in total darkness
the Oregon Trail presented more threats than what was in the game: there were as they can in the bright daylight. DeepEar was developed by Bell Labs and is a
an infinite amount of variables to consider, which means an unknowable number neural network that listens via our smartphones without draining our batteries.
of possible outcomes. This is a problem for deep learning. Theoretically, an artifi- Facebook is using this technology to automatically generate faceprints—which is
cially intelligent machine could be trained to learn how to survive on the Oregon like a fingerprint, but using our photos instead. (The U.S. doesn’t yet have biom-
Trail, even with such a high number of details to consider. Meanwhile, in early 2016, etric data protection laws.)
Google’s AlphaGo—an AI program—beat a professional Go player 5-0. The great We recommend that you download your Facebook file if you haven’t already,
hope of those working in AI is that someday, deep learning will have advanced as this will give you an indication of what data Facebook is storing and how it
enough not just to make better decisions in a challenge like the Oregon Trail, or relates that information across user profiles. Qualcomm is developing neuromor-
to beat a human at Go—but to interact with us such that they’re indistinguishable phic chips, which have been used in robots to help them recognize objects they
from other people. Except that their artificial neural networks are orders of mag- haven’t seen before, or navigate themselves to a new location. In 2017, experi-
nitude more powerful than the biological neural networks inside our heads. mentation in deep learning will begin to lay the groundwork for all that’s to come.
Watchlist
Baidu; IBM; Stanford’s AI Lab and Vision Lab; MIT’s CSAIL; Google; Amazon; Mi-
crosoft; Fujitsu, Facebook; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology; Bell Labs; University
of Toronto; University of California - Los Angeles, University of California - Berke-
ley; NSA; Qualcomm

TREND 016
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action IBM’s Watson is a cognitive computing
platform.
Cognitive Computing
Fifth year on the list

This trend has evolved from a key idea in our 2010 trend report: anticipatory Late in 2016, IBM launched the Cognitive Horizons Network, which is a collabo-
computing. Cognitive computing systems use natural language processing and rative network dedicated to accelerating the field of cognitive computing. Those
artificial intelligence in order to understand our intentions. schools include: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of
Examples Maryland, Baltimore County, the University of Michigan, and the University of
By now, you will have heard of IBM’s Watson platform, a system that uses natural Montreal. AI researchers at member schools will share resources and work jointly
language processing and machine learning to enable people and machines to on cognitive problems. Meanwhile, Watson is learning how to read and interpret
interact more naturally. Cognitive systems like Watson super-charge our human medical images—a job that was previously reserved for highly-trained radiolo-
ability to think through complex problems. Watson is assisting doctors, scientists, gists. One interesting offshoot: a cognitive system could read all of the other data
engineers, lawyers and other professionals now in their everyday work. For ex- captured in a medical image, making the image far more valuable to a patient’s
ample, in August 2016, doctors in Tokyo were treating a patient who met all of record. Watson and CVS have partnered to learn about patients and their medi-
the criteria for acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cancer. After treatment, her re- cal histories in order to red-flag problematic behaviors, potentially transforming
covery was unusually slow, and doctors began to wonder if there was something the role of your local pharmacist. Working together with Watson, your local phar-
else wrong. Yet their reading of the patient’s medical data kept pointing to acute macist may begin to offer you holistic advice and interventions. IBM is now devel-
myeloid leukemia. They fed the patient’s data into Watson, which crunched her oping advanced data-centric supercomputing systems that will embed compute
genetic data against a larger corpus of data. Ten minutes later, Watson offered a power everywhere data resides in a system, which means a convergence of an-
set of new diagnoses, which included acute myeloid leukemia but also showed alytics, modeling, visualization, and simulation, and driving new insights at very
a strong possibility of a rare secondary leukemia. Doctors changed the woman’s fast speeds. In 2017, IBM will make its big push into a number of fields, including
treatment plan, and within just a few weeks she was in remission. finance, journalism, retail and healthcare, part of which includes better patient ac-
cess to their own health and prescription history. Watson—and for the time being,
your doctor—will see you now.
Watchlist
IBM Research, Cognitive Horizons Network

TREND 017
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Amazon’s Echo is an SVPA for your living
room.
Smart Virtual Personal Assistants (SVPAs)

Third year on the list

Smart Virtual Personal Assistants use semantic and natural language processing, SVPAs will become more pervasive in 2017. There are a number of devices launch-
along with our data, in order to anticipate what we want or need to do next...even ing in the coming year. Watch for Alexa-like products from Alphabet and Apple.
before we know to ask. You already have an SVPA in your phone, and you’ll have In addition to hardware, you’ll find a number of SVPA apps coming to market that
one in your kitchen or living room soon. will help you do everything from schedule appointments to feed you real-time
information as you watch news programs. You’ll also see SVPAs hidden through-
Examples out other connected devices, such as your home thermostat, your refrigerator
If you’ve ever used Siri, Google Now or Amazon’s Alexa, you’re familiar with and your phone. Researchers at MIT, Stanford, and the University of Texas at
SVPAs. They have nearly invisible interfaces and are being further designed so Austin are building infrastructure so that our devices will be able to listen and
that you talk, conversationally, with them. Most of the earlier SVPA apps have watch: They’ll know the places we go, the people we interact with, our habits,
now been acquired. Emu was acquired by Google, Donna was acquired by Ya- our tastes and preferences, and more. Then they’ll use this data to anticipate our
hoo, Cue was acquired by Apple...and the list goes on. When it was still ac- needs. Marketers, credit card companies, banks, local government agencies (po-
tive, Emu was a clever stand-in for a personal secretary. It would monitor the lice, highway administration), political campaigns and many others can harness
conversation and automatically make suggestions as two people texted. If you SVPAs to both surface and deliver critical information.
asked your friend to see a movie, Emu would immediately geolocate both of
you, suggest a nearby theater and show films and times, then check your calen- Watchlist
dars for your availability. It would even display a preview for you to watch. Once Stanford University; MIT; University of Texas at Austin; Amazon; Apple; Alphabet;
it determined the best time for you to meet, it would help you purchase tickets Microsoft; Yahoo; Robin Labs; IBM.
and enter all the data into your calendar. And it did all of this inside a single mo-
bile application. This illustrates what to expect soon. According to what we’ve
learned from product teams throughout the tech industry, a new wave of virtual
assistants will continue to surface in the coming year.

TREND 018
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Google Home’s ambient interface delivers
you just the information you need, whenever
you need it.
Ambient Interfaces
Key Insight Watchlist

Ambient music pioneer and visionary Brian Eno wrote in his liner notes for Music Alphabet (Google); Amazon; Apple; Microsoft; Spotify; Mumble; IFTTT; Samsung
for Airports: “Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of lis-
tening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it
is interesting.” Our modern interfaces are becoming more and more like ambient
music—able to do more for us with fewer direct actions, yet still able to captivate
our attention.
Examples
If you’ve interacted with Google Now or Amazon’s Alexa, or if you own a smart-
watch, you’ve used an ambient interface. It listens—figuratively and literally—and
automatically delivers you the information you need to know, just as you need to
know it.
What’s Next
In our modern age of information, the average adult now makes more than 10,000
decisions a day: some big, like whether or not to invest in the stock market, and
some small, like whether to glance at your mobile phone when you see the screen
light up. What makes ambient design so tantalizing is that it should require us to
make fewer and fewer decisions in the future. Think of it as a sort of autocom-
plete for intention. Our mobile devices and many of the wearables coming to
market will be listening and observing in the background and will offer up either
text, audio or haptic notifications as needed, and those will be decided by algo-
rithm. In 2017, we expect to see even more ambient interfaces being embedded
into productivity software and apps, tools used by law enforcement, customer
loyalty apps, news apps and gaming systems.

TREND 019
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Like Uber, many platforms are now offering
deep mobile links.
Deep Linking
Third year on the list (non-consecutive)

Deep mobile linking has been around since the beginning of smartphones. Deep Button; Google; Apple; Branch; MobileDeepLinking.org; Deeplink.me; Quixey;
mobile links make it easier to find and share data across all of the apps in your Appsfire; AdRoll; tapCommerce; Vungle; InMobi; MoPub; Vserv
phone.
Examples
There are three kinds of deep links: traditional, deferred and contextual. Tradition-
al deep links reroute you from one app or site (such as a link posted in Twitter)
directly to the app, as long as you have that app installed. Deferred deep links
either link straight to content if the app is installed, or to an app store for you to
download the app first. In 2016, we saw the proliferation of deep linking through-
out the Apple and Android operating systems. Contextual deep links offer much
more robust information—they take you from site to app, app to site, or app to
app, and they can also offer personalized information. For example, when you
land at the airport, you might find that your airline app sends you a link to Uber.
(You’ll find similar offerings within Google Maps.) Apple’s iOS10 enables quick
switching and sharing between apps via deep links.
What’s Next
This interoperability signals a new shift in thinking, as many mobile app devel-
opers have been hesitant to use deep links. With Google and Apple’s changes,
app-to-app experiences should start to become more common. For example,
Branch is a startup that helps developers deliver previews of their applications
before users install them. We expect to see this trend develop as the deep linking
ecosystem starts to take off in the coming year.

TREND 020
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Consolidation has begun within AI.
Consolidation in AI
First year on the list
Key Insight
All of the recent enthusiasm for AI has led to a number of startups—along with
lightening-fast acquisitions. Some now worry that the still nascent field of AI is
already under the direction of too few companies.
Examples
In the past year, Apple has bought Seattle-based AI startup Turi for $200 million,
but it isn’t the only company shopping around. To date, the top acquirer of AI
startups includes Google, Twitter, Apple, Intel, Salesforce, AOL and IBM, in that
order.
What’s Next
As with any technology, when just a few companies dominate the field, they tend
to monopolize both talent and intellectual property. This isn’t necessarily bad, but
when it comes to the future of AI, we should ask whether consolidation makes
sense for the greater good, and whether competition—and therefore access—will
eventually be hindered as we’ve seen in other fields such as telecommunications
and cable.
Watchlist
Alphabet (Google); Apple; Microsoft; Intel; Salesforce; AOL; IBM; Facebook; Am-
azon.

TREND 021
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Dr. Miguel Nicolelis and his team of researchers
at the Center for Neuroengineering at Duke
University are researching how to connect our
Human-Machine Interfaces
brains to machines. This brain-controlled car
is being operated by a rhesus monkey, whose
brains are similar to ours.

Researchers are finding new ways to connect humans and mammals directly to Duke University’s Center for Neuroengineering; University of Southern California;
computers. With these human-machine interfaces, people can communicate via University of Washington’s Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering; Johns
thought alone. Which promises new options for those suffering from stroke and Hopkins University; Carnegie Mellon University; Starlab; Case Western Reserve
paralysis. University; Penn State University; Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory;
DARPA.
Examples
At the University of Washington’s Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering,
researchers built a system allowing one person to transmit his thoughts directly
to another person. Using electrical brain recordings and a form of magnetic stim-
ulation, one researcher sent a brain signal to another person elsewhere on cam-
pus, causing his finger to tap a keyboard. Meanwhile, researchers at the Center
for Neuroengineering at Duke University have built a real-life Iron Man suit, al-
lowing a young man suffering from complete paralysis of his lower body to walk
out onto a soccer field and kick the first ball of the World Cup.
What’s Next
The team at Duke is now working on a so-called “Brainet,” which connects the
brains of a group of mammals to harness and direct their neural activity. One
successful experiment: to see if networking rats together would allow researchers
to solve a basic forecasting problem that individual rats struggled to complete
on their own. In every trial, the Brainet successfully solved the problem, and per-
formance improved the more the rats worked together. This work has a practical
and altruistic purpose: to help victims of stroke or traumatic brain injury regain
their cognitive abilities and motor function. Rather than having to relearn, they
need only reload those memories.

TREND 022
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The University of Stuttgart’s multi-lens
system next to a single doublet lens.
Smart Dust

These are computers, no larger than a grain of dust, that are light enough they University of Stuttgart; University of California Berkeley; Stanford University; Uni-
can suspend in the air. (Or in your brain.) versity of Washington; Purdue University; USC Robotics Research Lab; DARPA.
Examples
For years, researchers have been hard at work on miniaturization, as they try to
shrink computers as much as possible, down to the size of sand or dust. Each
particle-computer consists of circuits and sensors capable of monitoring the en-
vironment, and even taking photographs. Scientists at the University of Califor-
nia Berkeley developed what they call “neural dust,” which are microscopic com-
puters that work alongside remote ultrasound to send and receive data about
the brain. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Stuttgart figured out how
to print tiny 3D lenses—120 millionths of a meter in diameter, or about the size of
a grain of sand.
What’s Next
Researchers believe that this technology will dramatically change our approach
to medical imaging. Rather than relying on our current endoscopic technology,
which is bulky and invasive, a patient could simply inhale smart dust. Beyond
medicine, trillions of smart dust particles could be released in the wind to meas-
ure air quality or take photos. But we must also consider other use cases: would
you know if you’d inhaled rouge smart dust on a windy day? In the farther-future,
could this technology be used to track us surreptitiously?

TREND 023
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action This octobot is an example of a soft robot.
Soft Robotics

This is a relatively new field of robotics research. Imagine robots that are squishy Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna; Worchester Polytechnic Institute; MIT Media Lab;
and can operate in unpredictable environments. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; DARPA.
Examples
Scientists at the BioRobotics Institute at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa,
Italy, have been investigating soft robotics. Recently, they created a robot octo-
pus, capable of replicating the animals’s agile motions. In order to replicate the
biology of an octopus, they built computer models using exact measurements
and then experimented with a number of soft actuators to develop artificial mus-
cles. Researchers at Worchester Polytechnic Institute have been working on a
robotic snake.
What’s Next
Soft robots mean that someday soon, we will be able to enter and explore envi-
ronments previously unreachable by conventional methods: deep ocean waters,
the terrain of Mars, and perhaps even the gushing rivers of blood inside our own
bodies. This is just the beginning. Don’t expect to play with a squishy robot drone
at your next pool party. However those who follow drones, robotics, infrastruc-
ture and defense should have new prototypes to look at in 2017.

TREND 024
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Pepper is a robot companion from Japan’s
SoftBank.
Robot Companions
Key Insight of necessity, robots—mechanical systems, artificial intelligence, and automated

services—will act as productive, emotionally-intelligent stand-ins for a younger
After many years being developed inside of R&D labs, we are now starting to see
generation that was simply too small in numbers.
the first generation of robot companions emerge.
Watchlist
Examples
SoftBank; Sharp; Toyota; MIT Media Lab; Buddy; Nanyang Technological Universi-
Many countries, including Japan, Italy, and Germany, will soon face rapid demo-
ty; Sony; Tokyo University; Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory;
graphic shifts. In Japan, one in four people are now age sixty-five or older—there
aren’t enough people working to support both retirees and children. Science and
technology will eventually stand in for the lack of people: robots will assist with
everything from elder care, to medical assistance, to everyday companionship.
Unsurprisingly, this first generation of companion robots is being built in Japan:
Toyota is launching its Kirobo Mini companion, while Sharp has already debuted
its RoboHon. When SoftBank’s Pepper went on sale at the very end of 2015, the
company sold all 1,000 units in under a minute.
What’s Next
Within a generation, there will not be enough people to make Japanese society
work as it does today—but Japan isn’t alone in its demographic shift. Many in-
dustrialized countries, including the U.S., could suffer the same fate. For those
concerned that AI and robots will take away jobs, that doesn’t necessarily take
into consideration that we already didn’t have enough citizens ready to do the
work on their own.
Anyone interested in the future of robotics would be wise to look not to Silicon
Valley, but instead to universities and R&D labs in Japan, where extensive re-
search on the next generation of robot companions is already underway. Out

TREND 025
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Self-assembling swarming microbots

developed at MIT.
Collaborative Robots
Key Insight
Robots that communicate in real-time and cooperate on projects make a strong Watchlist
team.
Carnegie Mellon University; MIT’s Interactive Robotics Group; DARPA; Auton-
Examples omous Solutions; Energid Technologies; Boston Dynamics; Alphabet (Google);
Amazon; ABB Robotics; Aethon Inc.; FANUC Robotics; EPSON Robotics; Seegrid;
Teams of robots are now capable of working together, and they’re efficient, since
SoftBank Robotics Corporation; Toyota; ULC Robotics; VEX Robotics; Yamaha;
not every single robot has to excel at every task. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon
University of Tokyo; Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
University have built collaborative robots that are designed to work together.
In their recent work, a robot named Baxter is stationed at a table working on a
project. Once completed, another robot on the team—CoBot—picks up the item
and hands it to a human. Teams of collaborative robots can communicate to each
other, on their own, about when to wait, when to move, to carry out an activity,
or even to ask what to do.
What’s Next
Use your imagination and you can probably see what’s on the horizon. Collabora-
tive robots will play a key role in automating the tasks performed in warehouses,
manufacturing plants, logistics and delivery services. They will also run opera-
tions in conflict zones.

TREND 026
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Factories staffed with robots could mean
the end of harsh working conditions.
Ethical Manufacturing

Could robots bring the end of forced labor and lead a new era of ethical manu- Look for a number of new advancements in robotics that further reduce the need
facturing? for human labor, such as the Sewbo, which is similar to a traditional sewing ma-
chine but also has a smart robotic arm, allowing it to both sew and assemble
Examples an item of clothing. Elon Musk’s giant Gigafactory will soon employ hundreds
Recent advancements in robotics are proving that soon, humans may no longer of robotic arms and “automated guided vehicles,” essentially mobile robots that
be required to perform labor-intensive manufacturing jobs. While this certainly transport items from one area to another. There could be models available for the
means that people will be out of certain kinds of work, it does imply the end of future sooner than you might think. Manufacturing regions, like Ohio and Michi-
bonded, forced and child labor—not to mention slavery—which unfortunately has gan, could find their workforces disrupted.
become commonplace in places like China, the Philippines and Bangladesh. In
October 2016, a Canadian court allowed a lawsuit brought by Eritrean workers Watchlist
against Nevsun Resources, a mining company: it was the first time in history that National Association of Manufacturers; Alliance For American Manufacturing; Te-
a tort claim for modern slavery went ahead in Canada. Meanwhile, in September, sla; Sewbo; Carnegie Mellon University; MIT’s Interactive Robotics Group; Alpha-
the Associated Press published a searing account of foreign fishing workers, con- bet (Google); Amazon; ABB Robotics; Aethon Inc.; ULC Robotics.
fined and forced to work on U.S. fishing boats. The AP’s investigation revealed a
disturbing present-day reality: men fare orced to use buckets instead of toilets,
suffer sores from bed bugs and don’t have enough food to sustain them.

TREND 027
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action A UBI would guarantee income for everyone.
Universal Basic Income


An unconditional, guaranteed income for everyone within a country—a concept Finland has just launched a two-year UBI pilot study. A randomly-selected group
made popular in the 1960s—is being debated once again in the wake of automa- of 2,000 - 3,000 citizens will begin receiving a monthly stipend of 560 Euros
tion, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence. (or about $600 dollars.) Y-Combinator, the storied Silicon Valley incubator of
hot tech startups such as Reddit, Wufoo and Rapportive, is sponsoring a UBI
Examples program in Oakland, California. In June 2016, Swiss voters rejected a UBI initi-
The origins of universal basic income (UBI) date back to Thomas Paine who, in a ative guaranteeing citizens around $2,500 a month. Critics of UBI argue that if
1797 essay, theorized that governments should pay citizens £15 a year. There have citizens are simply handed a wad of cash each month, they won’t spend it on
been a number of universal basic income (UBI) experiments. In the 1970s, the Ca- preventative health or nutritious food, and that they will be less inclined to work.
nadian province of Manitoba began sending UBI checks to all of its residents. An Proponents say that our fast-approaching robotics era will render many out of
economist analyzed the program, which only lasted a few years, and discovered work anyway—and that a UBI will help insure our country against an imminent
that life improved significantly: kids stayed in school, fewer people wound up in implosion in the job market.
the hospital, and many reported that their quality of life overall was better. UBI
has had its share of supporters throughout history, from Dr. Martin Luther King, Watchlist
Jr., to the Nixon Administration, to far-right economist Milton Freidman. Stanford Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society; White House Council of Eco-
nomic Advisors; American Enterprise Institute; Oxford University’s Carl Benedikt
Frey and Michael Osborne; Finland; Netherlands; Norway; Sweden; Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development.

TREND 028
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action AI-assisted hiring could reduce bias and
diversity workforces.
Artificial Intelligence in Hiring

Key Insight
Researchers are finding that the usual data sources—test scores, GPAs and the
like—aren’t reliable indicators of talent.
Examples
Artificial Intelligence is being used to assess personal attributes like empathy,
thoughtfulness, engagement, motivation and drive. Coupled with social media
screening—looking at an applicants previous posts on Facebook, Twitter, Insta-
gram, blogs and elsewhere online—emerging systems consider both personality
and behavior when evaluating possible new hires. Companies like RoundPegg
and Interviewed, which collects data and performs assessments on candidates,
are being used by high-profile clients including ExxonMobil, Xerox and Razorfish.
What’s Next
One likely future benefit of AI-assisted hiring is that machines—theoretically, at
least—can be more objective than people. However, as we start to rely more on
these systems, we must also redouble our efforts to ensure that the algorithms
and data used aren’t also subject to bias. After all, these systems were originally
envisioned, architected and programmed by humans.
Watchlist
Mya A.I.; Recruit Strategic Partners; HackerRank; LinkedIn; IBM Watson; Alphabet
(Google); Facebook; University of Oxford’s Martin Programme on the Impacts of
Future Technology; Xerox; Razorfish; ExxonMobil; RoundPegg; Interviewed.

TREND 029
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Slack is a popular platform that now
includes bot assistants.
Productivity Bots
Key Insight
Productivity Bots will help assist workers and students perform tasks more effi-
ciently.
Examples
Slack is a popular hybrid instant message/ email system that lets you sort and
tag, search, and choose to broadcast messages to your whole team or just to a
few members.The average Slack user spends around 140 minutes (nearly two
and a half hours) per weekday on the service, and much of the reason is because
Slack bots can automate myriad productivity services on their behalf. For exam-
ple: you can automatically retrieve and read news from multiple sources, set work
and break timers, plan meetings and events for a few staff without spamming an
entire team and collaborate on Google docs. Productivity bots are now offered in
a number of different office apps, including Yammer, HipChat and Skype.
What’s Next
Slack’s success has inspired numerous startups and competitors, including Mi-
crosoft, which introduced its own product late 2016. We should expect deeper
integrations across all platforms and services in 2017, which should promise even
more increased productivity. Watch for more automated features within Trello,
Dropbox, Google Drive, Heroku, Mailchimp and Zendesk, to name a few.
Watchlist
Slack; Alphabet (Google); Yammer; HipChat; Skype; Trello; Dropbox; IFTTT; Hero-
ku; Y Comibinator; Mailchimp; Zendesk; Microsoft.

TREND 030
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Adaptive learning software is being used to
power digital textbooks.
Adaptive Learning

Artificial Intelligence is causing a disruption in education. The “one size fits some” Geekie; DreamBox; Smart Sparrow; Knewton; Pearson; McGraw-Hill; Northwest-
model will soon be replaced by individualized adaptive learning software. ern University; Stanford University; Y Combinator.
Examples
Adaptive learning software tailors the coursework for each student individually.
Students are assessed in real time, so that concepts and skills are presented in a
way that’s easiest for her to understand. Students are therefore able to work at
their own pace. The machine learning techniques powering the software requires
a large amount of data—which means many thousands of students—to be effec-
tive. Geekie, an adaptive learning startup, is now being used in thousands of high
schools across Brazil.
What’s Next
The number of startups in the adaptive learning space will continue to grow, es-
pecially as more schools gain access to portable technology. In the near-future,
computerized textbooks will adapt to each student. These systems will not re-
place teachers, but rather enable teachers to more adroitly support each individ-
ual student. There are opportunities for publishers to extract more revenue from
their core offerings: schools and students might subscribe to books rather than
buying them outright. However adaptive learning also stands to disrupt the text-
book value chain, from book sellers, to printers, to recycling centers to logging
companies.

TREND 031
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Udacity recently introduced its
“nanodegree” program.
Nanodegrees

As technology—and tech-forward educational platforms—becomes more so- Stanford University; MIT; Alphabet (Google); edX; Coursera; Udacity.
phisticated, new single-skill “nanodegrees” will be conferred.
Examples
One theory emerging from Silicon Valley is that our traditional, four-year post-sec-
ondary degree system alone cannot serve our future workforce in the years to
come. With the advent of automation and AI, we will need highly-specialized
skills, the sort that aren’t offered within universities. Some prominent technolo-
gists, including Stanford University professors (who’ve also worked at Alphabet)
Sebastian Thrun and Andrew Ng, say that nanodegrees are necessary to help
workers stay current. Courses, which could be completed in just a few months,
are intended to be taken alongside a job. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the popular ed-
ucation platforms Udacity, Coursera and edX all emerged from AI labs. Rather
than attempting to completely overhaul our educational system, nanodegrees,
which can be earned at a pace and during a time that works best for each indi-
vidual, are proving to be a reasonable way to keep up with technology.
What’s Next
Expect to see more platforms emerge, as well as new pricing models. Now that
nanodegrees have started to catch on, we will see fewer free courses. In the next
few years, platforms and course providers will need to think through their busi-
ness models. We should also start asking questions about future digital divides—
should there be a more egalitarian way to help everyone better their skills?

TREND 032
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action
Postmates is just one of the sharing

platforms that will be available in 2017.
Sharing Economy and Lendership


Rather than buying to own products, consumers are paying to temporarily lease The sharing and lending economy will continue to grow in 2017. A recent AARP
them. And they’re making money on the side too, by sharing. study showed that more than half of older Americans who lost their jobs in the
past few years cited that age discrimination is the primary reason they haven’t
Examples been able to find new work, so they’re eager to become microentrepreneurs in
Platforms are quickly replacing brick-and-mortar retailers. The appeal of having the lending and sharing economy. Niche industries that must pay for and maintain
access to the latest dress/movie/song, along with the ability to re-borrow it, in- expensive equipment, such as farmers, are also eager to monetize year-round.
creasingly trumps consumers’ desire to actually own and store it in their clos- FarmLink is a startup connecting farmers in one harvesting region to farmers in
ets. A down economy has helped sharing platforms gain millions of users. What another region to help spread capacity throughout the year. Impermanence will
started as basic transportation (Uber, Lyft) and housing platforms (Airbnb) has increase pressure on CMOs to tell a different story about the value of ownership—
blossomed to include municipal services (MuniRent, Kitestring, Life360), food or to develop new business models to support this shift in consumer buying.
(EatWith, LeftoverSwap), professional services (TimeBanks, CloudPeeps), logis- Meanwhile, new regulatory frameworks, legislation and licensing provisions will
tics (Boxbee, shyp, Postmates), telecom (fon, Reclaim), energy (Mosaic, vande- become more prominent in the coming year, which could impede further growth.
bron) and beyond.
Watchlist
Crowd Companies Council; Facebook; Etsy; Rent The Runway; Airbnb; Snap-
goods; WeWork; SpaceAway; LendingClub; Funding Circle; Sparkbox; FarmLink;
Toys Trunk; Uber; Lyft; MuniRent; Kitestring; Life360; EatWith; LeftoverSwap;
TimeBanks; CloudPeeps; Boxbee; shyp; Postmates; fon; Reclaim; Mosaic; vande-
bron; and many others.

TREND 033
KnuEdge is a military-grade platform

capable of recognizing our individual voices,
Faceless Recognition even in a noisy environment.

Technology has made it possible to recognize who you are, even without a clear KnuEdge; MIT Media Lab; DARPA; Alphabet (Google)
image of your face.
Examples
German researchers have discovered how to create thermal faceprints by taking
heat maps of our faces and using machine vision to recognize patterns. Their
technology can accurately identify a face—and in under 35 milliseconds, regard-
less of the amount of lighting or the facial expressions people make. (See Trend
20, Deep Learning.)
What’s Next
San Diego-based KnuEdge built a military-grade platform capable of recognizing
our individual voices, even in a noisy environment. Founded by NASA’s former
Chief Administrator and its Chief Technology Officer, KnuEduge recently hired
world-class voice impersonators to see if they could fool the system, but the
technology prevailed every time.
MIT researchers have learned that WiFi can now identify you just by bouncing
signals around—your unique shape and posture are used to reveal who you are,
even in a crowded room of people. Emerging research has shown that WiFi can
be used to recognize what a person is saying or writing with a pen—simply by
analyzing the WiFi signals altered by our bodies. Which means that soon, we’ll
see through walls.

TREND 034
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action PredPol’s predictive policing system.
Bias in Recognition Algorithms


We are discovering that machine learning algorithms, meant to help identify peo- While you won’t see a complete reversal of how these systems work in 2017, you
ple for a number of different reasons, aren’t as objective as we’d planned. can expect to see more investigations into bias.
Examples Watchlist
During 2016, we saw a number of cases in which the algorithms got it wrong: they PredPol; HunchLab; National Institute of Justice; Hitachi’s Visualization Predictive
misidentified innocent people as criminals and predicted that certain city blocks Crime Analytics; a police department near you.
were likely to see a spike in violent offenses or drug trafficking. All of these cases
had one thing in common: they involved black people. Investigations from a num-
ber of universities, media organizations and activist groups revealed bias in the
software. For example, the PredPol predictive policing system, which is used by
police departments around the U.S., recommended time and time again that de-
partments concentrate their efforts on neighborhoods that were overwhelmingly
poor and black. The problem has to do with how arrest data is gathered, and how
individual police departments have historically monitored their local communi-
ties. The model didn’t include a rigorous check on bias in the initial data sets.

TREND 035
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Extra information can be added to an image
to fool algorithms.
Adversarial Images

In short, an adversarial image is a photo with a tiny modification, usually one Google’s Inception v3 algorithm; Stanford University; University of Chicago; Ima-
that’s imperceptible to humans, that is created in order to help computer scien- geNet database.
tists adjust machine learning models. They are also a security threat.
Examples
In order for machine learning systems to learn, they must recognize subtle dif-
ferences. For example, a computer scientist might slightly alter an image of a lla-
ma—using something as tiny as a few scattered pixles—and fool the system into
miscategorizing the image as something completely different, such as a shoe or
a cup of coffee. When that happens, an adjustment is made to the system and it
continues training.
What’s Next
Adversarial images can also be used to knowingly and purposely trick a machine
learning system. If an attacker trains a model, using very slightly altered images,
the adversarial examples could then be deployed out into other models. There
are implications for companies that use images as secondary passwords (such
as Bank of America’s sign-on system), for search engines (Google, Bing) and
for any service that automatically tags our photos (law enforcement databases,
Facebook).

TREND 036
WiFi and NFC-powered beacons can

recognize us and then deliver information
Ambient Proximity we can use while shopping.
Fourth year on the list

New technologies can be programmed to push or receive information to/ from DoorStat collects and analyzes a wide array of customer demographics, including
our mobile devices—and also our bodies—tethering us to an always-on informa- gender, age, ethnicity and even mood, in real time. This allows retailers to observe
tion network. how shoppers behave while inside of a store and to make adjustments, such as
moving merchandise to other locations or deploying staff who have more (or
Examples less) outgoing personalities. Placemeter quantifies the volume and movements
You’ve no doubt heard about beacons, which are tiny devices that can be proof pedestrians, cars and bicycles, offering retailers an instantaneous snapshot of
grammed to push (or receive) information to/from mobile phones using Blue- how much pedestrian traffic walks by a storefront, how many of them actually
tooth. We are located on nearby networks, as sensors use our personal informa- walk into the store to look at products, and ultimately how many make purchas-
tion and collect data about our experiences. These beacons become aware once es. In 2017, expect to see more uses of ambient proximity in retail, security, and in
you’re near them. All of this will get more exciting once beacons are connected to places where people congregate.
the emerging Internet of Things, which will network data from everyday items to
enable entrepreneurs to make smarter real-time decisions. For instance, beacons Watchlist
placed on an in-store display could report how many customers stop to look at a Polytechnical University (China); MIT; University of New South Wales (Austral-
particular running shoe, and how many try on that shoe or merely skip over it and ia); Oxford University; BlipTrack, Gimbal, Estimote, Google’s Eddystone, Amazon,
look at a different one instead. A new Internet protocol (IPv6) is emerging and PayPal, Qualcomm.
will power our Internet of Things over WiFi, so that soon, everything we own will
have its own unique identifier.

TREND 037
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action IBM Watson’s Personality Insights API
analyzed Oprah Winfrey’s tweets to create
her profile.
Character Recognition and Analytics

Key Insight
Emerging predictive analytics tools wrangle your data, behavior and preferences
in order to map your personality—and predict how you’re likely to react in just
about any situation.
Examples
IBM Watson and Twitter offer a tool that mines Twitter feeds and weather data
to identify consumers who are likely to fire off angry tweets if their cable service
is disrupted. Those complaints aren’t empty threats: IBM’s data shows a correla-
tion between disgruntled tweets and customer loss. IBM’s technology can scan
individuals’ social media data and analyze their personalities to predict responses
to an email or an ad. Recruiting startups, dating sites and school application plat-
forms are all starting to experiment with personality recognition software. Nash-
ville-based startup Crystal culls thousands of public data sources to help you
learn about someone’s personality before calling or emailing them. It even offers
a kind of spell check for sentiment, autocorrecting phrases and making recom-
mendations (“keep the message under 200 words, otherwise this recipient might
ignore it”) so that the message resonates better with your intended recipient.

TREND 038
Attention
Key Insight The Future Today Institute’s Attention Matrix

is a tool to help measure whether your
As technology has evolved, media organizations, marketers and advertisers have strategy will command the attention of your
adapted their existing content for the screens of our ever-changing devices. desired audience.
However multiple studies show that our attention is continually split between
what we’re doing in the real world and what we’d like to be doing online. As the
two become more intertwined, capturing our attention is becoming more diffi-
cult than ever.
Examples
Making sure that content fits correctly on a screen is only solving part of the
challenge—what about content fitting our needs and behaviors as both change
throughout the day? In order to capture someone’s attention, you must consider
a number of variables: where is she right now? What’s she likely to be doing in the
next 60 seconds? What’s relevant to her in the next few minutes? What need can
you fulfill for her at this moment?
What’s Next
We believe that any organization that publishes any kind of content for any rea-
son—whether that’s a news organization, a social network, a brand or a branch of
the government—must focus less on the device a customer is holding and more
on what the customer herself is doing. Soon, content creators will work alongside
algorithms to syndicate different versions to different devices depending on a
user’s individual needs, given that those needs will change throughout her day.
Watchlist
Facebook; Alphabet (Google); Chartbeat; Washington Post; New York Times; Na-
tional Public Radio; Financial Times; Refinery29; Buzzfeed; Mic; Vocativ.

TREND 039
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The Internet Archive is saving some—but not
all—of our content.
Digital Frailty

In the past two years, we’ve seen the first widespread cases of important journal- During the past election, candidates relied heavily on social media to get their
ism being erased from the web because of media consolidation or because sites ideas out, and to debate each other in a public space. Recently, many of those
were no longer being maintained. Digital Frailty is the phenomenon in which tweets and Facebook posts were deleted by candidates and their staffs. Cur-
those digital assets published to a news organization’s website are impermanent rently, the United States does not have a policy on archiving social media posts.
or easily broken. Should a governor, senator or president’s social media posts become part of an
official archive?
Examples
While some content can be retrieved via the Internet Archive, it is only taking
Perhaps not every Facebook post should be saved in perpetuity, but might we snapshots of content at a time. Libraries archive printed material, but there is no
need to look back on this moment in time and reflect on how our language— central repository for all of the digital content we are now producing. Perhaps
how the very way we communicate—was shaped by our Instagrams, our Snaps, we don’t need to save every listicle and quiz. What will a future society look like
and our tweets? Will our future historians look back, marveling at the amount of if our current media landscape goes dark? Do we have an obligation to preserve
anthropological data we were simultaneously creating—and destroying? If this the digital conversations shaping society? Should we be working harder to en-
past election season taught us anything, it’s that Twitter helped to shape public sure that digital archives aren’t lost? These are questions we will be asking (and
opinion and the outcome of the election, but many controversial tweets posted hopefully answering) in 2017.
by candidates running for office, were deleted by their campaigns.
Meanwhile, several news organizations have moved to digital-only publications as Watchlist
a cost-cutting measure. One of the best digital journalism projects remains Rising Facebook; Twitter; Alphabet (Google); Snapchat; Instagram; Tumblr; Yahoo;
From Ruin, an award-winning project by MSNBC. It tells the story of Katrina’s af- NewsCorp; Bloomberg; Disney; Comcast; Amazon; AT&T; Verizon; ESPN; Netflix;
termath through the lenses of two small communities in Mississippi that weren’t General Electric; BuzzFeed; PRX; PRI; Vox; NPR; Internet Archive; newspapers
covered by any other media outlet. It included a series of videos, maps, interac- and magazines everywhere.
tive elements, a forum for residents—and since it only exists as a website, there
is no other way to see the stories. When Microsoft pulled out of its joint venture
with NBC, the project went offline. It’s recently available again, but for how long?

TREND 040
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action In this age of technology, we need a
nutritional label for news.
Nutritional Labels For News

Key Insight
Now that news organizations are relying on data, algorithms, and machine learn-
ing for various aspects of news gathering and publishing, they should commit to
transparency.
Examples
There are too many instances of bias in algorithms to list. Just as consumers ex-
pect to see a byline on stories, because it creates a chain of accountability, they
will soon expect to know how stories were built. Reporters aided and augmented
by smart systems should explain what data sets and tools they used. Meanwhile,
stories that were written in part or entirely by computers should reflect that an
algorithm was responsible for the piece of content being read/ watched.
What’s Next
It is in the public’s best interest, and in the best interest of newsrooms, to create
a nutritional label of sorts for stories, explaining which technologies and datasets
were used. Whether a label or simply a few sentences below each story, we ex-
pect to see more transparency in how stories were reported in 2017.
Watchlist
Tow Center for Digital Journalism; Columbia Journalism Review; news organiza-
tions everywhere.

TREND 041
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The New York Times introduced an
experimental limited-edition SMS product
for the Olympics.
Limited-Edition News Products

Key Insight
Some organizations have begun to experiment with temporary products: limit-
ed-run newsletters, podcasts that only last a set number of episodes, live SMS
offerings that happen only during events.
Examples
Limited-edition news products doesn’t necessarily mean creating a bunch of la-
bor-intensive one-offs. Rather, they can be templates that your organization can
use, iterate on and redeploy again and again. Whether it’s a planned news event
(like the 2016 Election), an annual conference (CES, SXSW), a season (basketball,
football, winter weather), or a big story that has a defined beginning and end,
limited-edition news products are starting to be used by news organizations.
What’s Next
In 2017, expect to see more temporary podcasts, newsletters and chatbots that
are deployed specifically for just one event. This is a revenue and outreach oppor-
tunity, as they are vehicles for targeted, short-run advertising.
Watchlist
Media organizations; content marketers.

TREND 042
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Michael Ferro, chairman of tronc, said in
2016 that his company would use AI to
create 2,000 videos a day.
Artificial Intelligence For News


In 2017, we will continue to see a number of machine learning and AI applications Researcher and academic Meredith Broussard at NYU; Washington Post; Face-
being used to assist reporters, editors, producers and publishers. book; New York Times; Narrative Science; Automated Insights; researcher Andre-
as Graefe at the Tow Center For Digital Journalism
Examples
Since 2013, we’ve included AI-powered robot-assisted journalism and contextual
awareness as part of this report. Early experiments at the LA Times and at start-
ups such as Narrative Science and Arria have proven that bots can transform raw
data into narratives, crafting stories that seem as though they’ve been written by
a human. In 2016, Tribune Publishing renamed itself tronc; company chairman
Michael Ferro then appeared on a CNBC show and said that tronc would focus
on producing its content using AI in order to create 2,000 videos a day.
What’s Next
The challenge with declaring AI in newsrooms a fait accompli is that we are only
at the very beginning of the artificial intelligence era. In the next 24-36 months,
object recognition, natural language algorithms, generative language, machine
learning and compute power will coalesce to make it possible for computers to
identify what’s in photos, text and videos, extract meaning, and automatically
generate multimedia stories—but we’re not quite there yet today. Our research
shows that in the coming year we will see new innovations and experiments in
how AI can be used in newsrooms.

TREND 043
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Backchannel is a new breed of website with
a highly engaged niche audience.
One-To-Few Publishing

Newsletters, podcasts and niche networks that captivate smaller audiences made We anticipate seeing more and more niche networks launch, whether they are
a huge comeback in 2015-16. What’s next is an expansion to capture more niche individual newsletters or podcasts. We also expect to see more niche-focused
audiences. digital magazines in 2017. Smaller sites like Backchannel, Nautilus, Pacific Stand-
ard, Bitter Southerner, New Inquiry and Aeon produce exceptional content and
Examples command very attentive audiences. Our research shows that there is profit to
Suddenly, it seems like everyone—from world leaders, to your next-door neigh- be made, even though audiences may be smaller in size. As many of the one-
bor—has a podcast, newsletter or both. This is due in part to services like to-few startups have proven in the past 24 months, an influential network with
Mailchimp, TinyLetter (owned by Mailchimp), Skype, Google Hangouts, Garage sticky engagement shows why dedicated attention matters more than a bunch
Band, SoundCloud, Libsyn, Stitcher, Auphonic, SpeakPipe and a host of afforda- of clicks, and that’s the metric that will matter most in the near future. Advertisers
ble smartphone microphone attachments. In 2016, we watched new niche media are taking notice.
empires take root: Jessica Lessin’s The Information publishes in-depth stories on
tech and business. Former MTV chief digital officer Jason Hirschhorn expanded Watchlist
his MediaREDEF newsletter in a full-blown news aggregation brand, attracting in- REDEF group; The Information; PRX; TinyLetter; Mailchimp; Nautilus; Pacific
vestor funding and launching REDEF.com along with several new topic-focused Standard; Bitter Southerner; New Inquiry; Aeon; Backchannel; Skype; Garage
newsletters. Band; SoundCloud; Libsyn; Stitcher; Auphonic; SpeakPipe; Twilio; NPR; PRI.

TREND 044
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action In the near-future, journalism could be
offered as a broader service via the cloud.
Journalism as a Service (JaaS)


News organizations can become an indispensable modern information layer that How could you rethink news deployed as a service that would include different
powers all facets of our daily lives across all devices—and in the process unleash kinds of parcels: news stories; vetted and fact-checked mini-biographies for other
a sustainable revenue model. sites and digital services (to replace Wikipedia); verified, searchable databases
of people and organizations. An AI-powered service that automatically generates
Examples a short report of the opinions on a particular subject, along with a list of quoted
“Software as a Service” is a licensing and delivery model, where users pay for experts. A calendar plug-in that summarizes the most important news events to
on-demand access. It’s a model that we believe could work for news, and in the pay attention to during the week. All of these services could work outside of the
near-future might be an inevitability. The central challenge within news organiza- social media landscape, which means that news organizations would not have
tions is that there are immediate, acute problems—but reasonable solutions will to share revenue or give away their content for free, but could charge for access.
require long-term investment in energy and capital. The tension between the two
always results in short-term fixes, like swapping out micro-paywalls for site-wide Watchlist
paywalls. In a sense, this is analogous to making interest-only payments on a loan, News Corp; McClatchy Corporation; CNN; Advance Publications; iHeartMedia;
without paying down the principal. Failing to pay down the principal means that Discovery Communications; Grupo Globo; Asahi Shimbun Company; Microsoft;
debt—that problem—sticks around longer. It doesn’t ever go away. Transition- Hearst Corporation; Axel Springer; Mediaset; ITV; BBC; Fuji Media Holdings; New
ing to “Journalism as a Service” would enable news organizations to fully realize York Times; Washington Post; Alphabet (Google); Amazon Web Services; Twilio;
their value to everyone working in the knowledge economy—universities, legal Comcast; 21st Century Fox; Bertelsmann; Viacom; CBS Corporation; Baidu; tronc;
startups, data science companies, businesses, hospitals, and even big tech giants. Hubert Burda Meda; Gannett; PBS; NPR; PRI; PRX; Yomirui Shimbun Holdings;
News organizations that archive their content are sitting on an enormous cor- Time Inc.
pus—data that can be structured, cleaned and used by numerous other groups.

TREND 045
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Metrics will become more transparent in
2017.
Transparency in Metrics

While most companies that publish content on the web are obsessed with met- Nielsen; Chartbeat; YouTube; Instagram; Snapchat; Facebook; Twitter; Alphabet
rics, historically they’ve kept audience data hidden from staff. We anticipate a sea (Google); all content-producing organizations.
change in 2017.
Examples
Metrics are neither easy to find nor easy to understand for many working inside
of content organizations. In September 2016, Facebook apologized for display-
ing incorrect numbers of video plays to advertisers and publishers, and said that
it had been showing incorrect metrics for two years as it attempted to challenge
YouTube. Earlier in the year, current and former Facebook staff alleged they were
instructed to suppress conservative news from the site’s “Trending Topics” area.
It goes without saying that metrics can influence editorial and business decisions,
not to mention how the public interprets the popularity of a story. Most large
news organizations have hired audience engagement and analytics managers as
go-betweens.
What’s Next
Publishers and advertisers will question the validity of metrics that they, them-
selves, cannot verify. Anyone creating content needs to understand the ebb and
flow of traffic and how one piece of content fits into the broader scope of the or-
ganization. We expect to see news and other content organizations develop new
models to bring transparency in metrics to staff—without jeopardizing editorial
integrity.

TREND 046
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Apture was an early experiment in layering
contextual information on websites.
Intentional Rabbit Holes


For the past decade, the predominant view on digital content has been that We haven’t seen a similar contextual service launch since Apture went offline,
shorter is better, with links that don’t cause the user to bounce off a website. But though the Washington Post began experimenting with what it calls a “Knowl-
sometimes stories need to be longer, and they need those additional links for edge Map” the summer of 2015. Its “Confronting the Caliphate” series offered
context. In 2017, publishers will experiment with new tools in order to lead readers special highlighted phrases that when clicked would reveal a column with addi-
down intentional rabbit holes. tional information. The feature works on mobile as well. Media organizations are
trying to keep people on their sites, so we anticipate seeing renewed interest in
Examples Apture-like services in the coming year.
In 2007, a startup called Apture tried to solve the bounce problem by allow-
ing users to search and explore content without leaving the page. Highlighting Watchlist
a word or phrase could bring up a box with layers upon layers of information, Washington Post; Alphabet (Google); Mother Jones; NPR; Facebook; tronc; Mc-
as a sort of digital rabbit hole. Editors could manually insert additional informa- Clatchy Corporation; News Corp; Advance Publications; BBC News; Guardian; Mi-
tion, or Apture’s algorithm would surface related content from trusted partners. It crosoft; Axel Springer; Vox; Mic.
was a tremendous innovation—a news story with a lot of complicated terms and
subjects that could offer heady subset explainers as well as historic videos, dis-
senting viewpoints, detailed information about sources and more. Why would a
reader leave the page when a smart editor had already anticipated and answered
all of her questions? The entire Apture team was acquired by Google in 2011.

TREND 047
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action CNN created an experimental conversational
news bot for Messenger.
Conversational Interfaces

We are entering an era of conversational interfaces. You can be expected to talk Chatfuel; Pandorabots; CNN; BuzzFeed; Amazon; Google Now; Washington Post;
to machines for the rest of your life. New York Times; Facebook; McClatchy Corporation; News Corp; BBC News;
Guardian; Microsoft; Axel Springer; Vox; Mic.
Examples
In the late summer of 2016, CNN deployed a conversational news bot on Face-
book Messenger that you could talk to about the Olympics, while BuzzFeed
released a bot to help with their reporting on the Republican and Democratic
National Conventions. Whether it’s Google Now on your phone, or a device like
Alexa, beginning in 2017 you and your devices will have conversations about the
news.
What’s Next
Conversational interfaces can simulate the conversations that a reporter might
have with her editor, as she talks through the facts of a story. Bottable interfaces
and platforms, such as Pandorabots and Chatfuel, will start to replace standard
search and FAQ’s. Meanwhile, journalists will engage in conversations with ma-
chines to assist in reporting. IBM Watson’s various APIs, including Visual Recog-
nition, AlchemyLanguage, Conversation and Tone Analyzer can all be used to
assist reporters with their work.

TREND 048
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action This listicle became the gold standard for
many journalists in 2013.
Dynamic Listicles
Key Insight
A listicle is a short-form of explanatory writing that uses a list as its structure. Dy-
namic listicles are that same content made interactive via chatbots.
Examples
In 2013-2015, listicles were everywhere. One of the most popular New York Times
stories during that period was “52 Places to Go in 2014.” Listicles are still the
bread-and-butter of newer startups like Upworthy, BuzzFeed and Vox. Because
of the structured nature of listicles, they are perfect material for chatbots.
What’s Next
In September, in her annual presentation at the 2016 Online News Association
conference, Future Today Institute founder Amy Webb discussed the emergence
and promise of dynamic listicles. They can be used for a number of different sto-
ries: elections, breaking news events, public health epidemics, sports and more.
News outlets of all sizes and journalists working inside of various organizations
are now starting to experiment with them.
Watchlist
World Bank; State Department; Russia Today; CNN; BuzzFeed; Washington Post;
McClatchy Corporation; New York Times; Vox; Refinery29; Upworthy.

TREND 049
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Google recently added a Fact Check tag to
its Google News stories.
Real-Time Fact Checking


Buoyed by new technologies and our recent election cycle, real-time fact-check- IBM Watson; Alphabet (Google); Facebook; Twitter; various news organizations;
ing will be a priority in 2017. various activist and political groups.
Examples
Digital tools have made it easy to report on a live event and publish in real time,
but adding context—such as whether or not a source’s statement is factually ac-
curate—usually happens after. In 2009, the Tampa Bay Times won a Pulitzer for
its PolitiFact project, which fact-checked the presidential election. PolitiFact is
now an independent journalism website where reporters and editors fact-check
statements made by the government, political candidates and advocacy groups.
In 2011, MIT student Dan Schultz launched Truth Goggles, which originally en-
abled users to fact-check stories on the Internet. Truth Teller was mechanized,
transcribing videos using speech recognition, and it eventually pivoted into a
broader annotation tool. In 2016, the presidential debates were fact checked by a
number of groups, including National Public Radio (NPR), the Washington Post,
and even Hillary Clinton’s own staff. The efforts were people-powered.
What’s Next
Late in 2016, Google introduced a fact-check tag to its Google News service:
readers can see fact checks next to trending stories. As we saw in this most re-
cent election cycle, inaccuracies and falsehoods quickly spread on social media
masquerading as the truth. News organizations have a tremendous opportunity
to use AI along with social media data and their own article databases, to build
tools for real-time fact checking, adding a critical editorial layer that’s both good
for the public interest and good for building brand reputation.

TRENDS
050 - 053
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Digital video will continue to grow in 2017.
Video
Sixth year on the list
Key Insight Communications, for whom broadband subscriptions had been filling the widen-
ing cable TV subscriber gap.
U.S. adults now spend close to an hour a day watching online video, and in-
creasingly we’re using our mobile phones to access that content. But not all
adults prefer video. An October Pew Research Center survey found that more 052 WebRTC
Americans prefer to watch their news (46%) than to read it (35%) or listen to WebRTC is the real-time communications technology powering Google Hang-
it (17%). But the demographics might surprise you: Americans age 50 or older outs. WebRTC can be used to connect your smartphone to the articles you’re
prefer video, while the majority of 18 to 29-year-olds (42%) prefer reading the reading on your desktop or tablet, displaying different components depending
news. Still, advertising and marketing budgets are flowing freely to the agencies on what offers the best user experience. If a video won’t display well on your
creating video—and to the platforms distributing it. Video ad spending topped current device, you could be offered a different version automatically. Because
$5 billion in 2016. WebRTC works from the browser (Firefox or Chrome), it’s also part of one of
the other trends we’re continuing to watch: connected machines. Rather than
050 Connected TVs bridging computers to networks, which must route and relay information along
various channels, WebRTC and similar peer-to-peer technologies help computers
TVs that connect to the internet certainly aren’t new. What’s changed is penetra-
to talk to each other without obstruction. This may seem like a subtle change in
tion in average households and the availability of streaming apps that bypass the
Internet architecture, but consider the implications: you would no longer need a
standard list of cable and public broadcasting channels, such as Amazon Prime
third-party operator, like Skype, to video conference with a friend. Games would
Video, Hulu, YouTube, iPlayer (UK-only), All 4 (UK only), Playstation Now, Crack-
load and play faster. Pandora and Spotify wouldn’t need to buffer.
le, HBO GO, and of course, Netflix.

051 Cord Cutting
Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter all offer live streaming video servic-
Thanks to the Connected TV trend, more and more people are ending their cable
es—to anyone, for free. This means that for the first time in history, no technical
subscriptions. What’s new is that cord cutting now extends to subscribers drop-
knowledge or specialty equipment is required to broadcast the news. As a result,
ping their expensive internet services. According to Pew Research, last year 13%
we are seeing a number of newsworthy events now appearing, completely unfil-
of adults used only their smartphones to connect to the internet, while only 67%
tered, across social media channels: funerals, arrests, political rallies, conference
of adults have home broadband connections. The cord cutting trend should be at
speeches, encounters with public officials.
the forefront of conversations within Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Charter

TREND 054
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Google recently added a Fact Check tag to
its Google News stories.
Media Consolidation
Key Insight
We are starting to see a handover of sorts: the shrinking of traditional media com- Watchlist
panies just as newer media organizations are consolidated under single owners.
Viacom; Time Warner; News Corp; Discovery; Bloomberg; Disney; Comcast;
Examples Amazon; AT&T; Vox; Vice; HBO; Netflix; BuzzFeed; Facebook; Twitter; Alphabet
(Google).
Two oft-repeated rumors in 2016 were that Apple wanted to buy Netflix and
Time Warner, and that either Disney or News Corp. would buy Vice Media. The
fact that so many people were ruminating about the acquisitions does highlight
just how much consolidation is underway. Within the past two years, Univision
won the bankruptcy auction for Gawker Media Group (and killed Gawker.com
after the sale). AT&T, which owns DirecTV, considered bids for Starz, Paramount
Pictures, and in the end, won Time Warner. Re/code became part of Vox, which
became part of NBC, which a while back became part of Comcast. Verizon ac-
quired AOL. The Financial Times was acquired by Nikkei (for a staggering $1.3
billion). Will BuzzFeed be next? Will Amazon acquire Vox? Will Bloomberg buy
the Atlantic? Will Facebook and Twitter merge? Or will Facebook eat the whole
media landscape?
What’s Next
The next 24 months will be about rapid product creation and monetization in a
rush for investment and exits. By the year 2021, it’s possible that AT&T, Verizon,
Comcast, Charter and Amazon will have replaced CBS, Viacom, the New York
Times, Hearst and Conde Nast as the biggest news and entertainment media
brands in the U.S.

TREND 055
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action IBM’s News Explorer helps reporters and
researchers see connections between
keywords.
Computer Assisted Reporting v2.0


Computer Assisted Reporting (or CAR, as its known by news industry profes- IBM Research; Alphabet (Google).
sionals) is an investigative journalism technique. Reporters find, clean and mine
public records and documents, crunch data and uncover hidden stories. Aided
by machine learning algorithms and AI, this next iteration of CAR, or CARv2.0,
will augment the skills of journalists and allow them to analyze data and connect
dots.
Examples
It’s one thing to find and mine public data—analyzing what’s there, and connect-
ing the seemingly unconnectable dots, is another challenge entirely. Cognitive
computing systems are allowing journalists to combine what they find in the data
and then see the connections between facts, keywords and concepts. In this way,
they can reveal interconnected relationships between people and organizations
that they might not have otherwise seen.
What’s Next
News organizations will soon have access to new CARv2.0 tools from IBM’s
Alchemy News API, including its News Explorer. Investigative teams will incor-
porate machine learning techniques into their current workflows to help them
discover context and meaning within the data. In 2017, we will be watching Pro-
Publica especially, which has been doing a stellar job of building and using tools
for investigative reporting.

TREND 056
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Waze is a platform that can also be used for
crowdlearning.
Crowdlearning

You’re familiar with crowdsourcing: asking the public to contribute content or to Alphabet (Google); Apple; Microsoft; Investigative Reporters and Editors (profes-
assist with on-the-ground reporting on an issue. Crowdlearning is querying our sional association); the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting; vari-
passive data—our mobile and online activity, our public health records, our loca- ous U.S. government websites; various state and local government websites; the
tions—to learn or understand something new. websites of government agencies worldwide; various news organizations.
Examples
In June 2016, the evening after citizens in the United Kingdom voted for Brexit,
Google revealed sobering search data: people in the UK were Googling “what
is the EU.” This passive data told an interesting story, and it’s just part of what
we’re now able to learn from the crowd by monitoring various networks. Our
smartphone ownership has reached critical mass, and so has our use of various
networks. Our data not only follows us around, it’s often available for anyone to
search, collect and analyze.
What’s Next
Good crowdlearning sources are already available to us, and they include Health-
Data.gov, Google’s busy times data for businesses and public spaces, Waze,
Wikipedia and more. We anticipate that more news organizations—as well as
marketers, activists and other groups—will start harnessing data in creative ways.
That’s because our thinking results in behavior (like searching for “what is the
EU?”). Our behavior results in data. And that data can be used to learn something
about us.

TREND 057
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Many people use ad blockers to improve
their experience or to protect their privacy.
Blocking the Ad Blockers

Key Insight
Ad blockers are software that automagically remove ads from webpages. Typi- Watchlist
cally, they are browser (Chrome, Firefox) extensions. Soon, publishers will deploy
their own ad blocker-blocking tools. Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB); retargeting companies (Criteo; AdRoll);
creative optimization companies (AdExtent; Ad Ready); agency trading desks
Examples (Cadreon, Xaxis); exchanges (OpenX, doubleclick, Facebook Exchange); media
planning; ad networks (Alphabet, AOL, Amazon, Facebook); targeted networks;
Often, people who use ad blockers are doing so either because ads slow down a
mobile-specific networks.
site’s loading time, or because the ads served are offensive, inappropriate for kids,
or aren’t safe for work. Last year, German publisher Axel Springer released a new
system that prevented readers from loading the Bild news site until they turned
off their ad blockers. In December 2015, Forbes followed suit—so did Wired in
February 2016. All of the publishers showed a note instructing readers to whitelist
them in the blocking software—but there are still ways of getting to their content
(RSS, “reading mode,” or incognito/ private mode within browsers).
What’s Next
Internet researchers have discovered that readers aren’t likely to whitelist sites—
it’s not that they object to advertising, but rather to seeing inappropriate ads, or
to being tracked by the code that marketers use. According to internet tracking
service Alexa, Axel Springer’s Bild bounce rate skyrocketed from 2% up to 40%
and time spent on site down 6%. The other sites have fared no better. Publishers
will need to spend time in 2017 developing a different strategy for ad blocking,
whether that’s allowing readers an incentive for displaying ads, or allowing them
to choose what kind of ads to show. Which also means that publishers will need
to work closely with ad serving companies and online advertisers to ensure that
the right kinds of ads are being shown.

TREND 058
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action NLG can be used to help readers of all levels
engage with a story.
Natural Language Generation for Reading Levels


Natural Language Generation (NLG) is a processing task, where computers gen- Arria NLG; Narrative Science; Expect Labs; Automated Insights; Department of
erate the kind of language humans would use in a designated situation. NLG can Computing Science, University of Aberdeen; School of Science and Engineering,
be used to rewrite content for a variety of different reading levels. University of Dundee; Research Center on Information Technologies (CiTIUS),
University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain; School of Informatics University of
Examples Edinburgh
In 2015 and 2016, many companies—including Credit Suisse, Deloitte, and a num-
ber of news organizations—were already using Narrative Science, an NLG pro-
vider. A basic set of data was processed with an NLG algorithm to produce a
readable story, which sounded no different than if a human had written it.
What’s Next
As news organizations search for new revenue streams, and as marketers try
to expand their global reach, NLG will be used not just to write stories—but to
create different versions for audiences with varying reading skills. That’s because
the basic corpus—the data that makes up the story—wouldn’t change, but the
vocabulary and amount of detail could be adjusted. For example, a single story
about the results of Berkshire Hathaway’s quarterly earnings could be rendered
in many different ways: for finance professionals, for high school economics class-
es, for beginning English as a second language learners, and for MBA students in
non-English speaking countries.

TREND 059
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists spent a year reporting on a
massive cache of 11.5 million leaked records
Leaking
known as the Panama Papers.

The Panama Papers were leaked by a law firm in 2016. WikiLeaks; journalism organizations and professional associations; political lead-
ers; government agencies; lawyers; C-suite executives.
Examples
The most famous leak in modern history happened when former National Se-
curity Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked thousands of sensitive gov-
ernment documents. U.S. Army Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning up-
loaded a mountain of classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks,
which has become the politically-embattled bastion for leakers. In October 2016,
the U.S. government officially accused Russia of hacking into the Democratic
National Committee and releasing sensitive emails. Meanwhile, the International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists—a collaboration between 370 journal-
ists from 76 countries—spent a year reporting on a massive cache of 11.5 million
leaked records showing the offshore holdings of 140 politicians from around the
world, 12 current and former world leaders, and more. The records, known as a
the “Panama Papers,” were sent from a little-known law firm in Panama.
What’s Next
We expect to see more coordinated leaking efforts in the year ahead. In 2017,
governments, banks, and corporations will be targeted. Organizations should de-
velop risk management plans in advance; meanwhile, journalists should develop
collaborative partnerships and workflows ahead of the next leak. We also see an
opportunity for data journalists and for those with specialized skill sets, adept at
organizing and parsing structured data. Their particular talents will be in greater
demand in the years ahead.

TREND 060
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Will bots have their day in court in 2017?
The First Amendment in a Digital Age


It may seem odd to include the Bill of Rights, which were ratified 225 years ago, ACLU; Jack Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amend-
in an emerging tech trends report. But recent discoveries in how our technology ment at Yale Law School; Margot Kaminski, Assistant Professor, Moritz College of
renders speech will result in First Amendment challenges in the years to come. Law, The Ohio State University.
Examples
The Random Darknet Shopper was an art project and automated shopping bot.
It was programmed to spend $100 in bitcoin every week on a random purchase
within a specific online marketplace. However, in 2015 it bought 10 ecstasy pills
and a falsified Hungarian passport. Meantime, in March 2016, Microsoft’s Tay.
ai bot went on an anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist rampage. The bot was de-
commissioned within 24 hours, but screenshots of its automatically-generated
tweets are all over the internet. Legal scholars are already starting to study the
free speech of bots, and how the First Amendment applies to them. Is the speech
of a bot protected? If not, who’s libel? The bot? The bot’s well-meaning develop-
er? The brand?
What’s Next
The problem isn’t just limited to the U.S. In 2015, a bot programmed by Am-
sterdam-based Jeffrey van der Groot autonomously wrote and tweeted a death
threat, which resulted in Dutch police having to figure out whether or not a crim-
inal charge was even possible. In 2017, we will see more internet trolling, social
media bullying, bias in code, chatbots that act with autonomy, and AI agents, and
as a result we anticipate legal challenges worldwide in the next few years.

TREND 061
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action IMAGE: Emily — can you find something that
looks like data?
CUTLINE: Synthetic data sets could help
Synthetic Data Sets

programmers build software without raising
privacy concerns.
Key Insight is working on datasets that can be shared by researchers all over the world. There
are applications for synthetic data sets across numerous fields, from bioinformat-
In the wake of privacy scandals, researchers are starting to experiment with syn-
ics to macroeconomics to international relations to data-driven newsgathering.
thetic data sets to perform meaningful analyses. This would increase the value of
datasets that everyone uses—such as the Census—while protecting their confi- Watchlist
dentiality.
DataONE; U.S. Census; Purdue University; Duke University; University of New
Examples Mexico; U.S. Geological Survey; ESA Data Registry; Knowledge Network for Bio-
complexity; SANParks Data Repository; U.S. National Science Foundation
A number of agencies collect detailed information for the purpose of generat-
ing statistical models. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau gathers a wealth
of information, such as age, gender and income. It also collects similar data on
businesses, including annual payroll and employment. While this information is
vitally important to researchers, allowing everyone access to it presents a priva-
cy challenge. For example, programmers need data sets to create and test new
algorithms. But the numbers matter—so creating a statistically identical set of
1000 people without divulging their exact details has been a difficult task. Dur-
ing the past few years, a number of new approaches have been tried, including
the experimental Synthetic Longitudinal Business Database (SynLBD) from the
Census Bureau.
What’s Next
Even synthetic data still needs to be verified. While some researchers argue that
synthetic datasets aren’t useful beyond testing algorithms and computer mod-
els, we think that increased privacy concerns will lead to the creation and use of
more sets like the SynLBD. The Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE)

TREND 062
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Project Malestrom is a web browser built on
torrent technology.
Torrents

Torrent files include information on how to download a larger file using the Bit- BitTorrent
Torrent protocol. BitTorrent is a sidestep around centralized servers, instead mov-
ing data across the Internet in a more distributed way.
Examples
People use torrents for all kinds of reasons, from blocking an ISP’s ability to see
your location on the network to sharing large files. BitTorrent makes it easier to
distribute those large files without eating up lots of bandwidth.
What’s Next
In 2016, BitTorrent launched BitTorrent Now, a video streaming service and news
platform. Torrents themselves have applications beyond peer-to-peer file sharing.
Think of torrents as a new kind of Internet that’s hosted in the crowd rather than
the cloud. In 2015, BitTorrent released a public beta of Project Maelstrom, a web
browser built on the same underlying technology. Some argue that a distributed
browser system could prevent an ISP from throttling certain sites or users. Mael-
strom also allows content to be published that doesn’t actually live on a server—
rather, your browser would connect to others online who are also viewing the site
or who have viewed it recently. This could thwart would be denial-of-service at-
tacks, which can take down a server. Torrent sites would be distributed between
hundreds of thousands of browsers. Though what if that content was meant to
harass someone instead? Or if it was incorrect? Or if a virus was embedded? It’s
fascinating to think of the future, alternate Internet.

TRENDS
063 - 066
Snapchat will offer its Spectacles AR glasses

Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action to the public in 2017.
Mixed Reality
Key Insight 90s favorite Pokemon made a comeback in the form of a mobile AR app called
Pokemon Go. It’s massive popularity is catalyzing renewed interested in mobile
Mixed Reality (MR) combines the physical and digital realms and encompasses
AR integrations. Meanwhile, in the fall of 2016 Snapchat announced Spectacles,
a number of technologies: augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), 360-de-
and while comparisons to Google’s failed AR Glass headset are easy to make,
gree video and holograms.
we urge you to resist the analogy. Snapchat’s glasses are primarily for shoot-
ing video, but they necessarily include a personal dashboard, with AR included.
What You Need To Know About MR Meantime, Magic Leap, which continues to raise investment funding, launched its
AR, VR, 360-degree video and holograms aren’t new. But in the year ahead, we’ll developers platform—and it will be using a new kind of lightfield chip. Magic Leap
see more devices being made available to consumers at affordable prices—and projects light directly into the user’s eye instead, which makes it seem as though
we’ll see a number of new content providers building out stories and experienc- digital objects exist in the real world.
es for each platform.
065 360-degree Video

063 Virtual Reality
360-degree video is created with a special camera system capable of recording
Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer simulated environment. As a tethered experi- 360 degrees of a scene simultaneously. Once the video is rendered, viewers can
ence, VR is experienced wearing a pair of goggles, and it can stimulate sensations use a mouse, their fingers, or gesture to watch the video from any perspective
of being physically present in the scenes a user is viewing. VR can be experienced or angle. In 2016, YouTube and Facebook offered 360-degree videos, and we
untethered as well, by slipping a mobile phone into a special mask. In 2016, a expect more platforms, including PlayStation, to offer it in the year ahead.
number of headsets went on sale, and we expect to see more from Oculus, Sony,
HTC, MergeVR and Google in 2017. Also new for the coming year: easier ways to
shoot and render VR video. 066 Holograms
At the end of 2015, holographic display startup LEIA released its SDK and a big-
064 Augmented Reality ger screen for a glasses-free viewing experience. Expect to see LEIA’s displays in
everything from smartphones to watches to connected cars in 2017-2018. Also
Augmented Reality (AR) doesn’t simulate an entirely new environment, but rath- pay attention to consumer reaction to Microsoft’s Hololens technology in the
er overlays information right onto your field of vision. But you need a lens and coming year.
screen of some kind, whether that’s a mobile phone or a pair of glasses. In 2016,

Virtual Vocabulary:
A mini-glossary for the virtual reality terms you’ll need to know in 2017.
Cinematic VR Latency
VR created with video and images from the real world. (The alternative is com- Sometimes, the system isn’t capable of showing the images in exact synchroni-
puter-generated graphics.) zation with the user. When that happens, a user moves her head, but the images
she’s seeing lag behind a few fractions of a second. This lag is a reason why
Eye tracking some people experience “simulation sickness.”
A system that can read the position of the user’s eyes while using VR. Eye track-
ing software allows a user to aim correctly with her head while in a simulation. Presence
When a user feels as though she’s fully immersed within a simulation, like she’s
Field of view (FoV) actually there, she’s achieved “presence.”
What a user can see in her visual field while in a simulation. The viewing angle
for an average, healthy human eye is about 200 degrees, so a field of view close Refresh rate
to or greater than that is optimal, because it creates a true sense of being within How quickly the images are updated. Higher refresh rates cut down on latency
an environment. and provide a more realistic simulation. Ideal refresh rates are above 60 frames
per second.
Haptics
In addition to a VR headset, hand-held controllers are often used. Some are Room scale
equipped with haptic feedback, which gives the user the sensation of touching This is the tethered version of VR that offers users the capability of walking
something in the simulated environment or receiving touch-back reactions. around a room and interacting with virtual items, as they walk around in the
physical world. So if you take a step in the real world, you’re also taking a step
Head mounted display (HMD) in the virtual simulation. For this to work, rooms need to be mapped in advance.
This is the headset you’ve seen people wearing. It typically includes a strap both
around and over the head, which secures the screen to your face. Some HMDs Social VR
include built-in headphones as well as sensors for head tracking. When two or more people are wired in to a VR simulation and able to share the
experience by observing each other, interacting or participating in joint activi-
Head tracking ties.
Some HMDs are equipped with special sensors that track the exact movements
of the user’s head. The sensors then send feedback to the system, which moves Stitching
the images and audio a user experiences in her field of vision in real-time. The process of combining video from different cameras into one, spherical vid-
eo suitable for VR. This typically requires a tremendous amount of editing to fill
In-ear monitors (IEM) in gaps, reorient scenes and seamlessly meld video streams so that the simula-
These are earbuds that work with head mounted displays that don’t offer built- tion looks authentic.
in headphones.
VR face
When a user has been in a simulation, a few things happen: the head mount-
ed display tends to leave a temporary imprint on the skin, not unlike a pair of
swimming goggles. Users also tend to relax into a slack-jawed look, with their
mouths slightly agape.

TRENDS
067 - 079
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action In 2016, Apple and the FBI fought over
backdoors.
Security
Key Insight 069 Zero-Day Exploits

A lack of planning and oversight led to significant cyber attacks—on govern- Italian spyware maker Hacking Team (HT) had been selling commercial hacking
ment, businesses and individuals—in the past year. We predict even more so- software to law enforcement agencies in countries all over the world—until it got
phisticated attacks in 2017. hacked. Data leaked from HT, along with a massive dump of 400 gigabytes of in-
ternal emails, revealed a number of zero-day exploits. In the hacking community,
067 Data Retention Policies zero days are prized tools because they are undisclosed vulnerabilities that can
be exploited. Once the flaw is revealed, programmers have zero days to do any-
Many organizations—from financial institutions to universities, hospitals, veteri- thing about it. The HT breach helped to shine a light on a growing zero day mar-
narians, churches, Fortune 500 companies and beyond—store data for compli- ketplace, with some exploits being sold for as much as $500,000. Just because
ance, business or customer convenience. In the year 2017, every organization will HT was exposed doesn’t mean that the marketplace for zero-days has dried up.
need to address best practices in data retention, with an eye toward security. You On the contrary, this software will be in greater demand in 2017.
would be surprised to know how few organizations have responsive data reten-
tion policies that are updated according to security issues—and for that matter,
how many organizations don’t even have policies at all. 070 Backdoors
In the wake of the deadly San Bernardino attack in December 2015, the FBI and
068 Remote Kill Switches Apple found themselves debating so-called “backdoors” in public. The FBI de-
manded that Apple unlock the assailant’s phone, and Apple refused, arguing that
Mid-2016, both Alphabet (Google) and Apple readied kill switches, capable of re- creating a software update to allow a backdoor would endanger the privacy of
motely wiping out all of the information on a smartphone. If someone steals your us all. While they sound malicious, backdoors aren’t necessarily bad. Often, de-
phone, you’d have the ability to render it—along with all of your data—complete- velopers intentionally install them into firmware so that manufacturers can safely
ly useless. While these aren’t yet available to consumers, kill switches would be upgrade our devices and operating systems. The challenge is that backdoors can
useful for the enterprise and for government agencies. The benefit would come also be used surreptitiously to harness everything from our webcams to our per-
with a cost, however. Kill switches would mean that nobody could gain access to sonal data. In 2017, government officials will be advocating for a set of “golden
what’s inside a lost or stolen phone—not even law enforcement. keys,” which would allow law enforcement to break through the security using
backdoors. Opponents argue that the simple act of creating a backdoor would

TRENDS
067 - 079
DARPA’s new Cyber Grand Challenge asks

hackers to build systems that can hack faster
than humans.
Security cont.
leave ordinary people vulnerable to everyday attacks by even unskilled hackers. It 072 Darknets
turned out that by May 2016, law enforcement had gotten into the phone, with-
out Apple’s help. While the case is officially settled, the issue isn’t going away— Many people confuse the deep web—hidden parts of the Internet that aren’t usu-
expect to hear more about backdoors and golden keys in the coming year. ally indexed by search engines—with darknets, which are niche spaces promising
anonymity often for illegal activities. There were ongoing, international pre-emp-
tive strikes against darknet operations in 2015 and 2016. In the coming year, we’ll
071 Glitches see additional layers of protection for those wanting to access darknets, while
Glitches are problems that don’t have an immediate, obvious cause but nonethe- law enforcement will receive training on how to navigate the dark web. For gov-
less can cause frustrating problems. In 2013, technical glitches caused a three- ernment and law enforcement, the challenge of training is that it is static. Those
hour stop at the Nasdaq. In 2016, a glitch grounded the entire Southwest Airlines accessing darknets are typically also the ones building them.
fleet, and it took several days for the airline to get back on schedule. Technical
glitches halted trading at the New York Stock Exchange recently. Glitches cause 073 Open Source App Vulnerabilities
temporary outages—and big headaches—for streaming providers such as Dish’s
Sling TV, which interrupted service during the premiere of Walking Dead spinoff In recent years, we have seen some devastating breaches in open-source pro-
Fear the Walking Dead. Glitches at Netflix have caused outages as well as strange jects: Heartbleed and Shellshock. Hackers exploited vulnerabilities that had exist-
mashup summaries for different films. A favorite: “Inspired by Victor Hugo’s nov- ed for a long time but had been left unchecked and full of bugs. In the aftermath
el, this Disney film follows a gentle, crippled bell ringer as he faces prejudice and of Heartbleed, Dell, Google and other companies donated funds to help shore
tries to save the eyes of individual dinosaurs.” In many cases, glitches have to do up OpenSLL. The Linux Foundation launched a Core Infrastructure Initiative to
with degraded network connectivity or a miscalculation of the bandwidth need- help stave off the next wave of attacks. Still, many organizations use open source
ed. But a lot of times, glitches have to do with newer technologies, which we are tools, and in 2017 they must perform weekly–not occasional–security checks.
learning break in unexpected ways.
074 Selfie Security
In 2011, the Future Today Institute forecasted that within five years, we would
see the advent of two or three-factor authentication using a combination of bi-
ometrics and gestures instead of passwords. Our timing was correct: in an effort
to combat weak passwords (and weak password encryption), some companies

TRENDS
067 - 079
During the past election cycle, WikiLeaks

became weaponized.
Security cont.
will be using two-factor sign-ons that sidestep passwords entirely. Apple was in our homes and offices (climate controls, locks) and more. Security expert Bri-
recently granted a patent for “low threshold face recognition,” which would help an Krebs says that the “market for finding, stockpiling and hoarding (keeping
our phone cameras identify us, even if we’ve just dyed our hair blue. MasterCard secret) software flaws is expanding rapidly” and went so far as to advocate for a
is using with selfie-scans: at the checkout, users have to hold up their phones to compulsory bounty program. In response, a number of white hat (good hacker)
take a photo. Since launching its fingerprint scanning tools in 2013, Apple has bug bounty programs are becoming popular. HackerOne is being used by Slack,
had success with biometric security—and little customer protest. So MasterCard Twitter, Square and MailChimp. Friendly hackers hunt down potential vulnerabil-
is following suit, using a combination of fingerprint scans and our faces, as a ities and get paid for their work.
two-factor biometric authentication. We expect to see more companies moving
away from standard passwords in the coming year. But it does raise an interesting 076 Automated Hacking
question about the security of biometric databases. It’s easy to change your pass-
Thanks to advancements in AI, one of the big trends in security is automated
word if you get hacked. How would you replace your face, eyes or fingerprints?
hacking—in short, software that’s built to out-hack the human hackers. The Pen-
tagon’s research agency DARPA launched a Cyber Grand Challenge project in
075 Prize Hacks 2016, with a mission to design computer systems capable of beating hackers at
their own game. While it can take several months or even years for humans to
The past two years have been dramatically successful for hackers. 2017 will bring
spot malicious code or vulnerabilities, DARPA hopes that smarter automated sys-
an onslaught of new technologies (and their payment systems)—not to mention
tems can reduce the response time—and fix—to just a few seconds.
new geopolitical and corporate realities. The governments in the U.K. and U.S.
will be transitioning power just as political tension escalates between established
democracies and their would-be detractors. Corporate scandals in 2016—Wells 077 Offensive Government Hacking
Fargo employees creating millions of phony accounts, Volkswagon’s software
In the wake of several hacking attacks against the U.S. government and elected
that misreported data to the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions
officials in 2016, the Obama administration signaled out Russia as a persistent
trackers—have stoked the ire of many consumers. Cybercriminals tend to be mo-
threat. Some elected officials argued that the two agencies responsible for cy-
tivated by these events. They will target larger, more prestigious prizes: banks,
berwarfare—the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency—will
corporations, governments, financial institutions, universities, health and medical
likely split and start playing offense, especially as artificial intelligence becomes
records, marketing databases, our taxes. To date, attacks that have made big
a focus for U.S. cyber strategy. Meanwhile, look for a buildup of highly-skilled ex-
headlines have been about hackers taking data—but exploits can also mean infil-
perts joining the effort to meet emerging threats in 2017.
trating the computer systems in our cars, in our infrastructure (airplanes, trains),

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067 - 079
Security cont.
078 Cyber Mission Forces in the Field

In the summer of 2016, the U.S. military began deploying its Cyber Mission Force.
These are units of civilians and military personnel, and they are charged with
protecting our national infrastructure and our military networks from cyber in-
trusions. Some of the units also support combat missions. We expect that the
force could be in build-out and training mode in the next year and fully capable
towards the end of 2018.
079 Weaponizing WikiLeaks

What happens when a government leaks a cache of sensitive information on
WikiLeaks, with the intent of destabilizing another nation? WikiLeaks becomes
weaponized. In July 2016, WikiLeaks published 20,000 emails from the Demo-
cratic National Committee. By fall, the Obama Administration named Russia as
the source of the hacked data, citing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desire
to influence the U.S. presidential election. Given the rising political and social ten-
sions within the U.S., Europe, Russia and Middle East, we are sure to see more
leaks in the coming year.

Hacker Terms and Lingo You Need To Know For 2017
Adware Brute force attack

Software that automatically generates online ads; it can also include spyware This type of attack is a laborious, methodical process where a hacker uses soft-
that tracks your browsing habits. It’s because of adware that many people are ware to automatically guess every password it can to gain unauthorized entry
turning to ad blocking software. (see the earlier “Blocking the Ad Blockers” into a network or computer.
trend.)
Bug
Anonymous A flaw or problem in a program that can be harmless or might allow hackers to
A collective of hackers, best known for its use of the Guy Fawkes mask and dis- exploit a system.
tributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Anonymous typically uses the hash-
tag #Ops when announcing a new campaign. Past ops included a takedown of Compiler
the Church of Scientology and the Westboro Baptist Church. A program that translates source code into executable machine language.
Compilers are used to surreptitiously allow hackers into various systems with-
Attribution out changing the source code, making it easier for them to get into a computer
Researching and tracking back the origins of an attack. or network without being noticed.
Backdoor Cookie
Developers intentionally install backdoors into firmware so that manufacturers A small file sent from your computer’s web browser to a server. Cookies help
can safely upgrade our devices and operating systems. The challenge is that websites recognize you when you return, and they also help third parties track
backdoors can also be used surreptitiously to harness everything from our web- audience.
cams to our personal data.
Cracking
Black hat A basic term that describes breaking into a security system. Anyone “cracking”
A malicious hacker; someone who hacks for personal gain. a system is doing so maliciously.
Bot Crypto
Bots are automated programs that performs a simple task. Some—simple chat- Cryptography (or “crypto”) is the art and science of encrypting data—as well as
bots, for example—are completely harmless. Other bots can be programmed to breaking encryption.
repeatedly guess passwords so that a hacker can break into a website.
Deep web/net and Dark web/ net
Botnet The deep and dark net/web are actually two different things, though they’re
A botnet is a group of computers that are being controlled by a third party, and often conflated. The deep net or deep web is the vast trove of data that isn’t
are being used for any number of nefarious purposes. For example, malware in- indexed by search engines. Spreadsheets, databases and more that are stored
stalled on your computer can run, undetected, in the background while hackers on servers make up this space. The dark web/ net is made up of sites that are in-
use your machine as part of a large spamming network. visible unless you know how to use a special network, such as Tor, which knows
how to find the dark side. Once there, you’ll find what you might expect: pirated
software and content, job ads for hackers, illegal drugs, human trafficking, and
worse.

Denial of service attack (DoS) Exploit

This is when a hacker sends so many requests to a website or network that the The general term for leveraging a vulnerability in a piece of code, software,
traffic temporarily overwhelms the servers, and the site or network goes down. hardware or computer network.
Distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) Firewall

This is a DoS using a battalion of machines. A system of software and hardware that’s designed to prevent unauthorized
access to a computer or computer network.
DEF CON
This is a big, annual conference for hackers that attracts people from all over the Grey hat
world. Discussions range from highly technical and academic to those about Hackers are just like the rest of us. Some have malicious intent, others just want
policy. It takes place in Las Vegas every August. to fight the bad people, and some...have a certain tolerance for moral flexibility.
Gray hats will use the tools and sensibilities of a black hat in the pursuit of jus-
Digital certificate tice.
These authenticate and approve the identity of a person, organization or ser-
vice. Hacker
This term means different things to different people. People who tinker with
Doxing code, to purposely manipulate it, are hackers. Some are good, and some are
When hackers root out and publish personally-identifying information about bad. In popular culture, “hacker” has taken on a distinctly negative connotation.
someone online.
Hactivist
Dump Someone who hacks for social or political reasons.
The term for a trove of data released by hackers.
InfoSec
Dumpster diving This is an abbreviation for “information security.” Companies and professions
Organizations and individuals who don’t consistently use a shredder are open- that work within cybersecurity are known as InfoSec.
ing themselves to dumpster diving, which is exactly what it sounds like: hackers
go through garbage looking for any information that will help with an exploit. IRC
Internet relay chat protocol (IRC) has been around forever. It’s the communi-
Encryption cation system used to have conversations and share files, and it’s still used by
Using special code or software to scramble data so that it cannot be read by a hackers.
third party, even if it is intercepted.
Jailbreak
End-to-end encryption A way of removing the restrictive manufacturer’s code from a device so that
When an encrypted message is scrambled on both ends, as it is sent and again you can reprogram it to function as you desire.
as it is received.

Keys Penetration testing

The code that, just like a physical key, is used to lock or unlock a system, en- The practice of trying to break into your own computer or network, in order to
crypted message or software. test the strength of your security.
Lulz PGP
A play on “lol” or “laughing out loud,” black hats often use the term “lulz” to PGP stands for “Pretty Good Privacy,” and you’ve probably seen a lot of PGP
justify malicious work. LulzSec (“lulz security”) is yet another offshoot of Anon- numbers showing up in Twitter and Facebook bios lately. PGP is a basic method
ymous, and it was credited with the massive Sony Pictures hack. of encrypting email (and other data). In oder to receive and read the message,
your intended recipient must use a private key to decode it.
Malware
Any software program that’s been designed to manipulate a system, by stealing Phishing
information, augmenting code or installing a rogue program. Rootkits, keylog- We’ve all seen a phishing attack at least once. They usually come in the form of
gers, spyware and everyday viruses are examples of malware. an email from a trusted contact. Once you open the message or attachment,
your computer, your data and the network you’re on become vulnerable to at-
Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks tack.
This occurs when a hacker impersonates a trusted connection in order to steal
data or information or to alter communications between two or more people. Plaintext
This is text without any formatting. In the context of cybersecurity, it also refers
Metadata to text that isn’t encrypted. Sony Pictures storing its passwords and email ad-
This is the data that explains what’s in another set of data, such as a jpeg photo, dresses in a basic Excel spreadsheet is an example of plaintext.
or an email, or a webpage.
Pwned
Password managers South Park fans will remember Cartman using this word. It’s geek speak for
These are third-party tools that you entrust your passwords to. Just remember “dominate.” If you’ve been hacked, you’ve been pwned.
one master password, and use it to unlock a database of all your other pass-
words, which should allow you to use a completely different password for every RAT
site and service you use. While managers are a good idea in theory, many are RATs are Remote Access Tool. If you’ve used a remote login service to access
cloud-based. If a hacker gains access to your password manager, you’re in big your office computer while away from work, you’ve used a RAT. But RATs can
trouble. If you do use one, make sure to use complicated password at least 36 be malicious, too. Just imagine a hacker using a RAT to take over your worksta-
characters long with lots of special characters, numbers and capital letters. tion.
Payload Ransomware
The part of a computer virus that is responsible for the primary action, such as This is malware that allows a hacker to break into your computer or network
destroying data or stealing information. and then take away your access until you pay a specified fee or perform a cer-
tain action.

Root Tor
The root is the central nervous system of a computer or network. It can install The Onion Router, otherwise known as “Tor,” was originally developed by the
new applications, create files, delete user accounts and the like. Anyone with U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to route traffic in random patterns so as to con-
root access has ubiquitous and unfettered access. fuse anyone trying to trace individual users. The Tor Project is the nonprofit now
in charge of maintaining Tor, which is used by both white and black hackers, as
Rootkit well as journalists and security experts.
Rootkits are malware designed for root access. Often undetected, rootkits start
running when you start your computer, and they stay running until you turn Verification
your machine off. Ensuring that data, and its originators, are authentic.
Shodan VPN
In Japan, a “shodan” is considered the first degree (read: lowest level) of mas- Virtual Private Networks, or “VPNs,” use encryption to create a private channel
tery. In cyberspace, Shodan is a search engine for connected devices, allowing for accessing the internet. VPNs are necessary when connecting to public net-
hackers access to baby monitors, medical devices, thermostats and any other works—even those at airports, hotels and coffee shops.
connected device. It’s intended to help people learn how to secure their devic-
es, but obviously it can also be used against them. (see http://shodan.io) Virus
Malware intended to steal, delete or ransom your files. Mimicking the flu, this
Sniffing type of malware spreads like a virus.
When you were a kid, if you drove around your neighborhood looking for open
WiFi networks, you probably used a little device or a special computer pro- White hat
gram. Those are examples of sniffers, which are designed to find signals and Not all hackers are bad. White hats work on highlighting vulnerabilities and
data without being detected. bugs in order to fix them and protect us.
Spearphishing Worm
A more targeted form of phishing to smaller groups, typically within social net- Worms are a certain kind of invasive malware that spreads like a virus.
works or work environments.
Zero-day exploits
Spoofing In the hacking community, zero days (also written as “0day”) are prized tools
In general, anytime data is changed to mimic a trusted source, it’s being spoofed. because they are undisclosed vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Once the
Changing the “From” section or header of an email to make it look as though flaw is revealed, programmers have zero days to do anything about it.
it was sent by someone else. Black hats spoof emails by impersonating people
you know, and then launch phishing attacks.
Token
A small physical device that allows a trusted, authenticated user to use a ser-
vice. Tokens are stronger than passwords alone, since they require both the
password and the physical device to gain access.

TRENDS
080 - 092
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Many people are increasingly concerned about
their digital privacy.
Privacy
Key Insight 081 Differential Privacy

Ongoing breaches have continued to dismantle the public trust. According to This is a technique that collects a vast amount of data from us, and then employs
a September 2016 Pew Internet and Society Report on the State of Privacy in an algorithm to scramble that data so that it cannot be traced back to each indi-
America, 86% of Americans say that they have taken intentional steps to remove vidual. Differential privacy is typically used alongside machine learning to study
or mask their digital footprints, because they are concerned about protecting a large group in order to spot emerging trends. Early in 2016, Apple announced
their privacy. They exhibited a deep lack of faith in organizations—from credit that it would be using differential privacy, which may have sounded initially like
card companies, to email providers, to search engines and government agen- a new security system. It is, in a sense—Apple will be studying our data to shore
cies—promising to safeguard their privacy. According to the report: “While half up its operating system and networks. What the company learns will eventually
of those surveyed said they felt confident they understood how their informa- trickle back down to users. In the coming year, we expect to see more companies
tion would be used, 47% said they were not, and many of these people felt con- using differential privacy.
fused, discouraged or impatient when trying to make decisions about sharing
their personal information with companies.”
It is increasingly difficult not to be found. Technology is now much further ahead
080 Anonymity
of the average person’s ability to understand it. One in five Americans owns a
Anonymity is one of the digital trends we’ve been tracking as it has evolved dur- wearable device, but many do not know that by simply connecting the wearable
ing the past several years. The world needs anonymity, as it enables whistleblow- to a network, they’re being monitored by a third party. Recently, a woman’s Fitbit
ers to come forward, and it shields those who otherwise might be persecuted data was used to unravel rape charges against her boss when it was discovered
for their beliefs. Digital anonymity allows us to band together in times of need, that she was awake and walking around during the time she claimed to be asleep.
whether that’s to raise money for a good cause or to push back against injustices. Privacy experts are raising questions about collecting our data and surreptitious-
However, just as we had predicted earlier, anonymity also means it’s easier to leak ly surveilling our movements. In the coming year, we expect to see growing de-
sensitive information, troll social media users, and leave disparaging or libelous mands for digital consent agreements and increased transparency.
comments all over the internet. In 2015, we forecast that most anonymous shar-
ing apps won’t survive—indeed, Secret shut down, while Yik Yak came under fire
for allowing cyber-bullying and for failing to prove that users real identities really
are being protected. In 2017, our desire to post content anonymously won’t abate,
even as our desire for verification grows.

TRENDS
080 - 092
Google launched Jigsaw to combat trolls and

nefarious actors.
Privacy cont.
083 Trolls 086 Encryption Management

This most recent political season brought the worst out in us. Trolls from both What should encryption look like in 2017? We’ve seen dozens of big attacks in the
sides of the aisle went into attack mode, posting hateful images, messages and past 24 months, and yet many of the organizations we entrust with our data are
videos all over the internet. This behavior started to become normalized the fall either not using encryption or are using tools that are out of date. Hackers know
and winter of 2016, which means darker days are still ahead. There may be a tiny this, so we should expect more attacks in the coming year. While encrypting data
bit of light: a subsidiary of Google named Jigsaw launched mid-2016. In 2017, Jig- makes it harder to hack, encryption can also make it harder for staff or consum-
saw will be releasing a set of tools called Conversation AI, which are intended to ers to make legitimate use out of the data. In 2017, companies will need to devote
use machine learning to identify the language of abuse and harassment. serious resources into shoring up their digital security, or risk losing multiple mil-
lions of dollars cleaning up after a breach.
084 Authenticity
Sometimes a trend becomes so powerful—like digital anonymity—that it causes
087 Eye In The Sky
a fork, a divergent trend. In 2017, we expect to see new networks and servic-
Since January 2016, Baltimore police have been using “wide-area surveil-
es launch that offer verification and authenticity, proving that the content and
lance” run by Ohio-based Persistent Surveillance Systems. Aircraft carrying
sources are reliable and accurate, even if they are anonymous.
high-resolution cameras fly over the city continuously for up to 10 hours at a
time, photograph a 30-square-mile radius, and then send that information back
085 Revenge Porn down to analysts on the ground. This technology allows police to surreptitiously
In October 2016, a 14-year-old girl brought suit against Facebook in Ireland. She track any person or vehicle within the area. The ACLU and a number of privacy
was the victim of revenge porn: her parents said that the girl had been black- experts have asked for a review of the system, citing the infringement of consti-
mailed, and the photo was posted to shame her. Although it was removed by tutional rights. So far, the system is being used in a number of cities throughout
Facebook several times, the photo was repeatedly posted by her attacker and the U.S. We expect a wider-scale debate in 2017, about whether we should allow
not permanently blocked. That same month, another revenge porn victim, an government agencies unfettered access to watch over us using “eye in the sky”
Italian woman, killed herself. In the U.S., there is no national law banning revenge systems.
porn, and it’s not technically illegal in 25 states. Even with new and proposed leg-
islation throughout Europe, revenge porn cases will be on the rise in 2017.

TRENDS
080 - 092
The FBI’s Next Generation Identification

Interstate Photo System, or NIG-IPS, is a giant
database storing more than 30 million photos
Privacy cont.
to support criminal investigations.
088 Right To Eavesdrop/ Be Eavesdropped On 091 Ownership

As we connect more and more devices to the Internet of Things—fitness trackers, Who owns all those videos you’re uploading to YouTube? Through its advertising
mobile phones, cars, coffee makers—those devices are having extended interac- program, a lot of individual people and organizations make substantial money
tions with each other and the companies who make them. Our devices aren’t just from the videos they upload to YouTube, but there is nothing preventing some-
talking to each other anymore. They’re talking to one another, learning about us, one from copying that video and uploading it to Facebook or another platform.
and starting to talk about us. Increasingly, consumers are being left out of the Because of the inherent sociability of outside platforms, videos may garner mil-
conversation, unable to listen in and make sense of how their data is exchanging lions of views—without any renumeration going back to the original content cre-
hands. A debate over consumer rights will heat up in 2017: should consumers be ator. In 2017, as we continue to upload troves of personal data to social networks,
given the right to eavesdrop on what their own devices are saying? photos and video sharing sites, wearable services and elsewhere, we will continue
to question who owns the rights to our data.
Soon, drones will be smaller and they’ll make far less noise. Coupled with emerg-
092 Uploading Photos To Law Enforcement Databases
ing camera technology, drones will be capable of capturing photos and video The FBI’s Next Generation Identification Interstate Photo System, or NIG-IPS, is
from 1,000 feet away—and identifying who we are—without our knowledge. In- a giant database storing more than 30 million photos to support criminal inves-
terconnected drones will enable the mass tracking of people at concerts, vehi- tigations. Machine learning algorithms are deployed to find and compare those
cles on the highway, and shoppers during the busy 2017 holiday season. photos to people who are thought to commit crimes. There’s a privacy concern,
however: not everyone in the database is a criminal. If you have a driver’s license
from the states of Delaware, Utah, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan and Illinois (in ad-
090 Private Networks
dition to many others), you’re in the database too. NGI-IPS will continue to grow
In reaction to the ongoing flood of Facebook and Twitter posts and, at least in and be used by law enforcement in 2017.
part, to security breaches early on at Snapchat, private networks will gain mo-
mentum during the coming year. Some to watch: Alively, a private network to
share videos; Nextdoor, a network for neighborhoods; and MeWe, which offers
private social networking and file sharing.

TREND 093
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Organizations should prepare themselves
for hackers posting private staff information
online.
Organizational Doxing
Key Insight
“Doxing” is mining and publishing personal information about a person—organi-
zational doxing is when this happens to an entire company. It’s a term introduced
by security expert Bruce Schneier.
Examples
In the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks, we’ve seen a number of data dumps.
WikiLeaks has published troves of data. Hackers broke into Hacking Team, pub-
lishing a massive amount of internal data. Sony has been breached, and so have
various branches of the U.S. government.
This isn’t about stealing credit card information, but rather about making public
the personal details of individuals, either to protest against policies, to embarrass
companies or to blackmail companies into paying big ransoms to hackers.
What’s Next
Because of the success hackers had in 2016, we can expect more organizational
doxing in the year ahead. Every organization ought to shore up security and to
develop a risk management plan should they find themselves doxed. We strongly
recommend reading the “Organizational Doxing and Disinformation” blog post
by Bruce Schneier: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2016/09/organiza-
tional_1.html.
Watchlist
Schneier on Security; Anonymous; Russia; China; major news organizations; cor-
porations; government agencies

TREND 094
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action In the coming year, we will continue to
create a surplus of data—and we will have
too few data scientists to manage it all.
Data
Seventh year on the list
Key Insight atives, make smart decisions, collaborate on security and surface insights. One
obstacle: knowing how to find and hire the right kind of data scientist.
Data is a very large trend category with numerous stakeholders, applications and
emerging ideas. There’s a lot to monitor in 2017. “Data scientist” used to be a job that no one wanted, and in 2017 it will be one of
the most sought-after positions. Now, we’re predicting a shortage in Data Scien-
Example tists in 2017 and beyond. There just aren’t enough skilled data scientists to fulfill all
In the coming year, Big Data will continue to be a buzzword and a trend through- the work available—some estimates show a 50% gap between upcoming supply
out many industries and fields. From collecting it to parsing it and making it eas- and demand. Industries including pharmaceuticals, finance, insurance, aerospace,
ier to search, we will continue to see lots of developments in 2017. Businesses will foundations, government and travel will see a faster for employees with analytic
want access to analytics tools in order to make important business decisions, skills. Some universities, seeing workforce needs changing, will launch new grad-
while government agencies will rely on data to determine funding for various uate programs and centers in data science. Ethics and diversity will hopefully be
programs. Consumers have become more aware how much personal data they’re a mandatory part of those programs, so that our future data scientists are aware
creating—and who has access to it. of possible algorithmic discrimination and problematic data training sets.
What’s Next Watchlist

Regardless of their size and scope, organizations should begin to think about the Governments around the world; Universities; Kaggle; IBM’s Watson; Nutonian;
upcoming uses for large data sets. For example, private practice doctors must Cloudera; Google; EMC; Palantir Technologies; MongoDB and many other com-
begin using electronic medical records for patient care, which presents hurdles panies
(how to migrate from paper record-keeping to cloud-based digital systems) as
well as opportunities (the ability to track trends in patient care, not to mention
federal compliance). There are frustrations, however. Those collecting data now
have a bunch of numbers that answer “what,” but not “why.” They still need some-
one to interpret the data and help them find meaning in it.
Large organizations (public, private, foundations, nonprofits, universities, govern-
ment agencies) should create a Chief Data Officer position and bring on board
a person or a team of people who have the unique skills to champion data initi-

TREND 095
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Estonia’s e-residency program has become
a popular model for other countries around
the world.
E-residents

E-residency is now being offered in Estonia, making it easier for entrepreneurs to Estonia’s e-residency program
incorporate and run a business free of the usual legal and tax headaches.
Example
Estonia, which borders Russia to the east, Latvia to the south and sits across the
Baltic Sea from Finland, has been operating most of its government services on-
line for the past 15 years, from tax filing to contract signing to filling prescriptions
and even voting. With a population of just 1.3 million people, Estonia figured out
early on how to operationalize digital tools to service its citizens. Recently, Estonia
began offering resident status to entrepreneurs—without adding a requirement
that they actually take up residence in the country. As part of this beta program,
e-residents pay 100 euro and apply online at e-resident.gov.ee, and then need to
travel to a local Estonian embassy for an interview. Once approved, e-residents
gain access to a number of services—not to mention an EU company and EU
bank accounts. This generates revenue for the Estonian government while reduc-
ing costs and paperwork for entrepreneurs around the world.
What’s Next
With the Brexit referendum passed, e-residency could provide a smart solution
for UK-based entrepreneurs, who will soon find it difficult to work with EU com-
panies and hire EU citizens. The program has become so popular that Estonia is
now advising other governments, including Lithuania, the Netherlands, Japan
and Singapore, on how to create their own e-residency programs. We anticipate
more countries starting to launch their own e-residency programs in 2017.

TREND 096
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Venmo is a popular peer-to-peer (P2P)
payment system.
Social Payments
Seventh year on the list

Social payment systems offer the ease of seamless transactions, but they’re also Facebook; Snapchat; Line; Uber; WeChat; Kakao Talk; Venmo; Square; Amazon;
budding social networks in their own rights. Meantime, established players have Ingenico; BOKU; PayPal; Fastacash
convinced us to share status updates, so why not money?
Examples
In 2016, Facebook added payment and merchant services, right within its con-
sumer app. Uber started offering more than just rides—its seamless payment
gateway now works for food and flower deliveries. Popular peer-to-peer pay-
ment service Venmo is now owned by PayPal. Unlike PayPal, Venmo doesn’t
charge transaction fees. It allows friends to pay each other or to easily split bills.
When you make a payment to a friend, you can tag it with whatever you’d like.
Which has made Venmo’s social feed become a popular network itself. Just like a
Facebook feed, Venmo shows photos of friends and what they’ve been spending
their money on. Venmo is the fastest-growing mobile payment system around.
What’s Next
Right now, social payments have primarily been about splitting taxi fares or din-
ner bills. Fastacash is a fintech startup that allows peer-to-peer payments via
platforms we already use. This kind of backend technology will soon allow Snap-
chat, Line, WeChat and others to facilitate easy payments pose a threat to tra-
ditional payment processors, who earn revenue through fees. In 2017, we expect
to see deeper third-party integrations with P2P APIs to allow us not just to pay
each other, but to pay our bills, make charitable donations and potentially shop
in virtual marketplaces. That said, social payment networks are probable targets
for hackers.

TREND 097
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action =Some are calling the blockchain the future
“Internet of Trust.”
Bitcoin + Blockchain
Key Insight intermediaries in most transactions, even those outside of finance. In June 2016,
the International Monetary Fund called blockchain the future “Internet of Trust,”
Bitcoin is a digital currency, and it promises complete anonymity while using a
but also warned that setting standards now is imperative: “It is typical of a new
crowd-regulated public ledger system. The blockchain is a public ledger of trans-
innovation cycle that different companies come up with different ways to do
actions.
something, leading to a patchwork of technological approaches...this could undo
years of effort to integrate the financial industry globally.” We expect 2017 to be
Examples a year of acceleration for the blockchain and associated technology.
Bitcoins are mined using powerful computers and scripts, but it’s a competitive
process. While bitcoin isn’t the only digital currency, and its volatility rules it out Watchlist
as a safe long-term investment, we are now seeing bitcoin being used by more
BTC; Kraken; BTCC; ABRA; XAPO; CITI; ING; HSBC; RBS; Bank of America; UBS;
businesses worldwide. In this digital currency system, bitcoin is the protocol par-
Ripple; Peercoin; Coinbase; Coindesk; Boost VC; Greylock Partners; Robocoin;
ticipating on the blockchain public ledger—and it’s that platform that we find
Coinsetter; SecondMarket; Digital Asset Holdings; BTCS
more promising. Blockchain is the transaction database that’s shared by every-
one participating in bitcoin’s digital system.
What’s Next
Virtually everyone agrees that bitcoins probably aren’t the blockchain’s killer app.
The blockchain is a sort of distributed consensus system, where no one person
controls all the data. Some say that the blockchain will soon herald a new kind
of Internet. The cryptography team at Blockstream recently launched its first
prototype “sidechain,” which functions as a separate ledger with its own code.
Sidechains allow for easier authentication. Blockstream and the sidechain pro-
jects that follow will turn the blockchain into a universal platform that can be
used for anything requiring signatures or authentication. It will therefore enable
people to participate in “trustless” transactions, eliminating the need for an inter-
mediary between buyers and sellers. But it potentially eliminates the need for all

TREND 098
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Ikea offers a VR marketing experience.
VR Marketing
Key Insight
Emerging research suggests that virtual reality storytelling, when it’s done well, Watchlist
rewires all of us—we are likely to develop new belief biases as a result. Marketers
will have big new opportunities in 2017 to use VR to influence consumers. Reverge VR; BBH; Goodby Silverstein & Partners; VirtualSKY; Leo Burnett; BBDO;
Facebook; Droga5; Ogilvy & Mather; Razorfish; Weiden+Kennedy; Circos VR; GS-
Examples D&M; VML; Critical Mass; Three One Zero; Valve; Wevr; Alphabet (Google); Leap
Motion; Innerspace VR; StartVR; Epic Games; Survios
For more than a decade, scientists have been studying “virtual reality expo-
sure therapy,” which has been used extensively to treat veterans suffering from
post-traumatic stress syndrome. Because VR is completely immersive, it can
closely simulate nearly any scenario. Patients, guided by trained therapists, are
embedded into VR stories that represent a trauma they’ve experienced. Over
time, this therapy results in new neuropathways—beliefs, attitudes and reactions
are changed, for better or for worse. This presents an interesting opportunity for
marketers.
What’s Next
Both BMW and Volvo have created apps allowing would-be buyers to test drive
one of their cars. But unlike the usual test drive with a nagging salesperson
trying to convince you to buy the upgraded sport mode package, you instead
interact with the vehicle on gorgeous open roads, in the best possible weather,
all by yourself. Spend enough time with the apps, and your belief bias will shove
your logical mind into the back seat. You might start to think that inside one of
those cars, every day is a traffic free holiday where you have the driving skills of
Formula One superstar Lewis Hamilton. This, of course, highlights an impend-
ing ethical challenge. As VR headsets come to market in 2017, brands will have
a unique opportunity to tap directly into our minds, persuading us through im-
mersive storytelling.

TREND 099
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Do you suffer from FOBO?
FOBO
Key Insight
If you’re the kind of person who feels uneasy when your phone runs out of bat-
tery or when you can’t get a decent WiFi signal, you’re suffering from FOBO, or
the “fear of being offline.”
Examples
Professional psychological associations around the world, from the U.S. to Aus-
tralia, are now encouraging their members to consider FOBO as a source of anx-
iety for both young people and adults. While social media addiction is not yet
recognized with a diagnostic medical code, emerging research shows that social
media—and FOBO—have created new neural pathways causing us to feel varying
levels of anxiety when we’re prevented from checking social media. The conten-
tious, vitriolic presidential election caused our collective FOBO to spike during
the summer, fall and winter of 2016, as we waited to see not just what the candi-
dates would do and say next—but how our friends would respond.
What’s Next
Psychologists and mental health professionals warn that our FOBO and suscep-
tibility to digital distraction isn’t going away anytime soon. This is good news for
anyone in marketing—we are a captive audience, growing weaker by the day. In
2017, both marketers and consumers should think about how our current addic-
tion will affect our ability to unplug in the longer-term.
Watchlist
Social networking sites; mobile device manufacturers

TREND 100
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Walgreens is one retailer now offering a
suite of APIs.
Retail APIs
Key Insight
Retailers are making their data available to developers in the form of APIs in order
to provide consumers and partners a host of new services.
Examples
Application programming interfaces, or APIs, are tools for building software ap-
plications. Retailers are using APIs to help customers and partners discover them
more easily online, learn about products and services and to interact with the
customer even when she’s not shopping. Home furnishings retailer Wayfair has
released an API so that developers can build a 3D library—the goal is to help the
company’s expansion into virtual and augmented realty. In October 2016, Mas-
tercard debuted a developer platform with 25 APIs to make it easier for startups
and developers to integrate its payment services. Through its API program, Wal-
greens works with more than 275 partners.
What’s Next
We anticipate many more retailers building up their API offerings in 2017. Retail-
ers need to expand their reach beyond brick and mortar stores, and also beyond
the traditional e-commerce site.
Watchlist
CVS; Walgreens; Mastercard; Wayfair; Zendesk; MuelSoft; Walmart; Hershey’s;
Amazon; Lowes; Home Depot

TREND 101
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The MemoryMirror assist shoppers just as a
sales associate would.
Digital Associates
Key Insight
Whether augmented reality mirrors or roaming robot salespeople, a new fleet of
digital associates will help consumers shop in 2017.
Examples
New smart mirrors are helping shoppers in the fitting room—suggesting which
colors match a pair of pants, how to accessorize outfits and even showing alter-
nate colors and patterns of an item being tried on. Nordstrom, Top Shop and
Nieman Marcus have piloted the technology so far. Meanwhile in Japan, Soft-
Bank’s Pepper robot has been taking orders at Pizza Hut.
What’s Next
Don’t expect these digital assistants to completely supplant the human sales-
force in 2017. That being said, any digital tool that makes the in-person shopping
experience easier and more enjoyable for consumers is likely to court investment,
not to mention brand loyalists.
Watchlist
MasterCard; SoftBank; IBM; Lowes; Keonn; Oak Labs; eBay Enterprise; Memory-
Mirror

TRENDS
102 - 107
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Drones like these are now available to anyone.
Drones
Key Insight be regulated for hobbyists and commercial drone pilots, which will prompt dif-
ficult conversations between technologists, researchers, drone manufacturers,
You’ve probably seen at least one in the wild. Drones are now available in an
businesses and the aviation industry, since each has an economic stake in the
array of sizes and form factors, from lightweight planes and coptors to tiny, ma-
future of unmanned vehicles. We anticipate the sky being divided soon: hobbyist
chines no bigger (or louder) than a hummingbird. Soon, they’ll include powerful
pilots will have access to operate UMVs in the 200 and below space, while busi-
sense and avoid technology, and the ability to fly on their own.
nesses and commercial pilots will gain exclusive access to 200 - 400 feet zone
overhead.
102 Sense And Avoid Technology
Robots harnessing neural networks and artificial intelligence can make inferences 104 Clandestine, Disappearing Drones
and decisions when programmed to do so. That’s because of sense and avoid
In 2016, DARPA funded new research in drones capable of making deliveries—and
technology. In 2017, drones will be programmed to navigate along the path of
then disappearing into thin air. The agency’s Vanishing Programmable Resourc-
GPS waypoints—and they’ll make decisions midair about the best path to take
es (VAPR) program has already shown that it’s possible to program a small chip
and when to avoid objects like buildings, trees and mountains. Or other drones,
to shatter on command. What’s coming in 2017 is sort of like Snapchat for drones.
for that matter.
105 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

103 Drone Lanes
Researchers at MIT have developed underwater drones with cognitive capabil-
Two drones inadvertently prevented firefighters from putting out a rapidly
ities, called AUVs. After giving them a series of parameters—how far to stray,
spreading California wildfire, which crossed over onto a freeway and destroyed a
how far above the seafloor to move, what to explore and the like—these drones
dozen vehicles. Currently, the FAA does not allow drones to fly near the airspace
can function on their own. If something unforeseen happens which impedes the
of airports—but while there are no-fly zones, there aren’t no-fly circumstances.
drone’s ability to complete its designated task, it can decide whether to continue
Meantime, news organizations hope to use drones for reporting in the public in-
or to return to base. AUVs can be used for a host of purposes, from environmen-
terest, while commercial operators like Amazon want to begin drone deliveries.
tal mapping and texting, to military support. Some have suggested that in the
Law enforcement agencies in North Dakota will begin flying drones armed with
future, AUV’s might be used for more nefarious purposes, like transporting illegal
anything from tear gas to Tasers, thanks to a new law passed late 2015. From the
goods.
Valley to DC, everyone will be talking about whether or not the airspace should

TRENDS
102 - 107
DARPA’s disappearing delivery vehicles.
Drones cont.
106 Microdrones
Microdrones will autonomously navigate through tiny spaces to investigate col-
lapsed buildings or areas with hazardous materials. In October 2016, the U.S. What’s coming
next is sort of
Army asked for bids to supply short-range microdrones, capable of reconnais-
sance and still small enough to fit in a soldier’s uniform pocket. In 2017, these
small robots will likely be built and tested for widespread use.
107 Drone Delivery

like Snapchat for
Towards the end of 2016, commercial drone deliveries launched. U.S.-based
Zipline brought its drone delivery system to Rwanda, where it delivered vital
drones.
blood supplies. UPS, Amazon and DHL all tested their own fleets of drones. Leg-
islation will soon catch up with the technology. We anticipate that aviation au-
thorities will start to act in 2019-2020, at which point commercial drone delivery
will finally take off in earnest.

TREND 108
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The Internet of Things will continue to grow
in 2017.
Internet of Things

Millions of smart digital devices, from the traffic light outside your home to the Security will be top of mind in 2017. The current IoT system isn’t secure, but we
phone in your pocket to your HVAC system are talking to each other, monitoring knew that even before the October hack. There will be calls for increased security
your activity and automating tasks in order to make your life easier. These devices and regulation in the coming year, when the IoT nears an inflection point—and
and their protocols make up the Internet of Things (IoT). development starts to outpace our ability to secure it. This opens up opportuni-
ties for security experts, however it signals what will likely be increased pressure
Examples on IT managers.
By some measures, there will be 25 billion connected devices and machines on-
line within the next five years. It’s an incomprehensible number of things: thermo- Watchlist
stats, lights, fitness trackers, cameras, industrial printers, coffee machines, televi- Alphabet (Google); Amazon; Apple; Honeywell; IFTTT; GE; Intel; Cisco; IBM; Qual-
sion sets, robots, cars, traffic lights, parking meters...the list goes on. The explosion comm; Sony; Samsung; LG; Hadoop; Arduino; SmartThings; AT&T; Verizon; Erics-
is due to a sharply decreased component cost. The prices of sensors, bandwidth son; Atmel; Dragon Innovation; littleBits
and processors has dropped significantly over the past decade, while ubiquitous
WiFi and smartphones have opened up a new gateway for the everyday consum-
er. In order to connect to the Internet and to each other, each device needs its
own unique address. (We started running out of those a long time ago, which is
why so many company names and their web addresses tend not to contain vow-
els.) Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is helping to expand the IoT so that there
are enough usable addresses to go around. International standards organizations
are working on a future open standard, just as HTTP and FTP play critical roles in
how we move content around on the web today. But about security? In October
2016, some of the world’s largest websites—Reddit, Twitter, the New York Times—
were temporarily down because of an IoT attack targeting DVRs.

TREND 109
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Frames from a moving camera recorded by
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in
Zurich, Switzerland, show how UW technology
Intelligent Cameras
distinguishes among people by giving each
person a unique color and number, then tracking
them as they walk.

Cameras themselves are getting smarter. They can now connect with each other University of Washington; Microsoft; Camera Culture Research Group at the MIT
on a network for a variety of reasons, from monitoring traffic to creating immer- Media Lab; Institute of Anthropomatics & Robotics at the Karlsruhe Institute of
sive videos. Technology; National Instruments; Electronic Frontier Foundation; Austrian Insti-
tute of Technology; University of Birmingham
Examples
Engineers at the University of Washington have developed a system of net-
worked cameras that can automatically track people as they move. Combined
with facial and object recognition algorithms and artificial intelligence, smart
cameras will provide unprecedented security opportunities. They will be used in
our cars, bringing us one big step closer to hybrid-autonomous vehicles, where
drivers will choose to take control of the wheel or allow the car to drive itself dur-
ing stop-and-go traffic.
What’s Next
We will continue to see this experimental technology taking shape in 2017. In
addition to recognizing our faces, similar technology can be used to measure
us in infrared—using heat to visualize us in the night. Recognition algorithms will
do more than spot people, they’ll be capable of distinguishing between animals,
objects and sudden movements, too.

TRENDS
110 - 117
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Uber’s fleet of self-driving cars will start to
transport us in 2017.
Cars
Key Insight 110 Open Source Systems

In 2016, major auto manufacturers played a dangerous game of chicken as each Online learning platform Udacity launched an open source self-driving car pro-
progressively shortened its timeline for the launch of its self-driving car fleet. If ject in 2016. Udacity co-founder is Sebastian Thrun, who had previously launched
press releases are to be believed, you might think that at midnight on January Google’s self-driving car program. The project isn’t about increasing competition
1, 2020 our cars will suddenly drive themselves. While some of the required in the marketplace, but rather about advancing the skills of our future workforce.
technology will be ready by then, we are still a few more years away from what While Udacity’s program isn’t accredited, it does promise to teach all of the skills
the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) calls required to work within the burgeoning field of self-driving vehicles. As more
Level 4 Full Self-Driving Automation. Level 4 vehicles are designed to perform people start experimenting with open source systems in 2017, we will need to
all driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip—with the think through security implications not just for those vehicles, but for others they
driver providing navigation input but not expected to be available for control at share the road with.
any time during. That’s because there are external events, such as establishing
and funding a new federal agency, or working through licensing and regula-
tions, that could hold up progress for several years. Other events—the availa- 111 Adaptive Driving Systems
bility of components, public attitudes toward autonomous vehicle accidents, Motorcycle injuries have increased in the past few years, and the reason has to
and the like—will also impact momentum. We are in transition—the last years of do with age. Nationwide, 39% of motorcycle owners are 51 to 69, according to
human driving. the Motorcycle Industry Council, and at that age reaction time is slower than op-
timal. Yamaha’s Motobot is designed with an aging population in mind: Yamaha
One thing we are certain of: in the U.S., there will eventually be a need for a new
has partnered with SRI research institute to create a motorcycle that can drive
federal agency to address autonomous vehicles, something like a Federal Au-
on its own. The technology being developed will eventually be used to help assist
tonomous Vehicle Agency (FAVA). It will be charged with working alongside
motorcyclists on the road—when they’re not able to act fast enough, the system
the twelve existing agencies concerned with transportation, from highways to
will take over. Adaptive systems, which help drivers stay in their lanes, prevent
aviation. Meantime, Japan and the EU have been working on a plan to use a
them from driving too closely to another car, and parallel park, will be deployed
common GPS system, which would speed the deployment of self-driving cars
into new vehicles in 2017.
in both areas.

TRENDS
110 - 117
Yamaha’s Motoman and humaniod driver.
Cars cont.
112 Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) Communications 115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation

Cars are able to broadcast their exact positions, speed, acceleration, steering 2017 will be an important year for state and federal regulation. By October 2016,
wheel position, momentum, brake status and a host of other information to all eight states and the District of Columbia authorized the operation of autono-
of the other vehicles sharing a road within a set distance. Collectively, the cars mous vehicles: Utah, California, Nevada, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, North Da-
use this information and analyze it in real-time, to make decisions about how and kota and Tennessee. We anticipate more states being added to that list in 2017,
when to move. Building a V2V network does pose a challenge: it would need to either through legislation or executive order.
be unfailingly reliable, fast and secure. Some cars equipped with transmitters will
be on the road in 2017.

In the past 24 months, major car manufactures have opened testing facilities
We are in
in California, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Outside of the U.S., manufacturers in
Sweden, Germany, Japan and China are rushing to set up their own facilities. In
transition—the
2017, regulators will work to establish a national testing center with a single set of
standards and practices. last years of
114 Solar Highways human driving.
Researchers have been working on roads capable of producing their own energy.
Think of them as smart, modular systems: LED lights illuminate lines and mark-
ings, heating elements keep ice melted, and microprocessors communicate data
about whether any section of the road needs repair. Idaho-based Solar Roadways
will install its technology in a portion of Route 66 as part of Missouri’s Road to
Tomorrow initiative. In Poland, city planners are experimenting with solar-pow-
ered, glow-in-the-dark bike lanes. Made from luminophores, which are made of
small phosphor crystals, they absorb sunlight during the day and illuminates a
brilliant blue at night.

TRENDS
110 - 117
Trend or Trendy?
We’ll leave these two for you to decide.
116 Flying Cars

In 2016, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Google co-founder Larry Page’s
secret flying car factories, breathing new hope into a very old tech myth. Fly-
ing cars have been a persistent, trendy theme within popular culture on and
off for more than a hundred years. Waldo Waterman’s Arrowbile was the first
to leave the street for the sky in 1937. Three years later, Henry Ford remarked
confidently, “Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming.”
Aviation publicist Harry Bruno clarified, saying that cars of the future would look
like tiny “copters”; when school let out, they would “fill the sky as the bicycles
of our youth filled the prewar roads.” In 1949 Life magazine featured the Air-
phibian, an aerocar that could fly from a backyard airstrip to LaGuardia Airport
and then transform into a convertible-like vehicle capable of driving to Times
Square. The dream of flying cars continued into the twenty-first century and
up to the present day as people built new prototypes with vertical take-off and
landing capabilities, super-strong carbon fiber bodies, ducted fan propulsion,
and cheaper flight-stabilizing computer systems.
117 Drink Driving

Once we are ensconced in our fully self-driving cars, and we are no longer re-
quired to manage any driving operations, we’ll be free to work, play games.....and
drink? That may seem audacious, but cars could come equipped with “booze
cruise control,” allowing the driver to both drink and be driven. Alcohol manufac-
turers, bars, restaurants and clubs could all benefit from drink driving, as could
our tax collectors.

TREND 118
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action In WarGames, Matthew Broderick played
a hacker who brought the U.S. and former
Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war.
Old Laws Clash With New Technology

Key Insight
Technology is now moving faster than government’s ability to legislate it. As a What’s Next
result, countries around the world are learning the hard way what happens when
old laws clash with new technology. In a democracy, new policies and laws require discussion, debate and various
parts of a government to collaborate. It’s a slow process by design. Both the
Examples Trump Administration and our newly-elected officials will need to reconcile pro-
cess with progress in 2017 and beyond, as they evaluate existing policies and
In the U.S., the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) was enacted shortly af-
determine how technology should be regulated. Without meaningful discussion
ter lawmakers showed a clip of the 1984 movie WarGames during testimony—it
about the long-range implications of legislation, lawmakers could cause drastic
was an iconic scene about the brink of nuclear war with Matthew Broderick, as a
(if untended) consequences for their constituents in the decades to come.
teenage hacker. The CFAA’s broad language makes it illegal to break a website’s
terms of service (TOS). But these days, most of us break the TOS of the services Watchlist
we use without even realizing it. Every time that coworker Facebooks an inspi-
rational message she found online, she’s technically breaking the law. The CFAA Government agencies; business leaders; legal scholars; law enforcement; technol-
was used to threaten the late internet activist Aaron Swartz with 35 years in ogy and privacy advocates; media organizations; everyday citizens
prison for allegedly stealing a trove of academic papers with the intent of making
them available freely to the public. Meanwhile, there are a host of technologies for
which we have questions but no answers—can law enforcement use the Fourth
Amendment to compel a company to jailbreak a device? Does the Fifth Amend-
ment mean that sources of personal data, such as fitness trackers, can’t be used
to self-incriminate someone in court? Does the Thirteenth Amendment extend
to sentient, artificially intelligent agents?

TREND 119
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action A #catsofjihad post.
Digital Caliphate

A “caliphate” is a physical Islamic state led by a caliph, a political and religious The rise of a digital caliphate poses an existential challenge for the world’s most
leader who is deemed the successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In June important technology companies, all of whom operate out of countries with
2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria announced the formation of a geograph- democratic laws. To thwart the rise of a digital caliphate would necessarily involve
ic caliphate, with Abu Bakr al Baghdadi—the head of ISIS—as its caliph. However, censoring content. The Trump Administration and our newly-elected officials will
much of ISIS’s most significant work happens in the digital realm. More concern- face a serious challenge in 2017, and will need to prioritize their strategic digital
ing than the extension of physical borders held by ISIS is the digital spread of its thinking to deal with this emerging threat. On the other hand, democratic nations
ideas—borders are easy to break. A digital caliphate is hard to stop. could work together—there is a way to kill an idea, and that’s by spreading one
that’s more compelling.
Examples
ISIS has risen to prominence because the organization commands social me- Watchlist
dia unlike any other. The Islamic State has developed a magnificently powerful Government agencies; technology leaders; media organizations; ISIS; legal schol-
brand—with recognizable characters, plot lines and all the trappings of effective ars; law enforcement; technology and privacy advocates
propaganda. It has also routinely fooled social media platforms into allowing its
content to resurface, again and again. ISIS understands how to start and stoke a
viral campaign—just look up the #catsofjihad hashtag. And its media operations
are decentralized—making it difficult to turn off the fire hose. On average, ISIS
releases three dozen new pieces of content every day—videos, photos, text posts,
tweets, audio clips—in lots of different languages, making it more prolific than
many news organizations.

TREND 120
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook killed 14
people and seriously injured 22 in a terrorist
attack in San Bernardino, California.
Asking Tech Companies To Help Fight Terrorism

Key Insight
The strength of terrorism groups has much to do with their mastery of digital
tools and social media. Now, government agencies are asking for their help in
fighting back.
Examples
In 2016, the White House met with the leaders of large technologies asking them
to help “disrupt” ISIS’s online presence and activities. Some of the ideas being
discussed both within the U.S. and other governments include loosening encryp-
tion, and filtering and censoring content, and making it easier for law enforce-
ment to gain access to the devices and accounts of accused terrorists.
What’s Next
Technology companies will find themselves in many more conversations about
the spread of terrorism via their tools and networks. In 2017, they will likely be
asked to have new conversations with the Trump Administration. But the ques-
tions—and answers—are complicated. Better to think through policy and proce-
dure in advance, so that decisions don’t have to be made under duress.
Watchlist
Government agencies; technology company leaders; legal scholars; law enforce-
ment; technology and privacy advocates; media organizations; everyday citizens

TREND 121
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Cincinnati Zoo officials killed a gorilla named
Harambe to protect a child in 2017.
Internet Mob Justice


Internet mobs are threatening real-world citizens with harassment, violence and Internet mob justice doesn’t follow a set playbook—there are no rules to be bro-
death. ken, and there is no system for determining culpability. The prevailing notion, that
the crowd is always right in its judgement, shouldn’t mean that the crowd is jus-
Examples tified in its reaction. The internet was architected to be abstract and open, with
In 2015, it was Cecil the lion. In 2016, when a four-year-old boy crawled into a few rules governing our behaviors. But this means that we are all, potentially, in
gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, officials killed a gorilla named Harambe to danger. In 2017, we will no doubt see new cases of mob justice, which will lead to
protect the child. In a torrent of social media posts, some argued that Harambe fresh calls for regulation, and which could ultimately lead to the social construct
was trying to protect the child, rather than harm him. A petition with thousands of the Internet being completely undone.
of signatures demanded the the boy’s parents be held accountable for the death
of Harambe, and called for an investigation into the safety of the child’s home, Watchlist
citing parental negligence. But perhaps the most obvious example of internet The FCC; the ACLU; the EFF; law enforcement; Facebook; Twitter; Snapchat; You-
mob justice was the 2016 U.S. political zoo—vitriol was spread everywhere, as Tube
supporters from both sides of the aisle went on attack. Fox Business Network’s
Lou Dobbs tweeted the home address and phone number of a woman accusing
Donald Trump of sexual assault. In June 2016, the internet mob spilled over into
the real world when Trump’s supporters were chased down the street by demo-
crats after a Hillary Clinton rally in San Jose. Increasingly, activism is turning into
digital vigilantism. The legal system is being sidestepped entirely—while the tools
enabling Internet shaming grow ever more ubiquitous and easy to use.

TREND 122
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action A worker loads an 8-inch floppy disk into
her terminal.
Overhauling Government Tech Infrastructure


Parts of the federal government rely on comically old technology, which is very Federal Chief Information Officer; Office of Science and Technology Policy; Gov-
difficult to maintain. ernment Accountability Office; Department of Defense; IRS; State Department;
Department of Transportation; Department of Justice; Department of Health and
Examples Human Services; the FCC; Department of Housing and Urban Development; De-
In 2016, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published the findings of partment of Energy; Department of Homeland Security; Environmental Protec-
its technology audit: the Department of Defense is using a 53-year-old system tion Agency; Office of Management and Budget; elected officials and lawmakers
and 8-inch floppy disks as part of its nuclear program. The State Department
uses a 26-year-old system to track visa information for 55,000 foreign nationals—
software that was decommissioned by the vendor who built it. Old software, ma-
chines and systems are expensive to maintain. Plus there aren’t many technicians
who have enough institutional knowledge to make necessary fixes, which means
re-hiring retired employees at high contract wages.
What’s Next
The problem isn’t just about legacy systems. The Trump Administration and our
newly-appointed government officials will need to prioritize tech infrastructure in
upcoming budget planning and funding proposals in order to keep pace with the
changing nature of technology. Government IT professionals will need to spend
additional time and money shoring up existing systems as they continually review
new tools, like Slack, smart TVs and wearable devices, all of which could become
sources of vulnerabilities.

Cabinet Positions That Will Matter The Most In 2017
Established by Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the Cabinet is tasked Secretary for Transportation
with advising the President on a number of subjects, from transportation to The next four years will be pivotal for the auto manufacturing industry and for
defense. The Cabinet includes the Vice President, the Attorney General, and autonomous vehicles. Collaboration between industry and government will be
the leaders of our 15 executive departments—the Secretaries of Agriculture, essential as this technology moves from the fringe towards the mainstream.
Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Home-
land Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Trans- Secretary of Energy
portation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs. America is now the largest exporter of energy, and has caused economic insta-
bility of other countries around the world. Climate change is upon us. The DoE
As artificial intelligence, robotics and genomics move away from the fringe will have to spend the next several years negotiating energy consumption and
and to the mainstream, some of our cabinet members will play a bigger role pollution with other countries.
in advising our newly-elected President and the people chosen to lead each
department. Here’s who will matter most—at least when it comes to technol- Secretary of Education
ogy—in 2017. There are a number of new challenges facing schools, from a growing digital
divide, to adaptive learning. How to manage standardized testing, and how to
Secretary of State set national standards, will be influenced by technology in the years ahead.
From digital diplomacy, to multinational standards on genomics, to bots and
beyond, the Secretary of State will need to have a firm grasp on the frontiers
of emerging technologies. This position will require technical savvy and the
PROPOSAL: WE NEED A DEPARTMENT OF THE FUTURE
ability to draw upon well-informed outside experts who aren’t motivated by
politics. Years ago, the now-shuttered Office of Technology Assessment was charged
with researching, forecasting and advising Congress on matters of emerging
Secretary of Defense technology. During its existence, the OTA released more than 750 prescient
The near-future of warfare will require collaboration between the hacking studies ranging from robots in the workplace, to bioterrorism, to acid rain
community, roboticists, those at the FCC managing the spectrum, AI re- and climate change. We are building and deploying new technologies at an
searchers and data managers. unprecedented rate. For the first time in our country’s history, advancements
in science and technology have outpaced our lawmakers’ ability to respond
Secretary of Agriculture
in a measured, responsible way.
Some of the most promising new technology involves edited seeds, which
will not only impact U.S. farmers and big agricultural companies, but those During the 2016 election cycle, candidates talked only about technology as it
abroad as well. In the next few years, governments will need to develop norms relates to jobs, the economy and better access to government services. That
and protocols for how this technology is used. addresses our current problems, not our future ones. It is time for a Depart-
ment of the Future and a Secretary of the Future, who would advise the next
Secretary of Health and Human Services
President on the social, economic and geopolitical implications of emerg-
Soon, AI will start to disrupt our workforce, and during that transition, many
ing science and technology—as those implications relate to all other depart-
people will find themselves out of a job. This will require HHS to retool its
ments, agencies and offices within the government. Such an office would co-
public assistance programs—as well as to develop a strategy for how to lev-
ordinate research, lead scenario mapping and long-range planning.
erage the highly-skilled workers who are too young to retire.

TREND 123
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Minneapolis City Hall will continue to build
its local cybersecurity operations in 2017.
City-Level Cyber Security

Key Insight leges
With more local government services moving online, cities and towns will need to
hire qualified cybersecurity managers.
Examples
Cities with high-profile residents like Minneapolis (home to many Fortune 500
companies, including Target), New York City (home to celebrities and financi-
ers), Arlington (the Pentagon) have been actively seeing cybersecurity experts
to fill new positions. We expect this trend to continue, especially as civil tensions
increase. This represents a fundamental change in our behavior, with cities and
city infrastructure likely targets in 2017.
What’s Next
There is a significant talent shortage—those who have the right skills set and ex-
perience tend to take much higher-paying jobs in the private sector. As a result,
cities will need to carve out enough budget to pay for staff. And they’ll need to do
it quickly: cybercrime won’t wait for local city and town budgets to pass.
Watchlist
Local city and town agencies; local business leaders; local universities and col-

TREND 124
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Melbourne, Australia is investing in a host of
smart cities technologies.
Smart City Systems


Cities are being urged to rethink how they use technology in order to bring more Department of Transportation; White House OSTP; IBM; cities worldwide
services to citizens, save money, and make daily life a little more pleasant.
Examples
In 2016, 78 cities applied for the Department of Transportation’s “Smart City”
challenge, which would award them $40 million in federal grant money to up-
grade their urban transit systems. DoT selected Columbus, Ohio, as the winner for
its proposal to deploy self-driving electric shuttles, launch smart cards to provide
free car-sharing services, and develop a connected traffic light system to reduce
traffic jams throughout the city. The City of Melbourne (Australia) has launched
a Smart City Office, which includes open data projects, a 24-hour pedestrian
counting system and city-wide free public WiFi. IBM’s Smarter City Challenge is
providing select cities access to Watson APIs and pro bono consulting services.
What’s Next
Smart Cities are attractive to businesses, startup communities and young people
looking for a permanent place to call home. We anticipate more competitions
and grants to be made available in the years to come—as well as new public-pri-
vate partnerships.

TRENDS
125 - 131
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The CRISPR editing process.
Genomic Editing
What You Need To Know About Genomic Editing Language Matters

Biology is one of the most important technology platforms of the 21st century. Gene-edited vs. GMO: gene-edited means that an organism’s native genome
Genomic editing is a quickly-developing, game-changing field promising to in- has been edited, while “genetically modified organism” (GMO) means that for-
fluence the future of life on our planet. Mapping the human genome has been a eign DNA sequences have been introduced into an organism.
long and difficult process. Recently, sequencing technology has become more
Gene drive: this is the practice of pushing the inheritance of desired genes
accessible and affordable to research labs, which would enable them to work to-
through generations in order to permanently alter the entire population of an
wards personalized medical treatments for vexing diseases like cancer. Six years
organism
ago researchers unveiled a gene editing technique called CRISPR-Cas9, which
allows scientists to edit precise positions on DNA using a bacterial enzyme. New
technologies make CRISPR gene editing more affordable. The implications are
tremendous. Mosquitoes carrying malaria could be edited so that they no longer
carry the disease through future generations, and so that millions of humans in 125 Precision Medicine
high-risk regions no longer suffer from the disease. There are therapeutic possi-
bilities in human medicine as well. Editing our genetic code could mean eradicat- This is a new approach to personalized treatment and prevention, allowing doc-
ing certain genetic diseases—like cystic fibrosis—so they can’t be passed along to tors to design a treatment strategy using our own genes as guides. In the future,
babies. Liver cells could be edited so that they lower the bad cholesterol levels in there would no longer be a single medication for all, but rather an individualized
families that have inherited mutations. treatment for each one of us individually. Backed by the National Institutes of
We will see a number of companies further develop biological technologies. Health and $130 million in federal grants, precision medicine is being rigorously
However, this is another example of an emerging technology that’s developing studied by universities, health and pharmaceutical researchers, the insurance
faster than our ability to have meaningful conversations for the future, which is industry and government.
why there are so many incendiary op-eds and headlines. This technology does
warrant meaningful planning. We probably shouldn’t be working toward a day
when a baby’s eye color or athletic ability can be edited into her embryonic DNA.
However these treatments and cures deserve a deeper, more informed discussion
about our future, as they could alter life for millions of people around the world.
2017 should prove to be a pivotal year, as U.S. government funding for genomic
editing projects could be reconsidered by newly-appointed government officials.

TRENDS
125 - 131
Nanobots will deliver targeted therapies to

patients.
Genomic Editing cont.
126 Molecular Programming stick on to your head—and a mobile app synching you to your smartphone. It
delivers low-grade electric pulses to influence either your sympathetic (fight or
In 2017, researchers will be working on building programmable devices out of flight) or your parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system. Rather than
our DNA, RNA and proteins. These molecular programs would allow doctors to waiting to get home and unwind with a glass of wine after work, you could
“talk” to our cells in order to diagnose complex diseases, or to test new thera- instead program your headband to kick on during your commute home and
peutic treatments. A team at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute is researching arrive pre-relaxed.
this fantastical-sounding technology for its practical uses, like curing cancer.
Synthetic biology is a emerging field that builds new life: replacement organs
Tiny robots capable of delivering medicine to only a specific area of the body, and soft tissue, as well as entirely new kinds of organisms never before seen on
or assisting with micro-surgery, are on the horizon. Researchers at the Univer- Earth. Synthetic biologists at Ginkgo Bioworks unveiled a bio factory in the fall
sity of California San Diego proved in 2015 that a nanobot, propelled by gas of 2016, and it will be creating new lifeforms in the coming year. So far, it has
bubbles, successfully delivered medicine inside of a live mouse without causing created brewer’s yeast with genes from an orange tree—but it’s planning on
injury. This technology will eventually make its way into us, too, as research con- creating new kinds of pesticides and laundry detergent, too. The University of
tinues in 2017. British Columbia-Okanagan is developing realistic human hearts that can be
used for surgical trainees. Meanwhile, researchers from around the world are
hoping to build a functional human genome from base pairs by the year 2026.
128 Neuroenhancers
In the coming year, a number of computer devices meant to augment our bi- 130 Running Out Of Space For Genome Storage
ology will be made available to the public. Some promise to help you become
more productive, while others are meant to boost your mood. The Emotiv By 2025, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign esti-
Epoc+ and Emotiv Insight and mobile EEG devices monitor your brain activity mate that we may be out of data storage space for human genomes. As preci-
and analyzes cognitive performance. Doppel, which is worn on the wrist, uses sion medicine, CRISPR and gene therapy technologies continue to advance and
electric pulses to augment your energy. The pulsations, which you dial in based improve, our storage needs will explode along with the computing power and
on your needs, are supposed to have a similar effect on your brain as music requirements for acquiring, distributing, analyzing, encrypting and safeguarding
does. The Thync Kit is a series of electrodes and a triangular device that you our genomics data.

TRENDS
125 - 131
The Ginkgo Bioworks automated biology

factory.
Genomic Editing cont.
131 Norms and Regulations

In 2016, we learned that Chinese scientists were already testing CRISPR-Cas9 on Biology is one of the most
humans. Sichuan University began testing modified cells on people with lung
cancer. In Guangzhou, researchers from Sun Yat-sen University published the important technology
results of their tests on human embryos. All of these stories raised concerns for platforms of the 21st century.
ethicists and biologists in other countries. Meanwhile, the shift in the White House
and Senate comes at a critical time. In 2017 and beyond, there will be a call for
global norms—but developing a global agreement detailing how we should ex-
periment with and use emerging biological technologies will be a complicated
process.

TREND 132
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action This Lexus concept car uses a driver’s
biometric data to glow every time the
driver’s heart beats.
Biointerfaces

Pressure-sensitive fabrics, optical sensors and bio-acoustic sensing arrays are Design Lab; Lexus; Carnegie Mellon; Microsoft; University of Michigan; Uni-
transforming your hands, arms and legs into control pads. versity of Pennsylvania’s Nano/Bio Interface Center; the Center for BioInterface
Resarch at Georgia Tech
Examples
Researchers at the Design Lab in Berlin have developed a glove that has embed-
ded pressure sensors, which could soon give the gift of limitless communication
to deaf-blind people, who currently rely on a system of tactile (hand-to-hand)
sign language. Software translates the sign language alphabet into digital text
and is connected to the Internet—meaning that anyone will be able to commu-
nicate freely with people who are deaf-blind. Meantime, sales of smart TVs with
gesture control have increased year over year. Some auto manufacturers, such as
BMW, have introduced gesture controls into their flagship models.
What’s Next
Biointerface and gestural interfaces aren’t intended to compete with touchscreen
environments, but are instead meant to help us communicate and operate our
devices in new ways. The next iteration of gestures is to combine them with more
sophisticated technologies. We expect to see more wearable interfaces—with
smartphone touchscreens as remote controls—in the coming year. We’ll also see
new interfaces in cars, which will allow drivers to use gesture to control the dash-
board and will use in-seat sensors to determine whether a driver is falling asleep.
Lexus recently released a concept car video showing how cars might recognize
and react to our emotions. For many designers, the next evolution in tangible
interfaces remains the ability to make traditional interfaces disappear entirely,
instead allowing us to make small gestures and use our voices to control the ma-
chines in our lives.

TRENDS
133 - 143
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action IBM Watson and Marchesa co-designed a
connected dress for the 2016 Met Gala.
Wearables
Key Insight will be ready for meaningful content delivery in 2017. Instead, look for more ro-
bust lifestyle, fitness and entertainment applications.
As of December 2016, the Future Today Institute is tracking 462 wearable devic-
es, in various stages of development—from fringe experimentation to mass-mar-
ket sales. More than half are dedicated to fitness or biometrics, while others are 135 Wireless Body Area Networks
intended for gaming, work and medical monitoring.
Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) communicate information from your
As of now, nearly all wearables require a smartphone or computer to see and wearable devices back to medical servers, app manufacturers and your home
report data, adjust settings and archive information. Those coming to market computer. Sensors, such as devices to monitor your heart rate or oxygen level,
in 2017 will continue to service our fitness and lifestyle needs with our mobile collect data and send it back to a central hub (most often, your smartphone)
phones as a hub. Still, there are several trends to consider in this space: which then relays the information to a medical team or health care monitoring
service. There are a lot of benefits: rather than moving into an assisted living
133 Head Mounted Displays facility or spending a lot of time in the hospital, patients can instead move back
home while being provided with virtual care. While some of the established
Virtual reality headsets are wearable devices. What’s next: they will soon collect medical devices use strong encryption algorithms, many new wearable devices
your biometric data and other personal information in order to provide added don’t. They’re sending a lot of unencrypted, unsecured personal data – including
functionality. The HTC Vive tracks your movement, while controller sticks send our locations – across the Internet. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
haptic signals to your brain as you work your way through simulated environ- has been investigating several cybersecurity cases related to WBANs, and we
ments. anticipate WBAN security growing as a trend in the coming year.
134 Smartwatches 136 Connected Fabrics

There are a variety of smartwatches and smart wristbands that act as second A new breed of weavables—textiles woven with sensors and other technolo-
screens for your mobile phone. With the debut of the Apple Watch, advertisers, gies—will provide haptic feedback to help us navigate cities as we walk. They
marketers, journalists and everyone else who’s even tangentially connected to will also automatically adjust to cold or heat, keeping our body temperatures
the content business was motivated in 2016 to capture wrist real estate, building consistently comfortable. IBM Watson partnered with Marchesa on a high-tech,
apps and products that combine location, news or deals with notifications. The connected dress worn by model Karolina Kurkova at the annual Met Gala.
future of smart watches is certainly promising, however we don’t think that they

TRENDS
133 - 143
Google’s Project Jacquard attaches

conductive yarn to circuits and connectors.
Wearables cont.
Navigate Paris is a location-enabled jacket, which helps the wearer get around 139 Pets
Paris without burying her nose in her smartphone. CuteCircuit makes dresses
that can change colors via smartphone. Biofabricate is growing fabrics in a lab. Is your dog lazy? That’s a question on the minds of some entrepreneurs who are
Near-future projects in the works include drug-releasing medical textiles and designing wearables for pets. The WonderWoof is a bluetooth-enabled bowtie
fabrics that regulate moisture in our skin. that tracks your dog’s steps and sends the information to your smartphone.
FitBark Tracker monitors a dog’s activities and provides analytics on play and
137 Women sleep. Trackimo and Verve Retrieve are real-time GPS trackers for pets, and
they work both indoors and outside. Expect more features in 2017, like the abil-
There are still relatively few wearables specifically designed with women in ity to schedule a geofence that will send you alerts when your pets wander too
mind. In 2016 we saw some partnerships between popular designers and wear- far away.
able tech companies, and we expect to see more soon. But for women, it isn’t
just about design. Wearables that help track women’s health issues and person-
al safety stand to grab significant market share in the coming year.
138 Kids
We will see more wearables designed for kids in 2017, as developers are creating
wearables for parents who want to monitor their infants and young children.
Several smartwatches, such as the HereO and Kidswatcher allow parents to
track their children’s coordinates, send them messages and make calls to the
device. The iBitz is a pedometer that incentivizes kids by rewarding them with
virtual coins to use in Disney’s Club Penguin. Sproutling collects real-time data
on infants, reporting their body temperature, heart rate, body movements, and
sleep patterns as well as room temperature, humidity, and light.

TRENDS
133 - 143
Ingestible origami robots developed at MIT’s

Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory can unfold itself from a swallowed
Wearables cont. capsule and then crawl across the stomach

wall to patch a wound.
Here Come The –ables 143 Thinkables

In the coming year, expect to see a number of wearables, which promise to keep
you alert, healthy and balanced. Thinkables will soon allow more adventurous gamers to control games using
only their thoughts. The 4D Force platform detects brain waves, capturing
EEG/ EOG/ EMG signals and converting them into signals a computer can un-
140 Tattooables derstand. RENDS
Medicine will start to look very different. Tatooables are going to clinical trials
133 - 143
soon. Researchers at the University of Tokyo, Stanford and the University of
California at San Diego are all working on electronic second skins. MC10 has al-
ready created microscopic, organic semiconductors and carbon nanotubes that
stretch and flex and can be powered wirelessly.
141 Ingestibles/Implantables
In the coming year, we’ll see several new ingestible and implantable nanobots
and other wireless medical devices that deliver drug therapy, monitor our vital
statistics, stimulate our brains, help manage pain and bladder control and more.
142 Earables
In-ear computers, otherwise known as earables, will be here soon. For example,
Apple recently filed a patent on earbuds that can be used to monitor tempera-
ture, perspiration and heart rate during exercise or sports—those earbuds could
also be used to control electronic devices (like our phones) using head gestures.
The current AirPods don’t offer that much functionality, of course, but we antici-
pate some of these bio-features being added in the next 24-36 months.

TREND 144
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Smart Thread can be used in sutures to
heal—and report on—wounds.
Smart Thread
Key Insight
In 2017, you’ll be hearing more about “smart thread,” which doctors can use to
monitor patients after surgery.
Examples
Researchers at Tufts University have embedded nano-scale sensors and elec-
tronics into surgical thread, that can be used for suturing. Think of it as a sort of
temporary, smart system that connects to a smartphone or other medical device
and reports on your glucose levels, diagnoses an infection and alerts hospital
staff if your body is chemically out of balance.
What’s Next
Smart thread is just coming out of experimentation, but initial tests results show
that it can be successfully used as a diagnostic device.
Watchlist
Tufts University; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; Har-
vard University’s Wyss Institute

TREND 145
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Alphabet’s Verily Life Sciences is helping to
bring a new branch of health science to the
mainstream.
Bioelectronics
Key Insight
Bioelectronics is a new scientific field in which tiny implantable devices are used
to treat a variety of ailments.
Examples
Alphabet’s Verily Life Sciences is partnering with a number of companies, from
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to 3M, to propel bioelectronics forward. IBM Research is
building micro-machined structures that mimic human cells in saliva, blood and
urine. Already, Verily and UCLA developed a wearable microscope that can be
used to detect certain kinds of cancers.
What’s Next
Just as complex computer networks can be analyzed and fixed by isolating spe-
cific nodes—bioelectrical engineers believe that the human body can be similarly
addressed to stimulate our immune system, slow the progression of disease and
extend human longevity.
Watchlist
Alphabet (Google); Verily Life Sciences; IBM; GSK; 3M; AstraZeneca; University of
California Los Angeles; Novartis.

TREND 146
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action The doctor will see you—and your
smartphone—now.
Patient-Generated Health Data


Patients are creating a trove of data that could contribute to their healthcare pro- Validic; HumanAPI; Vivify; Strava; Qualcomm; Tactio; Alphabet; insurance compa-
vider’s overall assessment. The doctor will see you—and your smartphone—now. nies; Medicare; Medicaid
Examples
Because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Americans have been creating a
trove of patient-generated health data that can be used by researchers. The ACA
requires that doctors and health care providers collect a tremendous amount of
patient data, beyond height, weight, blood pressure and temperature. If patients
contributed all of the other data being collected by their devices—such as their
average daily activity, daily resting pulse rate, number of hours slept, and the
like—health care providers could treat us more holistically. New software from
companies like Validic allow doctors to collect this other data and incorporate it
into their medical records—as long as patients give their consent.
What’s Next
As of December 2016, when the Trend Report was first published, the fate of the
ACA was in question. To comply with the ACA, the health care industry spent
billions of dollars to overhaul the electronic medical records systems it uses. If
the ACA is overturned or significantly altered, that could mean big changes to
the way that health care providers are required to collect, maintain and distribute
your personal health data.
If health care providers continue to collect the same amount of patient data (or
more) as they are required to do today, that would provide artificially intelligent
and cognitive computing systems the data needed to assist doctors with pre-
ventative care and healthy lifestyle plans.

TREND 147
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action In the near-future, prosthetics will both
move and communicate the sensation of
touch.
Touch-Sensitive Prosthetics
Key Insight
Researchers are developing new prosthetic limbs that restore not just move-
ment—but touch as well.
Examples
Neuroscientists at the University of Chicago are experimenting with touch-sen-
sitive robotics and rhesus monkeys, whose neural-sensory biology is most similar
to humans. They successfully simulated the sensation of touch by stimulating
certain areas of the brain.
What’s Next
This research lays the groundwork for human testing—in the near-future, similar
technology will be incorporated into prosthetic arms that will transmit the basic
sensation of touch back to the brain.
Watchlist
National Academy of Science; FDA; University of Chicago; Duke University’s
Center for Neuroengineering; University of Southern California; University of
Washington’s Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering; Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity; Carnegie Mellon University; Starlab; Case Western Reserve University;
Penn State University; DARPA

TREND 148
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Microsoft researchers are studying image
recognition via deep learning techniques.
Deep Learning For Food Recognition

Key Insight
Deep learning is being used to help identify food for a number of reasons: to help
computers have more robust conversations with us about what we’re eating, to
calculate the number of calories in a dish, and to spot spoiled or tainted food.
Examples
How many calories are in that salad? Rather than estimating and doing the math
yourself, new computer models will be able to calculate the nutritional value of
your meal before you take your first bite. Deep learning—a branch of artificial in-
telligence—is an approach to building and training a neural network to think more
like we humans do. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts are using
deep learning for computer-assisted dietary assessments, while scientists at Mi-
crosoft have already incorporated their deep learning prototypes for recognizing
popular Asian and Western foods into Bing local search.
What’s Next
This technique can be used to find and sort bad products on food assembly lines,
and it can help growers better identify crop disease. In 2017, research into deep
learning for food recognition will mean a number of opportunities for agricultural
companies, farmers, food manufacturers, restaurants and those watching their
diets.
Watchlist
Microsoft; Prospera; IBM; Alphabet (Google); University of Massachusetts; Apple;
Carnegie Mellon; University of Tokyo; Penn State University; University of Mary-
land; PlantVillage

TREND 149
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Smart Farm technologies could bring dramatic
changes to agricultural business in 2017.
Smart Farms
Key Insight
In order for traditional agriculture to meet the global demand for food, research-
ers are trying to make farming look more like modern manufacturing.
Examples
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization published an alarming report in
2009 stating that by the year 2050, global agricultural production must rise by
70% to meet projected demand. Current farms won’t meet the mark without
getting a little smarter.
What’s Next
A number of new and emerging technologies can be used to power farms with
data and to automate labor. For example, moisture sensors can continuously
monitor the moisture level of soil and communicate with an irrigation system
to increase the water supply. Editing the genomes of seeds can allow them to
flourish, even in unpredictable weather conditions—which are becoming more
frequent. It can also match seeds to specific soil types, to generate an optimal
crop of vegetables. Advancements in agricultural drones will, in the near-future,
assist with planting, harvesting and pest control.
Watchlist
UN Food and Agriculture Organization; USDA; Tyson Foods; Alico Incorporated;
Agria Corporation; Adler Seeds; American Vanguard; Monsanto; Dow Chemical
Company; University of Maryland; Purdue University; Iowa Farm Bureau; OpenAg
Initiative at MIT; DNV GL; Cargill; Alltech; Bernard Matthews Farms; BASF; AVEBE;
Archer Daniels Midland; Marrone Bio Innovations; Syngenta; Honeywell; DuPont

TREND 150
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action NASA’s image of Mars.
Terraforming
Key Insight
Terraforming is a concept from science fiction—people reform another planet to
make it resemble Earth, so that it can support human life.
Examples
Sci-fi, meet reality. Some people believe that human life is unsustainable in the
far-future, and that humans will need to colonize another planet in order to sur-
vive. In September 2016, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, delivered his plan to both
get us to Mars and to terraform it once we arrive. It will be several years before
humans pack up and move to space—but NASA has already moved ahead on
several projects to study terraforming the Moon.
What’s Next
The keys to terraforming could be in our current microbes, which are capable of
surviving harsh environments like the Atacama Desert. Of course, we might in-
vent entirely new forms of life using synthetic biology (see Trend 128).
In order to advance terraforming from theory to reality, we’ll need a host of new
robots capable of being trained to mine for resources and build an ecosystem
that can sustain human life. And we’ll need powerful rockets that can power
spacecraft to transport those robots to space so that they can break ground.
Watchlist
NASA; SpaceX

TREND 151
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action This hamburger was grown in a lab.
Cultivated Food and Beverage

Key Insight
Say goodbye to tofu imitations of traditional meats. Scientists are getting closer
to culturing meats and grapes that are made up of the same chemical structures,
but were fabricated inside of a lab rather than grown on a farm.
Examples
In 2013, the University of Maastricht introduced the world to the first lab-grown
hamburger patty, and it cost $330,000 to create. Since then, a number of start-
ups have been working on various techniques to culture—rather than harvest—
meat that has the same chemical structure as what would have otherwise come
from an animal. Meanwhile, Ava Winery has figured out how to create wine that
tastes just as good as Dom Perignon Champagne—without any grapes. Propo-
nents also like cultured meats because they could help ease the environmental
footprint of livestock production.
What’s Next
Right now, labs are culturing the two critical elements of meat separately—the fat
and the muscle tissue. And they’re currently being produced with some animal
products. In the future, researchers are working on eliminating animals entire-
ly from the process and instead manufacturing an organic material with both
muscle and fat together. It will be 10-15 years before producers are able to scale
production to meet our demand, but by that time we might be printing our own
hamburgers at home.
Watchlist
Future Meat; Ava Winery; University of Maastricht; EU; FDA

TREND 152
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action Are we in a new epoch called the
Anthropocene?

Key Insight In 2016 alone, researchers and academics published thousands of peer-reviewed
papers, op-ed pieces and books. Traditionalists argue against using “Anthropo-
Scientists and geologists are in the middle of a heated argument about whether
cene,” suggesting that the debate about climate is relevant, but that geology
we are living in a new geological epoch, one that we’ve created ourselves in many
data is still lacking. They want to investigate when, exactly, humans began leaving
ways because of the technologies we’ve created and use every day. Given that
a visible mark on the planet. There is no doubt that some of our technological
we posted some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded, the debate about
advances have led to increased factory output and, as a result, pollution. The In-
whether we’ve permanently impacted the planet will be replaced by conversa-
ternational Union of Geological Sciences convened a special group to study the
tions about what we need to do next.
world on and in which we live—the rock strata, the soil, the atmosphere—and will
make a decision about what to call our current geologic time in 2017.
Examples
Depending on whose research and definitions you prefer, we are either in the Regardless of which term we use going forward, it is difficult to argue against the
“Holocene” epoch (from the Greek for “totally new), which began 11,700 years fact that humans are Earth’s first species to wield planet-scale influence. Many
ago just after the last ice age—or we are in a new epoch, called the “Anthropo- of us find a certain comfort in fatalism, so there is a possibility that in accepting
cene” (anthro for “man,” and cene for “new”). At the beginning of the Holocene, this new epoch, we absolve ourselves of blame and accept that our destiny as a
the global human population was estimated between 1 - 10 million. Today, many species was set in motion nearly 12,000 years ago. There is also an opportunity in
smaller American cities boast 1 million citizens. The new geological layers we are acknowledging that humanity has a stake in the ongoing evolution of our planet.
creating are riddled with chemicals and industrial waste, everyday garbage, pesti-
cide runoff and more. We’ve caused our sea levels to rise and our lakes and rivers Watchlist
to dry up. Ecologist Eugene Stoermer coined the term in the 1980s and Nobel The International Union of Geological Sciences; the Nature Conservancy; the At-
laureate Paul Crutzen popularized it in 2000. Suddenly among earth-science re- mospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions and other pre-publication forum
searchers, the Anthropocene has found new momentum. and open-review journal sites; the Anthropocene Working Group; U.S. Geological
Survey
What’s Next
Since 2014, each year on Earth has broken records for the hottest year in record-
ed history. The North Pole saw temperatures above freezing. Smog in China has
gotten so bad that government officials are building a building-sized air purifier
in Beijing.

TREND 153
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action NASA’s SLS tank holds 196,000 gallons of
liquid oxygen.
Space Exploration
Key Insight become major players. Within the next 24-36 months, there will be a boom in
launch vehicles, landers, probes, rovers, space stations and research craft. We’ll
With a commercial space exploration boom and civilians now planning to colo-
also see partnerships formed for asteroid and moon mining and for space man-
nize Mars, 2017 should be a year of interesting announcements.
ufacturing. There will be ancillary opportunities across industries, from durable
clothing retailers to skilled manufacturing operations. In 2017, private equity firms
Examples should start looking at the soon-to-launch companies that will ultimately supply
Bigelow Aerospace and Axiom Space have both announced that by 2020, they the tools, materials and technologies for commercial space operations.
will have built commercial facilities for the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA is hoping that the ISS will help support and grow commercial space activ- Watchlist
ities in the near-future as it focuses more of its attention on exploring Mars.
NASA; Amazon; European Space Agency; Indian Space Research Organization;
NASA is also readying the Space Launch System in preparation for deep space China National Space Administration; DARPA; Scaled Composites and Virgin
exploration. The James Webb Space Telescope, a massive observatory the size Galactic (The Spaceship Company); XCOR Aerospace; SpaceX; Interorbital Sys-
of a tennis court, is nearing completion. Some of the most exciting space innova- tems; Stratolaunch; Masten Space Systems; Lockheed Martin; Northrop Grum-
tion is centered deep inside the Mojave Desert, where 17 space-related companies man; Boeing; Copenhagen Suborbitals; Orbital Sciences Corporation; Planetary
are closing in on commercial space travel, exploration and development. XCOR Resources; Samsung; Facebook; Alphabet and many more.
and Virgin Galactic are gearing up to take non-astronauts into space...for fun.
What’s Next
We saw successful (and tragically, some unsuccessful) commercial space launch-
es in the past two years. In September 2016, Elon Musk’s SpaceX suffered a major
setback when its Falcon 9 rocket exploded.
Space agencies in Europe, China and the U.S. are hoping to either land on or get
close enough to an asteroid to mine it or change its path. Expect to see humans
headed back to the Moon and global discussions about whether or not we should
make Mars a protected habitat, free of government fighting. China and India will

TREND 154
Emerging research from the University of

Rochester: From a continuous range of
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action viewing angles, the hand remains cloaked,
and the grids seen through the device
match the background on the wall (about
two meters away), in color, spacing, shifts,
Invisibility Cloaks and magnification.

Researchers are experimenting with electromagnetic and audio waves, tiny lens- DARPA; University of Rochester; U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley
es that bend light and reflective materials to hide objects in plain sight. National Laboratory; Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at Berkeley; the Univer-
sity of California-Berkeley; University of Texas-Austin; University of Copenhagen
Examples
The cloak doesn’t exactly look like what you’ve seen in Harry Potter. In 2006,
physicist John Pendry theorized that it was possible to hide objects using special
optical lenses capable of bending light. In 2013, researchers at the University of
Texas-Austin successfully experimented with a three-dimensional mantle cloak,
which makes a 3D object invisible to radio waves. More recently, the Queen Mary
University of London has been studying how to make curved surfaces look flat
using a substance made out of thin layers that each have different electromag-
netic properties. An object is hidden when the layers prevent waves from inter-
acting.
What’s Next
Invisibility cloaks have an obvious application for defense. However the same
basic idea might be applied to other kinds of waves, including heat—meaning
that in the future, we might be able to cloak everything from annoying sounds to
the sun. And of course, whoever’s inside the cloak would be able to see outside,
without being seen.

TREND 155
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action MatchMaker Exchange is an “Internet of

DNA,” matching the DNA from sick people
around the world.
Quantum Computers

In short, quantum computers can solve problems that are computationally too One challenge that will need to be addressed in the next few years—how to com-
difficult for a classical computer, which can only process information in 1s or 0s. mercialize this technology. IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Google, as well
In the quantum universe, those 1 and 0 bytes can exist in two states (qubits) at as D-Wave, are trying to figure out how to advance and commercialize the quan-
once, allowing computations to be performed in parallel. Therefore, if you build tum computers. Quantum computers require special programs like Shor’s algo-
two qubits, they are able to hold four values at the same time: 00, 01, 10, 11. Quan- rithm—invented by MIT’s Peter Shor—that can factorize any prime number. The
tum computers are not only more powerful than anything built to date—they National Security Agency is already predicting that the cryptography in use will
require special algorithms capable of doing new things. Scientists have been re- be rendered completely obsolete once quantum computing comes online.
searching quantum computing for decades. The challenge has been proving that
a quantum machine is actually doing quantum computations. That’s because in Watchlist
a quantum system, the very act of observing information in transit changes the D-Wave Systems; IBM; Alphabet (Google); Lockheed Martin; NSA; Microsoft;
nature of that data. Hewlett-Packard; MIT; Stanford University; University of Southern California
Examples
D-Wave Systems recently announced that it will ship a 2000-qubit quantum
computer in 2017, which would make it the fastest and most powerful computer
on the planet. Researchers at IBM’s experimental quantum computing group
have begun to unlock difficult problems in quantum computing, such as detect-
ing errors. For example, classical computers can detect and correct errors using
a system of copying and extracting the value from the correct bits. When a quan-
tum computer tries to do the same thing, it alters the qubits just attempting to
copy them.

TREND 156
Custom-printed shoes from Zaha Hadid at

Milan Fashion Week.
3D Printing
Sixth year on the list

In the next year, we will see lots of new methods of 3D printing as well as innova- Autodesk; Organovo; MIT Media Lab; GE; Formlabs; Aurora Labs; Arc Group; Ex-
tive uses for the technology. One; Voxeljet; Stratasys; HP; Shapeways; MakerBot; University of Illinois Urbana;
University College London
Examples
3D printing isn’t just for keychains anymore. One of the biggest breakthroughs
making 3D printing more practical is MIT’s new MultiFab printer, an intentionally
hackable system that can print up to 10 materials at the same time, including hy-
drogels, co-polymers and solvent-based materials...along with glass, wood, nylon,
chocolate, metal and plastic. New machines can print really small—to a resolution
of 40 microns, which is less than half the width of a human hair. Artist Jonty
Hurwitz created a nanosculpture of a woman that stands a mere 100 microns. (A
strand of hair looks like an enormous road with her on top.)
What’s Next
The Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab has developed a technique to
print molten glass in 3D, and soon, the technology could be used at architectural
scale. New organic materials—such as tissue suitable for human bodies—will be
printed for use in medical procedures. In the next year, we’ll see companies cus-
tom-printing orthotics and footwear, eyeglasses and athletic equipment. Soon,
“one size fits all” won’t need to fit any one person ever again.

TREND 157
MatchMaker Exchange is an “Internet of

DNA,” matching the DNA from sick people
Internet of X around the world.
Key Insight
With so many objects, networks and people coming online, you will start to hear
companies calling themselves the “Internet of X.”
Examples
Israeli startup Consumer Physics—a sort of Internet of Ingestibles—wants to put
molecular spectroscopy into smartphones so that you can extract information
out of your food and pills. This would enable you to scan a piece of chicken in
order to search the fat and calories on your plate. Their research is also able
to image prescription and over-the-counter drugs in order to spot counterfeits.
Meantime, a new project called MatchMaker Exchange is an “Internet of DNA,”
matching the DNA from sick people around the world.
What’s Next
It’s not unrealistic to say that in the near future, everything you see (and even
the things you can’t) will become searchable via a distributed network. This will
unlock layers of information previously unavailable to us—but it will also create a
significant demand for verification.
Watchlist
Global Alliance for Genomics and Health; Alphabet (Google); Personal Genomics
Project; University of Southern California

TREND 158
Needs Monitoring Informs Strategy Requires Action 5G is the fifth generation of wireless
technology.
5G
Key Insight
5G trials, supported by the Federal Communications Commission and the Euro-
pean Union, are underway around the world.
Examples
5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology. We had 1G in the early 1990s and
2G in the late 90s, which enabled us to send text messages between two mobile
devices. 3G supported our ability to browse the internet. Now, with 4G, we’re able
to download and upload large videos. There are competing standards—WiMax
and LTE. 5G will dramatically increase the speeds at which we connect—we’ll
be able to pull Ultra HD and 3D video and use VR in the cloud, since download
speeds will hover around 10 gigabits per second. But it isn’t just our phones that
will use the connection: driverless cars, smart cities, and smart grids will all rely
on 5G.
What’s Next
Hardware manufacturers like Qualcomm are readying 5G modems and advanced
chipsets. For 5G to work, internet service providers will need to upgrade their
networks. Verizon and AT&T have already begun piloting 5G, but it will be a few
years before everyone has access.
Watchlist
Federal Communications Commission; European Union; internet service provid-
ers worldwide; car manufacturers; modem and chip manufacturers

ABOUT THE FUTURE
TODAY INSTITUTE Our focus is the future of technology.
Every single business, industry and government agency is affected by the fu-
We are futurists. We investigate emerging technology in ture of technology. Because FTI does not cover one single industry or vertical,
order to answer “What’s the future of X?” for our global we are uniquely positioned to help you and your leadership team understand
client base. We help leaders, teams and individuals the broader horizon.
forecast the future so they can make better, more
informed decisions, even as their organizations face great We use a data-driven process.
disruption caused by technology. Forecasting is a science, one that we have been refining for more than a dec-
ade. In fact, FTI’s six-part methodology has been featured in the Harvard
Business Review. We don’t gaze into a crystal ball—and we don’t rely on fo-
cus groups to tell us what’s trendy. Our research and forecasting models are
data-driven.
We help R&D teams understand what’s next.

When dedicated researchers are focused on their everyday work, it can be
hard to see around corners. FTI helps R&D teams understand their research
within the broader context of emerging technologies.
We help Leaders map their futures.

Smart leaders need to know not just the emerging sources of disruption and
opportunity, but what strategies to create in the present. FTI equips leaders
with the tools necessary to future-proof their strategies against new technol-
ogies and tech trends. We empower leaders to know where they are in today,
and how that informs where they should be tomorrow.

BECOME A MEMBER
OF THE FUTURE The Future Today Institute ensures that you and your organization will
TODAY INSTITUTE know all of the important near-future trends and any critical updates
far earlier than anyone else.
Membership is open to organizations of all sizes and includes:
• Quarterly custom tech trends presentations and

workshops in your office for you, your staff and (if you
want) your clients
• Monthly personalized trends research and strategy

packs (about 3 hours of reading)
• A monthly tech trends debriefing (voice or video) for

you and your team
• A custom Slack channel just for you and your team
• Complimentary invitations to our Institute events, where

you’ll meet with and learn from other Institute members.
To learn more about becoming a member of the Future Today Institute,

call 267-342-4300 or email hello@futuretodayinstitute.com.

The Future Today Institute researches emerging technologies at the fringes and
OUR WORK tracks them as they move towards the mainstream.
The Institute’s Membership Program is our core offering. Our client members val-
ue the research, custom trends presentations and events, where they can meet
with and learn from other Institute members.
One Hour, Half-Day, Full-Day and Multiple-Day Trends

and Forecasting Workshops
Presenting a customized overview of trends that will impact an organization, as-
sociation, company or group. Workshops range from half-day sessions to two or
three-day intensives.
Project-Based Advising
This is traditional project-based engagement, and they range from a few weeks
to several months. Examples: An auto company asked us to forecast the future of
driving, given what we know to be true today. We worked with a financial services
company to forecast the future of credit cards. We advised a government agency
on forecasting scenarios for the future of America’s relationship with Russia.
Pop-Up Think Tanks and Salons

We draw upon FTI’s extensive professional network to convene pop-up think
tanks and salons on behalf of our clients. Using our unique convening framework,
we bring together your staff with experts from outside your industry for fresh per-
spective and insights. We host them on behalf of clients all over the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy Webb is Founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute, a lead-
ing future forecasting and strategy firm that researches technology and
answers “What’s the future of X?” for a global client base. She is the
author of The Signals Are Talking, Why Today’s Fringe Is Tomorrow’s
Mainstream (PublicAffairs, Dec. 2016), a book about how everyone can
and should use the tools of a futurist.
Amy teaches courses on the future of technology at NYU’s Stern School

of Business and the future of media at Columbia University. She was a
2014-15 Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and her research
on the future of postsecondary education reform received a national Sig-
ma Delta Chi award.
Amy’s research focuses on how technology will transform the way we

work, lead, govern and live. Her future forecasting work has been fea-
tured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Jour-
nal, Fortune, Fast Company, CNN, NPR, and more. Her research has also
been cited in several academic papers. She and FTI have advised For-
tune 50 companies, government agencies and foundations, as well as
some of the most influential global leaders.
Amy holds many professional affiliations and collaborates with a number

of institutions. She was a Delegate on the former U.S.-Russia Bilateral
Presidential Commission and served on the Aspen Institute’s Dialogue
on Libraries, where she worked with FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and oth-
ers on the future of libraries. Every year, Amy lectures about the future of
media and technology at a number of universities, which have included
Institut d’études politiques de Paris, Temple University, Tokyo University
and National University of Kyiv.
She works out of FTI offices in New York City and Washington D.C.
© 2017 Future
149 Today Institute
THE SIGNALS ARE TALKING
Why Today’s Fringe is Tomorrow’s Mainstream
Amy Webb
Publication date: December 6, 2016
$27.99/34.99 CAN • 336 pages • ISBN 978-1-61039-666-0
We invite you to learn and use

the tools of a futurist.
Amy Webb’s new book: THE SIGNALS ARE TALKING:
Why Today’s Fringe is Tomorrow’s Mainstream arrives at
a fortuitous moment, as it gives critical guidance on how
to think like a futurist in order to most accurately answer
pressing questions about the future of emerging technol-
ogies, science, our economy, political systems, and civil
liberties.
“A rare treasure: a substantive guide written in a narrative that’s

a delight to read.”
—Christopher Graves, Global Chair, Ogilvy Public Relations
“[The Signals Are Talking] provides several brain-bending future

possibilities...Webb’s stellar reputation in this red-hot field
should generate demand.”
—Booklist
“A logical way to sift through today’s onslaught of events and

information to spot coming changes in your corner of the world.”
—KIRKUS
© 2017 Future
150 Today Institute
COMPANIES,
ORGANIZATIONS,
UNIVERSITIES
AND GOVERNMENT
Bloomberg Cloudera Department of Justice Etsy
Boeing CloudPeeps Department of European Space Agency
Transportation
AGENCIES
BOKU CNN European Union
Design Lab
Boost VC Cognitive Horizons ExOne
MENTIONED IN
Network Digital Asset Holdings
Boston Dynamics Expect Labs
Coin base Discovery
Boxbee ExxonMobil
OUR 2017 TRENDS Branch

Coin desk
Coinsetter
Discovery
Communications Facebook
REPORT.
BTC Facebook Exchange
Disney
Columbia Journalism
BTCC FANUC Robotics
Review DNV GL
BTCS FarmLink
Comcast doubleclick
Buddy Fastacash
Content-producing Dow Chemical Company
Business Leaders organizations FDA
21st Century Fox Alphabet (Google) Austrian Institute of DreamBox
Technology Button Copenhagen Suborbitals Federal Bureau
3M Amazon Droga5
Autodesk of Investigation
BuzzFeed Coursera
ABB Robotics Amazon Web Services Dropbox
Automated Insights Federal Chief
C-Suite executives Criteo
Abide American Enterprise Duke University Information Officer
Institute Autonomous Solutions Cadreon Critical Mass
ABRA DuPont Federal Communications
American Vanguard Ava Winery Camera Culture Research Crowd Companies Commission
ACLU EatWith
Group at the MIT Media Council
Anonymous AVEBE Financial Times
Ad Ready Lab eBay Enterprise
Crowdtangle
Anthropocene Working Axel Springer Finland
AdExtent Cargill EdX
Group Crystal
Backchannel fon
Adler Seeds Carnegie Mellon EFF
AOL CVS
Baidu University For Labs
Adria Corporation Electronic Frontier
Apple D-Wave Systems
Bank of America Case Western Reserve Foundation Fuji Media Holdings
AdRoll Appsfire University DARPA
BASF EMC Fujitsu
Advance Publications Arc Group CBS Corporation DataONE
BBC News Energid Technologies Funding Circle
Aeon Archer Daniels Midland Center for BioInterface Deeplink.me
BBDO Environmental Future Meat
Aethon Inc. Research at Georgia Tech
Aria NLG Department of Defense Protection Agency
BBH Gannett
Agria Corporation Chartbeat
Asahi Shimbun Company Department of Energy Epic Games
Bell Labs Garage Band
Airbnb Chatfuel
Astra Zeneca Department of Health EPSON Robotics
Bernard Matthews Farms Geekie
Alico Incorporated China and Human Services
AT&T ESA Data Registry
Bertelsmann General Electric
Alliance for American China National Space Department of Homeland
Atmel ESPN
Manufacturing Bitter Southerner Administration Security Gimbal
Auphonic Estimote
Alltech BitTorrent Circos VR Department of Housing Global Alliance for
Aurora Labs and Urban Development Estonia Genomics and Health
Alphabet BlipTrack CITI

COMPANIES,
ORGANIZATIONS,
UNIVERSITIES
AND GOVERNMENT
Kakapo Talk McGraw-Hill National Institute Pacific Standard
of Justice
Karlsruhe Institute of Media organizations Palantir Technologies
Technology National Instruments
AGENCIES
Mediaset Pandorabots
Keonn Kavli Energy National Public Radio
Medicaid PayPal
Nanosciences Institute at
MENTIONED IN
Nature Conservancy
Berkeley Medicare PBS
Nautilus
Kitestring Memory Mirror Pearson
OUR 2017 TRENDS Knewton

Knowledge Network for
Mic
Netflix
Netherlands
Peercoin
REPORT.
Microsoft Pennsylvania State
Biocomplexity New Inquiry University
MIT
Kraken New York Times Personal Genomics
MIT Media Lab Project
Leap Motion New York University
MIT’s CSAIL Planetary Resources
LeftoverSwap NewsCorp
Goodbye Silverstein & Hitachi Anthropomatics and MIT’s Interactive PlantVillage
LendingClub Robotics Group Nielsen
Partners Robotics at the Karlsruhe
Home Depot Polytechnical University
Institute of Technology Leo Burnett MobileDeepLinking.org Northrop Grumman
Google (China)
Honeywell
Insurance companies Lexus MongoDB Northwestern University
Government Postmates
HSBC
Accountability Office Intel Libsyn Monsanto Norway PredPol
Hubert Burda Media
Greylock Partners Interactive Advertising Life360 MoPub Novartis
Bureau (IAB) PRI
HumanAPI
Grupo Globo Line Mosaic NSA
International Union of Prospera
HunchLab
GSD&M LinkedIn Mother Jones Nutonian
Geological Sciences PRX
IBM
GSK Lockheed Martin MuelSoft OakLabs
Internet Archive Purdue University
IBM Research
Guardian Lowes Mumble Office of Management
Interorbital Systems Qualcomm
IBM Watson and Budget
HackerRank Lyft MuniRent
Interviewed Quixey
IFTTT Office of Science and
Harvard University’s MailChimp Mya A.I.
Investigative Reporters Technology Policy Razorfish
WYSS Institute IHeartMedia and Editors (professional MakerBot Nanyang Technological
Harvard-MIT Division association) Ogilvy & Mather RBS
ImageNet database University
of Health Sciences Margot Kaminski,
Iowa Farm Bureau OpenAG Initiative at MIT Reclaim
& Technology Indian Space Assistant Professor, Moritz Narrative Science
Research Organization ISIS College of Law, The Ohio OpenX Recruit Strategic Partners
HBO State University NASA
ING ITV Orbital Sciences REDEF group
Hearst Corporation Marrone Bio Innovations National Academy of Corporation
Ingenious Johns Hopkins University Science Refinery 29
Heroku Master Space Systems Organization for
InMobi Journalism organizations National Association of Rent The Runway
Hershey’s Economic Co-operation
and professional Mastercard Manufacturers
Inner Space VR and Development Research Center on
Hewlett-Packard associations Mattersight National Institute for Information Technologies
Instagram Organovo
HipChat Kaggle Computer-Assisted (CiTIUS)
McClatchy Corporation
Institute of Reporting Oxford University

COMPANIES,
ORGANIZATIONS,
UNIVERSITIES
AND GOVERNMENT
Three One Zero Berkeley Upstart Widen + Kennedy
Time Inc. University of California - Upworthy WikiLeaks
Los Angeles
AGENCIES
Time Warner USC Robotics Research Worchester Polytechnic
University of Chicago Lab Institute
TimeBanks
MENTIONED IN
University of Copenhagen USDA World Bank
TinyLetter
University of Dundee Validic XAPO
Tow Center For Digital
OUR 2017 TRENDS Journalism

Toyota
University of Illinois at
Urbana
Valve
vandebron
Xaxis
XCOR Aerospace
REPORT.
University of Maastricht
Toys Trunk Venmo Xerox
University of Maryland
Trello Verily Life Sciences Y Combinator
University of
tronc Verizon Yahoo
Massachusetts
Tufts University VEX Robotics Yale University Law
University of Michigan
Reverge VR Sewbo Philanthropy and Civil School
Tumblr
Society University of New Mexico Viacom
Ripple Shapeways Yamaha
Stanford University Twilio Vice
University of Oxford’s
Robin Labs Sharp Yammer
Twitter Martin Programme on VirtualSKY
Stanford’s AI Lab and
Robocoin shyp the Impacts of Future Yomirui Shimbun Holdings
Vision Lab Tyson Foods Vivify
Technology
RoundPegg Skype YouTube
Starlab U.S. Census VML
University of
Russia Slack Pennsylvania’s Nano/Bio Zendesk
StartVR U.S. Department of Vocativ
Russia Today Smart Sparrow Energy’s Lawrence Interface Center
State Department Vox
Berkeley National University of Rochester
Salesforce Snapchat
Stitcher Laboratory Voxeljet
Samsung Snapgoods University of Santiago de
Stratasys U.S. Geological Survey Compostela Vserv
SANParks Data SoftBank Robotics
Stratolaunch U.S. National Science University of South Wales Vungle
Repository Corporation
Foundation (Australia)
Strava Walgreens
Scaled Composites and Sony
Uber University of Southern
Virgin Galactic (The Survios Walmart
SoundCloud California
Spaceship Company) UBS
Sweden Washington Post
SpaceAway University of Stuttgart
Schneir on Security Udacity
Syngenta Wayfair
SpaceX University of Texas Austin
School of Informatics ULC Robotics
University of Edinburgh Tactio WeChat
Spain
UN Food and Agriculture University of Tokyo
School of Science and tapCommerce Wevr
Sparkbox Organization University of Toronto
Engineering Tesla
SpeakPipe University College London University of Washington WeWork
Scuola Superiore The Atmospheric
Spotify University of Aberdeen White House Council of
Sant’Anna Chemistry and Physics University of
Economic Advisors
SecondMarket Square Discussions University of Birmingham Washington’s Center
for Sensorimotor Neural White House OSTP
Seegrid Stanford Center for The Information University of California - Engineering

PHOTO CREDITS
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INFORMATION
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2017

Tech Trend Report

Amy Webb | Founder | Future Today Institute

3 © 2017 Future Today Institute

• R&D Moves From Universities To Corporations: One observation we made while

4 © 2017 Future Today Institute

08 Will this trend create new competitors for us?

09 How does this trend inspire us?

10 How does this trend help us think about innovation?

Digital Frailty 36 Ambient Proximity 91 Ownership

6 © 2017 Future Today Institute

7 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Robotics 93 Organizational Doxing

8 © 2017 Future Today Institute

9 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Human-Machine Interfaces 16 Cognitive Computing 74 Selfie Security

Privacy 31 Nanodegrees 83 Trolls

10 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Mixed Reality 151 Cultivated Food and Beverage

Internet of Things 64 Augmented Reality

11 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Robotics 121 Internet Mob Justice

Human-Machine Interfaces 26 Ethical Manufacturing

12 © 2017 Future Today Institute

13 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Recognition 18 Ambient Interfaces 147 Touch-Sensitive Prosthetics

Big Data 61 Synthetic Data Sets

14 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Human-Machine Interfaces 20 Consolidation in AI 158 5G

Big Data 61 Synthetic Data Sets

Bioelectronics 127 Nanobot Treatments

15 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Bots 08 Zero Knowledge Proofs 95 E-Residents

Social Payments 15 Deep Learning

16 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Recognition 20 Consolidation in AI 79 Weaponizing Wikileaks

Privacy 31 Nanodegrees 121 Internet Mob Justice

Smart Cities 40 Nutritional Labels For News

17 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Big Data 26 Ethical Manufacturing 74 Selfie Security 114 Solar Highways

56 Crowdlearning 88 Right to Eavesdrop/ 146 Patient-Generated Health Data

Security 08 Zero Knowledge Proofs 86 Encryption Management

19 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Human-Machine Interfaces 15 Deep Learning 80 Anonymity 115 Autonomous Vehicle Legislation

20 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Recognition 04 Predictive Machine Vision 82 Digital Self-Incrimination

78 Cyber Mission Forces in the Field 121 Internet Mob Justice

21 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Human-Machine Interfaces 12 Hidden Bias in AI 142 Earables

Big Data 22 Smart Dust 156 3D Printing

22 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Digital Frailty 06 Generative Algorithms For Voice 50 Connected TVs 84 Authenticity

Security 14 Bots 55 CARv2.0 103 Drone Lanes

23 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Automation 32 Sharing Economy and Lendership

24 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Security 82 Digital Self-Incrimination 158 5G

Internet of Things 34 Bias in Recognition Algorithms 88 Right to Eavesdrop/

25 © 2017 Future Today Institute

26 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Recognition 15 Deep Learning

Drones 43 One-To-Few Publishing

27 © 2017 Future Today Institute

Recognition 05 Natural Language Generation 95 E-Residents