Robots, 3D printing and a wealth of new technologies and business models will carry us through to 2025, research group Frost & Sullivan predicts. In a new report, titled “World’s Top Global Mega Trends To 2025”, F&S says that by 2020, personal robots ranging between $1,500 and $4,500 could enter our lives, while by 2020, technologies such as 3D printing could likely generate revenue of $7.1 billion. We will also need new technologies and business models, riding in the wake of the the rise of wearable devices and virtual currencies.
“We are not only seeing new trends such as wearable devices, 3D printing, and virtual currencies. Mature trends such as urbanization are rapidly evolving and changing patterns with the new world thereby creating new business models and value chain networks in the future,” the group said.
One of the most interesting and important mega trends will be that of connectivity and convergence and especially the market opportunity it represents in creating a connected life. This “Internet of things” in our home, work, and city environments will bring huge opportunities for growth. Frost & Sullivan values this whole ecosystem — comprising of connected home, work, and city solutions — to be worth $731.70 billion by 2020, with the connected city segment accounting for over 50% of the revenue.
The group predicts that new business models will emerge as an important “mega trend”, defining ways for businesses to monetize new opportunities. Different types of business models can be witnessed among different stakeholder relationships – right from Business to Consumers (B2C) to Business to Business (B2B) to Government to Business (G2B).
