Technologies are progressing and actively influencing business trends and dynamics, and technology trends are influencing society and rapidly changing the world. Today’s business trends include the latest technologies and innovative ideas that seemed unrealistic yesterday.
Virtual reality (VR), neural networks, the Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, robotics, digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) are technology areas where exciting and disruptive startup ideas live.
Modern entrepreneurs are keeping up with new technologies, and they benefit from such global phenomena as Industry 4.0, the transition to a circular economy, and digital transformation. Eco-ideas or “green business” complement the trends of the year. Examples of technological innovations include “green energy” and “green finance”.
Let’s look at 17 trends in innovative technologies used in business today:
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Virtual Reality (VR) Technology
VR — virtual reality, a three-dimensional computer environment with which a person can interact using special gloves, a helmet, and other gadgets. Such devices make the user part of the virtual world (metaverse) — he can be an observer, researcher, manipulator, or active participant in the process.
Today, several trends using VR technology for commercial purposes are gaining relevance in the world:
• Use of VR gloves and suits to convey tactile sensations: Volkswagen van assembly training, medical conferences, safety training, patient rehabilitation, athlete training.
• VR technology is a new film genre. It is quite expected that it will repeat the fate of 3D, the technology used to film modern cult blockbusters.
• Remote work in a VR headset is the closest thing to live meetings in terms of the feeling of presence and level of involvement. Companies that have successfully tried this format include HP, HTC, Schlumberger and MTS.
• Virtual clothing – the designer superimposes a 3D model of the selected item onto the client’s image. The client receives a realistic photo with the “new thing” and does not spend money on purchasing clothes for one look.
• AR lenses that not only improve vision, but also create a “cyber eye”: a weather forecast is superimposed, information about objects in the field of view is transmitted, messages from messengers are broadcast. According to experts, the new product will appear on the market in 2-3 years.
The virtual reality market is one of the most promising today. By 2024, its volume is expected to increase to $24.5 billion.
AR and VR E-Commerce Trends
Product Preview with Augmented Reality (AR)
AR technology allows online shoppers to see a product in real time, its size, and how it will look in their home. For example, furniture giant IKEA’s online store is currently excelling in AR-based product placement. The company has an AR app that allows users to measure home furniture and see exactly how it will look if it is adapted to their home environment.
Virtual Showrooms in E-Commerce
A virtual showroom transforms a store’s VR room into a fully digital stage where customers can view a variety of products. With VR glasses, customers can view different products, their specifications, and prices just like in a physical store.
Kia, a well-known car company, has already taken advantage of VR in e-commerce. It allows customers to view different car models in a virtual environment to help them choose their ideal car.
AR Navigation in a Store or Mall
Augmented reality navigation will allow shoppers to easily navigate a huge shopping mall and find the product they need. AR navigation in a store is mostly presented in the form of a mobile app. These apps can do much more than provide users with AR routing, using advanced programming language features such as Python try catch.
Augmented reality technology can offer an optimized shopping route, display the exact location of the desired product, and even direct customers to discount and gift sections.
AR Solutions for Virtual Try-Ons
It is predicted that by 2022, the vast majority of online stores will use more AR technologies for virtual try-on. This will greatly help customers understand and choose the product. The concept of virtual try-on is currently more popular among clothing and shoe stores. Mirrors built into augmented reality allow customers to try on the desired clothes or shoes without doing it physically.
VR for Homes and Apartments
VR technology will play a key role in the real estate industry. It allows potential home or apartment buyers to take a tour of the digital world. The technology allows retailers to create an accurate digital VR model of a home or apartment and offer buyers to visit it virtually using a VR headset.
Neural networks
A neural network is a large-scale structure containing a huge amount of information for the operation of a computer program. The latter, in the course of a large number of actions, determines which sets and values of parameters lead to the most optimal result. Due to the large volume of initial information, the ability to learn, the structure was called a neural network, since its characteristics resemble the human brain.
• Preparation of price forecasts for investment, oil and gas, and electric power companies.
• Planning the launch of a coffee shop, restaurant or convenience store: the neural network is capable of analyzing a variety of data – car traffic, average income of residents of the neighborhood, age and gender characteristics, traffic congestion. In pilot mode, the technology was used by McDonalds, the American mobile restaurant Zume Pizza.
• Modulation of sports tournaments and player actions – the technology is useful for planning training sessions and analyzing past matches.
• “Computer vision” in retail: one photo of a shelf is enough for the system to tell you which product is missing, which promotions are not indicated, where the price tags are mixed up.
• Facial recognition system: in business centers and offices – replacement of security and electronic passes, in banks and government agencies – an alternative to a passport and other documents, in stores and cafes – face scanning instead of entering a PIN code when paying, presentation of goods and services specifically according to the requests of a given client.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Industry 4.0 (Fourth Industrial Revolution) is a qualitatively new approach to production based on large-scale automation of work processes, mass implementation of innovative technologies and the spread of artificial intelligence.
Within the framework of Industry 4.0, several working business ideas can be identified:
• Production of artificial meat. One of the industry leaders, the American company Beyond Meat, showed enviable results: sales exceeded expectations by 279 times, and the price of one share increased from $25 to $235. It is expected that the value of this market segment will increase by 2030 from $4.6 to $85 in the US alone.
• Creation of “smart” clothes and “smart” shoes. Such things include built-in trackers, calorie counters, players. Adidas and Levi’s are already releasing clothes with a built-in sensor that can call a taxi or change a song.
• Proteus development – a metal that can neither be cut nor significantly damaged. The material can be used to produce protective equipment, bicycle locks, and bank vault doors.
• Amazon’s towing drone that can replace standard ski lifts. You can call and control the drone using your smartphone.
• Vertical farms – growing plants indoors in artificial conditions. Aquaponics, hydroponics and aeroponics allow you to do without soil.
Circular economy
Circular, cycle, closed-loop economy is a system based on the principles of reuse of resources. The manufactured products must necessarily serve for a long time – it is assumed that the buyer does not buy them, but only takes them for clothing.
The circular economy provides a wealth of ideas for new startups:
• Production of aesthetic, fashionable, comfortable clothing from recycled materials (recycled plastic, advertising banners).
• Rental of reusable cups for take-away drinks.
• Processing of industrial waste into magnetic powder, “raw material” for LFP batteries, “filling” for 3D printers.
• Transformation of glass bottles into art objects and interior decorations.
• Development and implementation of effective environmentally friendly solutions in the activities of both established companies and start-ups.
“Green energy”
“Green” energy means obtaining renewable energy from inexhaustible reserves. This is wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, water flow and biofuel energy. For example, in 2020, already ⅓ of the energy produced in the world is “green”. The volumes of global “green energy” will grow.
Within this trend, there are several working business ideas:
• Installation of solar panels in remote settlements, workers’ settlements, tourist centers.
• Installation of wind turbines for farms.
• Launch of a rental service for devices running on solar energy.
• Collection, processing and sale of biofuels (obtained as a result of processing cellulose and organic waste).
• Cultivation of “second generation” biofuels – jatropha, a herbaceous plant for the production of biodiesel.
Digital transformation
This trend unites various areas of business digitalization, carried out with the help of modern tools – blockchain, artificial intelligence, social media, “smart” electronics, etc. The use of these technologies is aimed at increasing productivity and optimizing efficiency.
Digital transformations allow not only to increase profits and offer consumers products that are in demand “here and now”, but also to make business attractive for investment.
Among the current ideas and startups within the digital transformation trend:
• Drone operators: Drones are used for mapping, inspecting power lines, providing household services, and delivering orders from online stores. Some of the most cutting-edge ideas include using drones to disinfect large areas and to act as “video referees” at matches.
• Implementation of smart real estate search systems for purchase, sale, and rent following the example of CIAN, Dom-Click, Yandex.Real Estate, automated legal assessment of an apartment, and the purity of a transaction.
• Construction of prefabricated houses: modules from various suppliers are delivered to the construction site and can be assembled like a child’s construction set.
• A smart control system for vehicles in a single fleet, allowing you to monitor the status, speed, location, and volume of fuel consumed by each vehicle at any time.
• Supplies of social robots whose functions include communication, care and nursing of the elderly and disabled.
Cybersecurity
Due to the transition of many companies, projects, stores online, more and more cyber-criminals are emerging, whose “tasty” morsel is personal information – its unauthorized modification, copying and destruction. Which is why it becomes vital to implement all kinds of digital security measures – protection of systems, internal networks and software from cyber attacks.
• Comprehensive antivirus applications capable of machine learning, supporting “automated intelligent sandboxing”.
• Reliable password managers or, on the contrary, systems for multi-stage authentication that allow you to do away with passwords.
• “Capsule solution” for smartphones of employees working remotely.
• Consulting, provision of outsourcing services – audit, selection, implementation and maintenance of cybersecurity systems.
• For small and micro businesses – antivirus solutions that can cope with cyber threats within a small network, offered at an affordable price.
“Green Finance”
One of the profitable investments in the modern period of history is the implementation of eco-projects. The so-called “green bonds” are gaining popularity, the proceeds from the sale of which are used to finance environmental protection programs.
Experts from Morgan Stanley, having analyzed data from 1,800 US investment funds, also came to the conclusion that shares and bonds of corporations that pay attention to the environmental responsibility of their business are 3.9% more profitable and more reliable than traditional financial instruments.
Among the most attractive greentech projects:
• Manufacturer of biodegradable eco-friendly wood material without traces of microplastics Sulapack.
• Developer of completely biodegradable and edible packaging for food products based on proteins and polysaccharides Cleapl.
• Manufacturer of nanoceramic coatings with performance and protective characteristics that have no analogues, KAVACA.
• Domestic startup Ecoprost, producing reusable bags for large grocery chains – Auchan, Karusel, Magnit, Azbuka Vkusa.
• Manufacturer of biodegradable disposable tableware Geovita, supplying its products to Russian Railways, VkusVill, IKEA restaurants.
In today’s digital era, business trends are active – car sharing, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, the Internet of Things and FinTech. We explore what innovative technologies are already generating income today, as well as what will be interesting to people of the future, today’s “zoomers”.
Internet of Things (IoT)
Things connected to the Internet, interacting via a virtual network with each other and the outside world, are no longer associated with the entertainment sphere alone. Voice assistants, health trackers, digital security systems, insurance telematics are successfully used in everyday life, business, and production. Their main advantages are autonomy, the ability to work effectively without human intervention.
Popular trends of the year in the field of Internet of Things:
1) “Smart” home. Devices from air conditioners, thermostats to music speakers and animal feeders that can be controlled using a smartphone. One of the new products is mobile robots for apartments, office premises and country houses (domestic project X-turion).
2) Industrial “Internet of Things”. Sensors for machine tools, all kinds of software for analyzing large amounts of data, precise calculations, and design development.
3) Agro-IoT for use in farming, livestock farming. Drones and smart tools for predicting climate change, tracking the location and health of farm animals, checking the composition of the soil.
4) IoT for retail. “Smart apps” for shopping that allow you to immediately offer the consumer what he needs, various contactless payment options.
5) “Smart city”. Services for analyzing traffic jams on the road (“Yandex.Traffic jams”), charging for the passage of heavy trucks (“Platon”).
Eco-friendly
“Ecofriendly” is the propaganda of consumption of eco-friendly products, waste sorting, reuse or recycling of used items, saving natural resources and using only eco-friendly transport. Today, not only individual activists are ecofriendly, but also entire companies and corporations.
Among the most interesting and unusual eco-startups:
• Architectural bureau CPH Shelter: construction of housing from former shipping containers.
• Rub & Stab Canteen: Prepare meals from products that canteens, supermarkets and restaurants have marked as “critical expiration dates.”
• SustainEarth Energy Solutions: producing domestic gas through Gau Gas plants using cow manure as a feedstock.
• “Dump”: a Moscow project that helps unnecessary things and toys find new owners.
• Ecoisme: a device from Ukrainian startups that monitors electricity consumption in an apartment.
• Freight Farms: mini-farms inside former shipping containers.
• One Earth Designs: Solar powered space heaters.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Programs and devices capable of performing countless tasks simultaneously are called “artificial intelligence”. Its main feature is the complete exclusion of the human factor. Important advantages of AI are cosmic data processing speed, the ability to train the system, and savings on human resources.
Key trends in AI:
• Pattern, speech and image recognition.
• Cloud computing for the smart city.
• Machine translation.
• Design of smart homes.
• Software for smartphones with self-learning capabilities.
• Production of unmanned vehicles and aircraft.
• Creation of robots in the image of humanoids.
AI is changing many business processes today:
• Administrative: virtual assistants coordinating requests, organizing meetings, booking trips.
• Labor productivity: introducing exoskeletons in industries that require heavy physical labor.
• Customer communication: chatbots, conversational AI.
• Finance: AI-based accounting systems that can replace a live accountant.
• Overcoming the language barrier: instant translation systems.
• Digital security: introducing pattern recognition programs.
Implementation of innovations (inventions and progressive ideas)
Any progressive ideas and inventions gain their value when implemented in business, production, and everyday life. Today, such implementation is a very delicate and risky process: incorrect restructuring of production and business processes, short-sighted retraining of personnel can lead not to progress, but, on the contrary, to large losses.
Innovations and ideas for startups, they will not lose popularity in the next 10 years:
• Plastic recycling.
• Implementation of robotic, automatic systems for waste and garbage collection.
• Offer of innovative water purification technologies.
• Production of devices for air purification from carbon dioxide.
• Services, technologies for high-quality online education.
• Medical service machines: collection of tests, initial diagnosis, remote consultation with a live doctor.
• Vegan food: deliveries, restaurants, stores.
• Innovative food technologies: printing food on a 3D printer, production of vegan meat.
• Delivery service with drone workers.
There are also some completely unusual innovative business ideas:
• “A toy for everyone” — self-healing bubble film, reusable anti-stress.
• “Living toys” that can sing, talk, rejoice, be sad, and learn with your child.
• “Intelligent bones” for dogs.
• “Smart” cigar humidifiers.
• 3D books.
• 3D prosthetics for animals.
• Umbrellas that you don’t need to hold in your hands.
• A device that notifies you of approaching jellyfish.
• Air taxi.
• Vending machine for fresh flowers.
• Lie recognition devices.
• Agribusiness in containers.
• A device for bathing in a car.
• Anti-stress room.
• Arena for virtual sports.
• Production of hospital robots.
• Baked goods that promote weight loss.
• Holograms for parking lots.
• Sale of flowers with inscriptions and photographs on the leaves and petals.
• Production of door handles-disinfectors.
• “Electronic paper” that imitates a newspaper sheet.
People of the Future
In order for a business to stay afloat tomorrow, it needs to be adapted today to the needs of the “people of the future.” These are the so-called “zoomers” and “Generation Alpha” — teenagers and children who are under 10 years old today.
According to the research conducted, by 2030-2040 the following business trends will be popular for people of the future:
• Helicopter taxi. Aircraft will be unmanned.
• Space tourism, travel around the solar system. By 2029, the space travel market will already be $20 billion.
• Robotics in everyday life, business, construction, manufacturing, entertainment and the military.
• “Smart” devices and applications for athletes.
• The industry of “smart” and self-learning chatbots.
• Production of drones for searching and rescuing people, exploring the area, ensuring security, and farming.
• Sale and rental of electric cars, installation of charging stations in cities and on highways.
• Digital medical care.
• Express DNA analysis.
• Asteroid mining – extraction of rare minerals and metals in space.
• 3D printing of houses.
• Use of wind energy.
• Indoor vertical farms.
• “Smart” clothing that warms / lightens depending on the weather, measures heart rate, determines location and connects to a smartphone.
Cloud technologies
Cloud storage was once used primarily for storing photos and “heavy” documents. Today, these are full-fledged systems for remote storage and remote processing of information. Databases, computer programs, and local disks are stored in the “clouds.” They also process large amounts of information for the same machine learning.
Today, there are several scenarios for using cloud storage in business:
• Storage location for backup copies of critical data.
• Backup fault-tolerant infrastructure.
• Site for peak loads.
• Extensive structure for developing new projects.
• Refusal of local information storage – complete relocation of infrastructure to the cloud.
Popular business ideas in 2022 based on cloud computing (access to data stored on remote services, not on a local computer disk):
• Cloud presentation software.
• Cloud application development.
• Cloud telecommunications service.
• Cloud call center.
• Cloud photography service. •
Creating cloud tools for journal management.
• Launching a private cloud service.
• Cloud accounting service.
• Opening training centers, publishing manuals, holding webinars on cloud computing.
FinTech (financial technology)
FinTech — providing all kinds of financial services using modern achievements — artificial intelligence, cloud storage, robots, biometrics, Big Data. Today, FinTech is the main competitor of traditional banks.
The main trends of Fintech startups can be identified:
• Analysis of large amounts of data to verify large transactions, credit operations. Such studies identify candidates for refinancing, approval of a new loan.
• Instant cash payments, implementation of various payment methods, use of distributed accounting ledgers.
• Crowdfunding and P2P lending.
• Offering financial solutions for small businesses: invoicing, accounting, calculation of employees’ salaries.
• Services for employees of large enterprises: investment services, short-term lending, automatic accumulation of funds.
• Service for joint investment in real estate.
• Provision of trading platforms.
• Short-term microfinance for borrowers with less than perfect credit history.
Preservation of forests
Everyone knows that the restoration of a felled forest takes several decades. But even this period is not enough to fully restore a destroyed ecosystem. Therefore, in the modern conscious world, the forest business without deforestation is becoming popular.
Among the latest trends in forest conservation for 2022:
• Production and export of pellets (biofuel).
• Generation of electricity from soil. The developers of the promising Plant-e project are confident that reproducing the processes of photosynthesis will make it possible to generate electricity from forest substrate.
• Geological exploration and well drilling.
• Production of innovative hives from which honey flows on its own.
• Opening a horse riding school.
• Provision of tree stump removal services.
• Production of eco-furniture from mushrooms.
• Reindeer breeding.
• Use of poplar fluff as stuffing for pillows, mattresses and blankets.
• Introduction of water garbage collectors.
• Organization of hazelnut collection.
Car sharing
Car sharing is a short-term car rental. An innovative service that is quickly gaining popularity throughout the modern world: you can rent a car at any time of the day, with only a mobile application at hand. The new product is distinguished by a flexible pricing policy, including fuel and parking in the rental price.
The business idea of opening your own car sharing service is implemented in several stages:
• Purchase of mass-produced cars like Hyundai Solaris or Kia Rio. Another option is to lease cars.
• Insurance of vehicles using the CASCO service.
• Development and testing of a mobile application for popular iOS and Android.
• Installation of navigation systems in purchased vehicles.
• Equipping the vehicle fleet with alarm systems with autostart, configuring them for remote control.
• Recruitment of personnel: dispatch service, vehicle maintenance, legal department, programmers.
• Conclusion of an agreement for fuel cards.
• Organization of car wash and dry cleaning.
• Promotion and advertising of the service.
