For most of us, 2030 predictions of IoT refrigerators providing a hot breakfast tailored to nutritional needs, based on trips to the smart toilet, will unlikely be our morning routine. However, there are technological and scientific ideas developed today, which will shape the way we eat, work and live by 2030.
Food Science
One of society’s greatest challenges is the ability to sustainably nourish our growing populations for the future. In 2030, we will need to eat less meat, produce less waste and be healthier. How we get there is debated by governments worldwide, but food science is already working to tackle these challenges head on.
Lab grown meat, snack bars that contain algae and edible insects are just some of the new food sources for the future. However, projected food demand means an increased investment in food science is needed to help us manage the environmental and agricultural challenges we face.
Blockchain Technologies
By 2030, there will be a new way to exchange value. Blockchain technology is a highly secure, verifiable and difficult to manipulate transactional system. This decentralised database that stores ledgers of transactions and assets in cryptographic blocks, will change the future of buying and selling.
This new technology is already gaining use in areas of music exchange and the fringes of finance. By 2030, the advances of Blockchain will likely see the decline of banks facilitating personal banking services, as generation-z adopts Blockchain technology to facilitate their cryptocurrency transactions.
Big Data in 2030
Today, data collected via wearable technology to running a red light is creating a unique digital footprint about ourselves. This data will help us understand much about who we are and the society in which we live. By 2030, we could be looking at a world where big data enables us to solve more problems, eliminate dull and repetitive jobs and make us all wealthier and better educated.
However, to fully accept big data and all its benefits, we need to recognise the risk to our fundamental freedoms. By 2030, rights and protection against the misuse of big data must be resolved. Only then will installing that IoT smart toilet be seen as a lifesaving device, as opposed to a personal intrusion.
The Way We Work
In 2030, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will see a new and improved collaboration between humans and machines. Manufacturing will equipped factory floors with sensors and robots, helping the worker in a more efficient, safer and productive way. Health services will be technology enabled, where machines perform early detection and diagnosis of complex diseases, like cancer. The way we work, will mean asking the right questions and machines will provide the answers.
Mobile and intuitive industrial and business applications will make life easier and more efficient for all workers, of all skill levels. Some jobs that exist now, will be automated away. But the key is to prepare our future workforce with the skills needed for this transformed industrial system.
In today’s world, we can already see innovations that will change the way we live, eat and work. As 2030 approaches, these technologies and innovations will need investment, regulation and education to make sure that these changes are only for the better. How do you think the world will change in 2030?
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