Recently I was caught up reading a bit on GRIT. The grit in fueling digital transformation megatrends.

What’s grit, by the way?

Grit is refusing to give up. It’s persistence. It’s kind of making our own luck.

Entrepreneurial success is almost always harder than you think and almost always takes longer than you expect.

How do you become an “evangelist” of next digital transformation megatrend?

Do you have grit taking the time to analyze exactly HOW entire industries are being revolutionized from the bottom up?

In times ahead of us, digital mega advancements will stack atop one another, eclipsing decades of breakthroughs in scale and impact.

I have been studying the digital transformation megatrends that will revolutionize industries and redefine future generations of businesses.

In a recent post, we were exploring Technology Entrepreneurship, and touched upon leveraging exponential technologies enabling next-leg of human advancement.

In this blog post, let’s take a closer look at 10 more evolving digital trends and analyze where the GRIT leading the humans to…

1) eVOTL – Electric Vertical Takeoff & Landing

The first megatrend comes to my mind is eVOTL. It is driven by the convergence of the machine learning, sensors, materials science, battery storage improvements, and ubiquitous gigabit connections. eVTOL is all set to redefine human travel (soon to be far faster and cheaper). Fully autonomous vehicles, car-as-a-service fleets, and aerial ridesharing (flying cars) will be fully operational in most major metropolitan cities in the coming decade.

The cost of transportation will plummet 3-4X, transforming real estate, finance, insurance, the materials economy, and urban planning. Where you live and work, and how you spend your time, will all be fundamentally reshaped by this future of human travel. Your kids and elderly parents will never drive. Already, a half dozen eVTOL companies have gone public raising >$10B to fuel their growth. These vehicles are real and will help define the decade ahead.

2) Risk Transfer to Risk Prevention in Insurance

Continuing the path of GRIT, the next digital transformation trend is Insurance Industry being transformed from “Recovery After Risk” to “Prevention of Risk”. This digital transformation trend is driven by the convergence of the following: machine learning, ubiquitous sensors, low-cost genome sequencing, and robotics to detect risk, prevent disaster, and guarantee safety before any costs are incurred.

Today, fire insurance pays you after your house burns down. Life insurance pays your next-of-kin after you die. And health insurance (which is really sick insurance) pays only after you get sick. During the next decade, we’ll see a new generation of insurance providers that offer you a service to KEEP you healthy and keep your house safe during a wildfire.

3) Instant Economy of Things

Have you thought of On-demand Production and On-demand Delivery. Now in and post pandemic we are experiencing urban dwellers expecting “instant fulfillment” of their retail orders. How is this possible? The drone and robotic last-mile delivery services carry products from local supply depots directly to the doorstep. As you might have realized this trend is driven by the convergence of the following: networks, 3D printing, robotics, and AI. This further rides the deployment of regional on-demand digital manufacturing (3D printing farms), individualized products can be obtained within hours – anywhere, anytime.

4) High-resolution VR

Psst… VR/VR/XR is now progressing to high-resolution that will transform both Retail and Real Estate Shopping & the Future of Education. Another digital transformation trend that is driven by the convergence of the VR, machine learning, and high-bandwidth networks. High-resolution, lightweight virtual reality headsets will allow individuals at home to shop for everything from clothing to real estate – all from the convenience of their living room.

Need a new outfit? Your AI knows your detailed body measurements and can whip up a fashion show featuring your avatar wearing the latest 20 designs on a runway. Want to see how your furniture might look inside a house you’re viewing online? No problem! Your AI can populate the property with your virtualized inventory and give you a guided tour. On the education front, the use of VR and AI-driven avatars with technology such as that demonstrated by Dreamscape promises a future of game-like, immersive, and powerful education and training.

5) Internet of Everything (IoET)

It’s very much true that we’re rapidly approaching the era IoET – Ability to Sense and Know Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, wherein 100 billion sensors is monitoring and sensing (imaging, listening, measuring) every facet of our environments, all the time. Global imaging satellites, drones, autonomous car LIDARs, and forward-looking augmented reality (AR) headset cameras are all part of a global sensor matrix, together allowing us to know anything, anytime, anywhere. In this future, it’s not “what you know,” but rather “the quality of the questions you ask” that will be most important.

This digital transformation trend is driven by the convergence of the following: terrestrial, atmospheric, and space-based sensors, vast data networks, 5G communication networks, next-gen Wi-Fi, and machine learning.

6) Gene Therapy

How about CRISPR and Gene Therapies minimizing the disease? Take the advantage of the convergence of th CRISPR, gene therapy, genome sequencing, and AI. Perhaps one of the most powerful, underappreciated technologies in the world is CRISPR. In 2020, two incredible women won the Nobel Prize in medicine for its discovery, and revenues from CRISPR doubled between 2019 and 2020 to over $1.5B.

The vast range of infectious diseases, from AIDS to Ebola, are now potentially curable, as are a wide range of genetic ailments like sickle cell anemia, thalassemia and certain forms of congenital blindness. In addition, gene-editing technologies continue to advance in precision and ease of use, allowing families to treat and ultimately cure hundreds of inheritable genetic diseases.

7) Digital Marketing Innovation

Next comes the disruption in advertising, The trend that is driven by the convergence of the following: machine learning, sensors, augmented reality, and 5G/networks. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life, your custom AI will soon understand what you want better than you do. In turn, we will begin to both trust and rely upon our AIs to make most of our buying decisions, turning over shopping to AI-enabled personal assistants.

AI might make purchases based upon your past desires, current shortages, conversations you’ve allowed your AI to listen to, or by tracking where your pupils focus on a virtual interface (i.e., what catches your attention). As a result, the advertising industry—which normally competes for your attention (whether at the Superbowl or through search engines)—will have a hard time influencing your AI.

8) Cellular Agriculture

This is my favorite as the cellular agriculture is trying to move from the Lab into Inner Cities, The most happening digital transformation GRIT that is driven by the convergence of the biotechnology, materials science, machine learning, and AgTech.

Providing High-quality Protein that is Cheaper and Healthier: This next decade will witness the birth of the most ethical, nutritious, and environmentally sustainable protein production system devised by humankind. Stem cell-based “cellular agriculture” will allow the production of beef, chicken and fish anywhere, on-demand, with far higher nutritional content, and a vastly lower environmental footprint than traditional livestock options. To support this area, the XPRIZE has launched a $15M “Feed the Next Billion” competition focusing on fish and chicken.

9) Sustainability Engineering

The Increased focus on Sustainability and the Environment powered by the convergence of materials science, AI, CRISPR, digital biology, and broadband networks. An increase in global environmental awareness and concern over global warming will drive companies to invest in sustainability – both from a necessity standpoint and for marketing purposes.

Breakthroughs in materials science, enabled by AI, will allow companies to drive tremendous reductions in waste and environmental contamination. One company’s waste will become another company’s profit center. A key example of this area of focus is the recent launch of the $XPRIZE Carbon Removal that has been funded by Elon Musk.

10) Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI)

We are not far from the High-bandwidth Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) that probably may come online for the public use. The trend that is driven by the convergence of materials science, AI/machine learning, and robotics. Technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil has predicted that in the mid-2030s, we will begin connecting the human neocortex to the cloud.

The next decade may see tremendous progress in that direction, first serving those with spinal cord injuries, whereby patients will regain both sensory capacity and motor control. Yet beyond assisting those with motor function loss, several BCI pioneers are now attempting to supplement their baseline cognitive abilities, a pursuit with the potential to increase their sensorium, memory, and even intelligence. Recent demonstrations of a macaque monkey playing Pong using a Neuralink implant is proof of incredible progress. Add to this the breakthrough work of Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen using red laser light holography to read and write onto brain neurons, and we have the making for an incredible future.

In the decade ahead, master entrepreneurs will look beyond the immediate effects of a given technology to seize second-order, Google-sized business opportunities on the horizon.

To be honest and candid, I’ve written this blog for the future entrepreneurs. As an aspiring entrepreneur, you should be asking yourself: What challenges or problems can I solve? How can I leverage the coming waves of tech advancements?

More importantly, do you have enough GRIT to realize your next digital transformation megatrend?

Email me at kishor.akshinthala@gmail.com to collaborate on spotting the next digital megatrend.

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