30 days. The wearables that will win in the market
will support meaningful services, like safety,
that encompass services that enhance your life
beyond counting steps and receiving messages.
Additionally, you’ll see wearables move across
devices and integrated more fully with other
connected products like the home or IoT platforms
in the enterprise.
ANNIE ROSENTHAL
How 3D Printing could revolutionize the Future
of Development
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has the
potential to democratise the production of goods,
from food to medical supplies, to great coral reefs.
In the future, 3D printing machines could make
their way into homes, businesses, disaster sites,
and even outer space.
As this technology spreads, it could help
connect marginalized and difficult-to-reach
populations with essential products. All in all,
this emerging technology has the potential to
revolutionize our societies and transform the
development sector. In order for this to happen,
we need to ensure that this emerging technology
gets into the hands of development practitioners
and stakeholders around the world.
The Sustainable Development Goals carry a big
promise for the future of our people and planet.
Goals this big will need big changes in order to
succeed. 3D printing is being used to progress
many of the Global Goals and has the potential to
make a further impact.
3D printing is being explored as a major
solution for current and future levels of hunger
and homelessness. For example, Anjan Contractor
hopes that one day, his 3D food printer will be
able to empower the earth’s population to feed
themselves “customized, nutritionally-appropriate
meals synthesized one layer at a time, from
cartridges of powder and oils they buy at the
corner grocery store.” These cartridges would be
easy to transport, long-lasting, and could be made
of sustainable materials like insect protein. 3D
printing is also revolutionizing home construction,
making it cheaper and more efficient.
3D printing also is being used to get essential
goods and services to disaster areas and refugee
camps, allowing workers and stakeholders to
have access to the tools they need to recover.
For example, in Nepal, the United Nations is
implementing 3D printing as part of their plan
for earthquake response, including printing
customized pipe parts necessary for sanitation
infrastructure. 3D printing is also enabling new
and essential medical tools to get into the hands of
people who need them, from medical possibilities
like an 3D printed artificial heart to basic tools like
umbilical cord clips.
EKATERINA NOVOSELTSEVA, APIUMHUB
Technology Predictions for our world in 2050
(a) Nanobots will plug our brains straight into the
cloud
By 2050, nanobots will plug our brains straight
into the cloud, it will give us full immersion
virtual reality from within the nervous system.
Just like we do now with our smartphones,
we will be able to do it with our brains, we’ll
be able to expand our neocortex in the cloud.
And forget about memory problems, evidence
problems, etc.
(b) AI will become a positive net job motivator
Many people worry about AI in our lives as
they think that at the end robots will replace
people and we won’t have jobs. But. according
to Forbes, in 2020, AI will become a positive
net job motivator, creating 2.3 million jobs
while eliminating only 1.8 million jobs. And
we are talking about 2020, so let’s see what
opportunities it can bring us in 30 years.
(c) IoT technology will change product designs
According to Forbes, by 2020, IoT technology
will be in 95% of electronics for new product
designs. And by 2050 it is expected to have
everything connected to the cloud and to the
Internet.
(d) Space tourism: A Week in Orbit
According to Business Insider, Space tourism
could be feasible in 2050, but likely only for
the very wealthy. Rocket companies like Jeff
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