What could the world expect from the approaching 2021 while the COVID 19 pandemic is still at its height?
Taylor Wessing, a global law firm that serves the world’s most innovative people and businesses
and has a history since 1788 states its predictions for 2021.
1. World pandemic will be overcome with the help of AI. Even though scientists have been
claiming to be building artificial intelligence for over 50 years, it is only in the last 20
years that humanity has seen real-world breakthroughs. The major factor for this is the
arrival of big data enabling machines to analyse and learn from sufficiently large datasets.
According to Forbes, during 2021 AI will become an even more valuable tool because
the volume of data we are collecting on healthcare, infection rates, and the success of
measures we take to prevent the spread of infection will continue to increase. Since more
human activity will take place online, it will be imperative to track and predict virtual
behaviour and use data to gain insight into behavioural change.
2. 5G networks will grow big and powerful. This will be transformational for the Internet of
Things, supporting the ability for any object to be online – watches, clothes, pets, cars,
healthcare monitoring devices, deliveries, traffic lights and multiple other pieces of
infrastructure. Market Intelligence analysts ABI Research claim in a whitepaper that 5G
will be the most successful mobile phone tech ever launched. They expect it to expand
smartphone sales exponentially reaching 1.15 billion units by 2025 and becoming the
most accelerated mobile technology generation ever launched.
3. Ad-supported social media will be replaced by a model of paid apps without a dramatic
shift. Recent data shows that a sentiment favouring privacy, even at a financial cost to the
user, is growing. That is the reason why many commentators are of the opinion that a
paid-for model will start to get traction in 2021. The prediction is that general concerns
about the use of personal information among consumers will rise, and those companies
that demonstrate ' privacy by design' and put it at the heart of their culture and product
development will be the most successful.
4. Remote working has become the rule and holidays have become few due to lockdowns
and quarantine restrictions. These novelties will result in improved access to mobile
data through 5G networks that will make more travellers to see the sense in (and
possibility of) spending more time at their holiday destinations by working remotely part
time.
5. Given the environmental impact, meat production is going to be made in a laboratory.
The science behind this involves extracting stem cells, growing them, and then inducing
them to make muscle and fat.
6. Working from home we are witnessing now, will be institutionalised. Business models
that embrace this approach will prosper and attract the best talent due to the technologies
that enable the process to grow in 2021 and beyond.
7. Governments will continue using private initiatives to bring public healthcare into
the 21st-century framework, spurred on by the pandemic. Platforms will enable patients,
caregivers, nurses and clinicians to connect and share information on the same platform about
a patient’s treatment and to help manage diseases remotely.
Compiled by Media 21 Foundation from https://www.taylorwessing.com/en/timeline
and other online sources.
