Welcome to our “future of innovation” series, where we aim to provide a guide to navigating the current dynamic world of industry, technology, and creativity. The series includes trends in the “digital age”, “deep science”, “innovation strategy and management”, and “sustainability and greentech”. Join us on this journey to stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of innovation. 

TRENDS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

We will cover five groundbreaking trends that have emerged as the driving forces behind our digital future: Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Cybersecurity, Extended Reality (XR) AND Quantum Computing. These trends can come across as just buzzwords – but what they truly can offer is still being shaped. In this article, we will focus on exploring these five themes. 

Oxentia has been actively involved in shaping and promoting the innovative culture in these areas, in particular by running Santander X challenges for AI and Cyber security. 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

AI and its subfields (Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing) have seamlessly integrated into our world. It’s hard to imagine any future progress without AI integration in some capacity. Apart from popular Large Language Models such as GPT, applied AI technologies are constantly improving with wide-ranging applications in the industrial sector, healthcare, education, transport, and creative thinking markets. In particular, AI is now being used to accelerate personalised medicine, tailoring treatment to individual patients based on their genetics and clinical data. 

Generative AI is also assisting and tailoring the creative process within organisations, not only by being a “brainstorming buddy” but also by creating new content. Recognising this, Oxentia has recently partnered with City, University of London’s Bayes Business School, to create a tool that harnesses the potential of AI for creative businesses. For the full article, please visit this link.

INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) INTEGRATION

IoT refers to a network of physical entities connected to each other, enabled by digital technologies, with the purpose of exchanging and collecting information. The IoT industry is driven both by hardware innovations such as smart sensors and software enabling innovations such 5G networks and edge computing. 

IoT is underpinning the digital age, being a truly cross-industry trend with applications in industry 4.0, agriculture, healthcare, and infrastructure through the development of smart cities and homes. 

CYBERSECURITY

Technological innovation in the digital sector such as IoT, has amplified the need for strengthening its trust infrastructure around security and privacy. As companies are moving forward to place “trust” at the core of their customer service, the importance of “security” becomes more important. With the technology advancements many new innovative approaches have been developed to enhance cyber security measures including AI-Powered threat detection, blockchain technologies, and multifactor/biometric authentication systems. 

EXTENDED REALITY (XR)

With an increased acceptance of digital technologies in every-day life such as regular online meetings, innovation in immersive technologies is accelerating, powering the metaverse – a virtual shared space that merges physical and digital realities. Augmented reality (AR), and Virtual reality (VR) fall under this trend – AR overlays data such as images and videos on the real world, whilst VR immerses users into completely new simulated virtual world. Some of the most exciting innovations in this area are the innovations related to “virtual interfaces” as they are evolving from technology to games to tools. These include increasing sensory awareness (such as touch), Brain computer interface (BCI) and spatial interaction. The applications of XR can already be seen in other sectors outside gaming, such as healthcare, education and training, and manufacturing. 

QUANTUM COMPUTING

Instead of 0s and 1s in classic computers, quantum computing uses quantum bits, which allows for performing complicated tasks at a much higher speed by running calculations in parallel. Although still in its early development stages, quantum computing has the potential to perform complicated tasks in parallel, with faster calculations, overcoming computational barriers. By overcoming computational barriers, quantum computing unlocks modelling barriers for applications of drug discovery, material science, climate, and the financial sector. Additionally, Quantum computing also has the potential to develop Cryptography and AI, thanks to the computational capabilities. 

Thanks to Hafsa Ateeq for their contribution and support in creating this article. 

If you would like to discuss how these trends can be harnessed to address your business needs, please contact us at sahand.zp@oxentia.com.