Foodtech, logistics and green energy are some of the top post-pandemic tech trends to watch in the coming years, according to online venture investing platform OurCrowd.
OurCrowd livestreamed a virtual version of the annual presentation delivered at its Global Investor Summit held every year in Jerusalem. Due to the pandemic, the summit was not held this year.
“It’s extremely important this year [to understand tech trends] given the unprecedented growth of the tech investment scene driven by the unbelievable digital transformation that has affected all of our lives,” said Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s founder and CEO. “There is no better time to analyze what the tech trends are for the smart investor, and where the technology market is moving.”
The event was hosted by Alex Roy, a motorsports champion turned tech investor and entrepreneur. “The best way to predict the future is to build the future,” Roy said. “I’m obsessed with making the impossible possible, and making science fiction, science fact.”
Among the trends discussed:
• The world is pivoting to virtual, companies are developing the technologies to improve the experience of working at home and online gatherings. “We believe that looking to the future of events, and future trends that we are identifying, it is all about reinventing the hybrid experience,” said Bizzabo CEO Eran Ben-Shushan.
• Plant-based and lab-produced food is disrupting a $6 trillion industry, meeting demand for quantity, quality, and sustainability.
“There is a consensus among experts that one of the biggest challenges in the food industry is finding alternative protein sources to feed the increasing world population,” said Dr. Tammy Meiron, CTO of the FreshStart food-tech incubator. “The global and alternative protein market is expected to reach $27 billion by 2027. We are in a continuous process of climate crisis negatively affecting the crops, and we have more people to feed with the same land and water resources.”
• E-commerce retailers are doubling down on digital, ramping up AI (artificial intelligence) and AR (augmented reality) personalization, localization, voice shopping and chatbots.
“Experiences that were originally built into the physical world are not translating well into 2-D and static images,” said Noam Levavi, CEO of ByondXR. “Our solution allows buyers into a virtual store to experience and visualize products.”
• Water technologies are becoming more necessary to make the world’s most essential natural resource safe and abundant for individuals and industry alike.
“What we are seeing today is a new breed of companies which are truly technology companies with significant and excellent IT in a range of fields, all the way into AI and cybersecurity, using machine learning to prevent hackers getting into critical water infrastructure,” explained Eli Nir, leading water technology investor and OurCrowd partner.
• Logistics are suddenly sexy, as the past year has shined a light on how vital – and vulnerable – supply chains are, and how innovation can improve them.
“The pandemic has more than doubled the inflation rate of e-commerce from 15% annually before 2020, to almost 40% today, with significant impact across the supply chain. It is clear that supply chains must evolve in efficiency, capacity, and agility,” said Ilan Reingold, CEO of BionicHIVE.
• Data is getting really, really big, and new technologies are helping companies access and understand it better in every industry.
• Telemedicine technologies like on-site diagnostic testing, online medical visits and remote monitoring are just the beginning of the revolution that is changing healthcare everywhere.
• Advanced AI technology is driving the spatial computing revolution, which will bring human-machine and machine-machine interactions to new levels.
• Innovative green energy solutions are becoming more commonplace in order to meet surging energy needs and demands for sustainability.
• The promise of quantum computing has been blunted by challenges in scalability, programming and security, but new improved technologies are on the way.
• Cybersecurity has become fundamental to every sector and every trend, and there are no longer any industries or applications that don’t require protection.