Web3, Metaverse And NFTs Feature Among Gartner’s 25 Key Emerging Technologies

Gartner has identified technologies that it believes have the potential to shape immersive experiences, accelerate artificial intelligent-driven automation, and optimize technologist delivery. In its Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2022 report, the consulting firm listed 25 emerging technologies, including the metaverse, Web3, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cloud data ecosystems, and digital AI.

All 25 emerging technologies, shortlisted from 2,000 technologies and applied frameworks, are in various stages of the hype cycle. “All technologies on this Hype Cycle are at an early stage, but some are nascent and great uncertainty exists about how they will evolve,” said Gary Olliffe, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner.

“Such technologies present greater risks for deployment, but potentially greater benefits for early adopters who can assess and exploit them in line with their organization’s ability to handle unproven technologies.” The research firm assessed that early adopters of these technologies could gain a competitive advantage over the next ten years.

However, the time range when these technologies could hit the plateau of productivity varies between two to ten years. Most are currently in ‘innovation trigger,’ ‘peak of inflated expectations,’ and three are approaching the ‘trough of disillusionment,’ None are in the fourth (and the second-to-last) stage, ‘slope of enlightenment.’

Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2022 | Source: Gartner

The three themes identified this year, viz., evolving and expanding immersive experiences, accelerated AI automation, and optimized technologies delivery, are quite different from those from last year’s engineering trust, accelerating growth and sculpting change.

Trend #1 from the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2022 attests to what Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and others have been saying and working towards- that upcoming digital experiences would be immersive. Gartner explained that this involves dynamic virtual representations, environments and ecosystems of customers and people, and new modes of user engagement.

Clubbed with virtual currencies, the company explained that technologies such as the metaverse, NFTsOpens a new window , super apps and Web3, decentralized identityOpens a new window , digital humans, digital twin of the customer, and internal talent marketplaces have the potential to unlock new revenue streams.

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Accelerated AI automation, the second major trend in Gartner’s Hype Cycle for 2022, highlights the ever-expanding role of AI in products, services and solutions. “AI automation refocuses the role of humans in AI development, resulting in more accurate predictions and decisions and faster time to expected benefits,” Gartner explained.

Machine learning-based code generation is one of the most anticipated applications of AI. Microsoft-owned GitHub and Google-owned Deepmind released their automated computer programming tools, CoPilot and AlphaCode, respectively.

ML-driven code generation aside, Gartner also placed causal AI, foundation models, and generative design AI as technologies supporting accelerated AI automation.

Optimized technologist delivery, the third trend in Gartner’s report, features augmented FinOps, cloud data ecosystems, cloud sustainability, computational storage, cybersecurity mesh architecture, data observability, dynamic risk governance, industry cloud platforms, minimum viable architecture, observability driven development, OpenTelemetry and platform engineering.

Gartner explained that the success of digital businesses depends on their products, services and solutions being built from the ground up through builder communities rather than being acquired. “These technologies provide feedback and insight that optimize and accelerate product, service and solution delivery and increase sustainability of business operations,” the company explained.

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