This article was originally published on iHLS.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created new opportunities for innovation. The smart city global market is expected to reach $2.46 trillion by 2025. In fact, smart cities are highlighted as only one of nine key trends capable of generating growth opportunities from Covid-19, according to a study by Frost & Sullivan. Smart cities will prioritize more digitalized services and a strong data analytics infrastructure, leading to increased spending on technology.
Murali Krishnan, visionary innovation group senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan said: “In the near term, companies should focus on diversifying supply chains and leveraging new opportunities arising from changing customer demands. In the long term, it is important to internally adapt to new technologies that support workplace and operational continuity to have a smoother transformation during recovery.”
The other key trends highlighted in The Reshaping of Industries Caused by Covid-19 analysis include:
Connected living and voice activation: the increased adoption of contactless surfaces post-pandemic will power the home automation and security markets. Systems encompassing voice activation technology will become increasingly popular among consumers
Connected work: reformed connected work scenarios will accentuate the need for “cloud everything”. New subscription-based models will witness a growing demand for unified-communications-as-a-service (UCaaS)
Digital health: digital health driven by telemedicine and robotic care will become the new standard of care delivery. Standardisation of service across the care continuum will require more service and technology providers
Geopolitical balance: countries should work together to keep trade flowing and ensure the supply of essential products, sending a signal of confidence to the global economy
Human augmentation: the behavioral analytics market is expected to reach $3bn in revenue in 2030, up from $230m in 2019. Post-Covid-19, behavioural data will be used to enhance healthcare systems, financial services, and cybersecurity
Lights-out operations (the management of a remote and largely unmanned recovery data center through the use of remote management software): autonomous “lights-out” operations will propel the demand for remote asset management solutions, and service providers will focus on data management strategies and data-driven business models
Supply chain optimization: the supply chain industry is creating radical innovations with augmented reality, virtual reality, advanced robotics, real-time inventory tracking, and exploring how 3D printing could completely disrupt the supply chain in the next 10 years
Technology advancements: pandemic preparedness will speed up the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and accelerate AI innovation. Beyond specific disease management, post-pandemic economies also will rely on AI and machine learning (ML) tools to expedite digital transformation across key business initiatives, according to smartcitiesworld.net.
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