[The Editors' Verdict] Promising Technologies in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Global market research firm Gartner recently released the 'Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2020' report, which outlines five technology trends that will shape the global digital economy over the next 5 to 10 years. In other words, these can be seen as 'promising technologies in the post-COVID-19 era.' The five future technology trends selected by Gartner are as follows.

First is formative Artificial Intelligence (formative AI). Formative AI is a general term for AI that can adapt to changing situations. It includes various types, from AI that adapts over time to AI capable of creating novel models to solve problems. Other technologies in this trend include composite AI, differential privacy, small data, and self-supervised learning.

Second is algorithmic trust. The need for trustworthy algorithms is increasing due to user data leaks, fake news and videos, and the rise of biased AI. Gartner expects that as interest in blockchain grows, options for digital authentication and verification will also increase.

Third is digital me. More countries are adopting 'digital health passports,' electronic documents that verify personal health status and negative test results for COVID-19. From digital health passports to digital twins, people and technology are merging into one. Opportunities to create our own digital versions are increasing. These digital models represent humans in both the real and virtual worlds.

Fourth is beyond silicon, new advanced materials. Moore's Law predicts that the number of transistors in high-density integrated circuits will double every two years. However, technology is facing the physical limits of silicon. This has led to the emergence of new advanced materials that enable smaller and faster technologies.

Fifth is composite architectures. Facing rapid change and decentralization, organizations need to transition to more agile and responsive architectures. Composite architectures consist of packaged business capabilities built on flexible data fabrics. Companies leveraging this can respond to rapidly changing business demands.

Gartner plans to hold a webinar on these five promising technology trends on the 30th of this month. A newly introduced technology in Gartner's Hype Cycle 2020 is 'Social Distancing Technologies.' This can be seen as the same as what is called 'untact technologies' in Korea. The Korean neologism 'untact' is a Konglish term. In English-speaking countries, the term 'untact' is not used; if anything, 'intact' or 'non-contact' would be the correct expressions. Instead, Gartner uses the term 'Social Distancing Technologies.' Domestic companies aiming for overseas expansion should use the terms 'social distancing technologies' or 'social distancing solutions' rather than 'untact technologies' or 'untact solutions.'

Social distancing technologies can be defined as technologies that enable social distancing. They are widely used across various fields such as education, entertainment, telecommuting, and remote meetings. Recently, augmented reality (AR) has also been rapidly growing. The global AR market size is expected to expand significantly from 12.8 trillion won last year to 45.1 trillion won by 2025. In Korea, sales of solutions utilizing social distancing technologies are also increasing substantially. Domestic companies should align their developed products and services with global standards to target the global market.

Moon Hyung-nam, Professor, Graduate School of Business, Sookmyung Women's University · Co-chair, AI National Movement Headquarters

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.