We live in an innovative world with new technological growth opportunities all around us. These are exciting times to bare witness to such advancing changes in the way we live, work, and move through this world. People not directly involved in the technology space may feel like it’s advancing too fast, and difficult to know which technologies are here to stay and which of these are just an arbitrary flash in the pan. With 63% of technology start up companies failing, only 20 technology companies found each year will ever hit $100 million. That means it can very difficult to know which technologies are good investments for future use and value.

In this blog post, I am going to help you sift through the noise to focus on 5 technologies that will disrupt our future. There are exciting applications to each one of these technologies that can foster new relationships with cross-industry implications.

Autonomous Car Services

In a short while, we will be able to ride in driverless taxis. The technology is already here and the future is bright for the industry. ARK Invest research suggests that the 10-year net present value (NPV) of its cashflows is more than $1 trillion today and should hit $5 trillion by 2024 and $9 trillion by 2029. With this technology, the cost for an autonomous taxi will bring the cost down to $0.25 per mile. This will help with the widespread adoption of the service. Imagine that instead of waiting for a taxi or an Uber, there was an entire fleet of autonomous vehicles sitting in a line and ready to take passengers to their next destination. Cities are already planning for an autonomous future, by outlining specific and designated streets capable of slow-moving autonomous vehicles that would coincide with pedestrian traffic. The growth from there is endless with the capture of user trust.

Digital Wallets

With the low cost of customer acquisition and unparalleled by traditional banks, digital banks can offer services to low income earners with much greater ease. Digital wallet adoption has taken off 2.5 times faster than social media adoption, and Ark Invest believes this opportunity is valued at $800 billion. Already mobile payments have exceeded credit card payments in some countries, as seen in the Global Payments Report. Venmo, a digital wallet company owned by PayPal, already has the largest active user app and is the 4th largest bank in the U.S. by volume. Digital adoption is also in the consumer spending space with Lending Club and Sofi representing 36% of the unsecured loan market. There is clearly more adoption to come with digital wallets, and something to watch and it continues to advance.

3D Printing

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing that builds objects layer-by-layer, as opposed to traditional subtractive manufacturing that removes material from larger blocks. 3D printing collapses the time between design and production, shifts power to designers, and creates products with radically new architectures and less waste, at a fraction of the cost of traditional manufacturing. There are companies that are able to manufacture entire homes and villages using 3D printing, and that means affordable homes built in months with minimal environmental impact. However, the uses of 3D printing are endless. Ark Invest sees the global 3D printing market growing to $97 billion by 2024, compounding annually by 65%. The top 3D printing applications involve; education and expanding creativity in schools, 3D printed prosthetics at reduced cost, prototyping in the manufacturing industry, and construction of buildings and homes. However, there is even more room for application expansion to come.

CRISPR Technology

CRISPR Technology is a simple yet powerful tool for editing genomes. It allows researchers to modify gene function through the protein Cas9 which acts like a pair of molecular scissors that are capable of cutting strands of DNA.

Essentially CRISPR could potentially cure certain diseases by cutting out the bad DNA. Right now researchers are using the technology in an attempt to cure cancer, blood disorders, blindness, AIDS, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and Huntington’s disease.

Right now the technology is being used in clinical trials, but the benefit if the technology works is undeniable. Ark Invest sees this as a $21 billion opportunity by the year 2024.

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