Technology Futures’ Chairman Presents Minitrends in Nanotechnology Applications

"Nine Minitrends to Watch for in 2011" by Dr. John H. Vanston, MINITRENDS Author and Chairman, Technology Futures, Inc.

The coming year will offer many opportunities for those who recognize emerging trends, realize their importance, and take advantage of them. In this article I suggest nine Minitrends--emerging trends that will become significantly important within 2-5 years, but are not yet generally recognized.

Unlike megatrends, Minitrends are of a scope and importance, to offer attractive opportunities to individual entrepreneurs, decision-makers in small and mid-size businesses, innovative thinkers in large companies, and investors. In my new book, MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs & Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends, I analyze in terms of background, current trends, and business opportunities nine promising Minitrends. In this article, I summarize these Minitrends.

1. Expanding Involvement in Virtual Worlds (Free Virtual Worlds book excerpt):

Virtual worlds are computer-based platforms that allow participants to engage in a wide range of real-world type activities, e.g., buying, building, and furnishing virtual world properties, producing and selling virtual world goods, traveling, taking part in virtual world social activities, and communicating with other participants. Increasingly, virtual worlds are being used for educational purposes, product advertisements, new product modeling and testing, and identification of new markets.

2. Support for People Working at Home:

Although an increasing number of people are now conducting all or part of their work at home, these people often miss office conveniences and interacting with others. Solutions are emerging to better meet the needs and desires of these people, including small offices or meeting rooms that can be rented by the day or hour, chat rooms where people can meet informally to discuss ideas, semiformal groups that meet regularly, and temporary support staffs.

3. Expanding Capabilities of Advanced Websites:

In recent years, software designers have expanded the Web’s ability to support two-way communications (Web 2.0). Today, programmers are further expanding the Web’s capabilities to substitute computer activities for human activities, particularly activities that are repetitive, burdensome, and uninteresting (Web 3.0). Many believe Web 3.0 will eventually lead to effective artificial intelligence that can interact with humans in natural language.

4. Increasing Interest in Privacy:

Recent advances in technology, together with an increasing willingness of many to make personal information more easily available are threatening traditional concepts of privacy in terms of messaging, personal profiles, and identity. Techniques for countering these invasions of privacy, such as personal caution, technology aids, and group action are now being developed.

5. New Approaches to Giving and Receiving Advice:

In providing expert advice to individuals and organizations, large consulting firms with multidisciplinary staffs, well-structured procedures, huge computer capabilities, and long-standing reputations have traditionally had a major advantage. However, with the ever-increasing power and ubiquity of information gathering, processing, and communicating technologies, small and medium-size consulting groups are often able to give more focused, timely, and user-friendly advice than larger firms.

6. Evolution of Meaningful Maturity:

Because of longer life-spans and earlier retirement, the number of retirement years has been steadily increasing. However, because of social, personal interest, and/or financial reasons, many older individuals are either staying in their jobs longer or returning to the workforce. Their ability to effectively utilize their experience, skills, and dedication will depend on their current capabilities, desires, and available opportunities. Matching these factors will be increasingly important in the future.

7. Advances in Digital Manufacturing:

Advanced Digital Manufacturing (ADM) processes build complex, custom-made parts by the addition of successive layers of material rather than traditional machining processes. ADM allows quicker and cheaper production of prototypes and makes smaller production runs more feasible. Recent ADM advances, including improved yield rates, reduced time-to-market, increasing variety of materials, and advances in 3D modeling software, have made ADM processes increasingly attractive to many manufacturers.

8. Increasing Electricity Use in Manufacturing:

The characteristics of electric power provide a number of benefits to manufacturing processes. Its use, however, has been limited by its relatively high cost. A number of factors, including control technology advances, changing customer needs, global competition, and environmental concerns, are driving an increasing use of electricity in industrial processes.

9. New Applications of Nanotechnology:

Many substances when reduced to nano-size (100 nanometers or less) exhibit very different properties from the same substance at macro-size. These new properties often provide unique and useful characteristics that can be used in a wide range of practical applications, such as cancer treatment, very high strength materials, special electronic systems, and water purification. Improved production techniques, decreased costs, and growing experience are increasing the practical applications of nanotechnologies.

Launching a Minintrend Adventure can lead to enhanced professional standing, an improved financial situation, and greater personal satisfaction. I hope the listed Minitrends will inspire you to launch your own Minitrend Adventure that will allow you to utilize your imagination, your logic, your innovative nature, and your basic good sense.

Source: http://www.tfi.com/