Forecasting the Future: Global and African Tech Trends for 2016

Greetings, and a happy new year to all of our avid readers! We are once again grateful for your unwavering support throughout last year and remain hopeful that we can continuously meet and exceed your expectations in this new year. To kick-off 2016, we would like to forecast some of the influential tech trends on a global scale, as well as delve into the potential tech leaps on the African continent.

This year, we predict that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) will transition from mere topics of debate to becoming tangible realities. Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has already set the stage by voicing his desire to see the integration of AI in everyday life. He expressed his admiration for what Amazon has accomplished with their Echo platform and shared his personal tech challenge for the year.

Zuckerberg enthuses, “Every year, I take on a personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside my work at Facebook. My challenges in recent years have been to read two books every month, learn Mandarin and meet a new person every day. My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work.”

“I’m going to teach it to understand my voice to control everything in our home — music, lights, temperature and so on. I’ll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell. I’ll teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max’s room that I need to check on when I’m not with her.”

Furthermore, Facebook already owns Oculus Rift, a US-based VR company, which has made promises to democratise their technology and integrate it within the Facebook user experience.

Now let’s turn our attention to wearables. 2015 marked a year when several wearables gained notable attention. Ranging from smartwatches to tech-infused clothing, the market is growing rapidly and is projected to witness exponential growth. Expect to see increasing contributions from Asia-based firms like Samsung, LG and Huawei as they vie for market share with the likes of Apple and Fitbit.

Another integral trend to watch out for this year is the use of intelligent tools in combating diseases. With innovative AI tools like IBM’s Watson, we can envisage a streamlined approach to early detection and possibly even the cure of severe diseases like cancer. Cloud-based technologies are expected to enhance healthcare, extending and improving the lives of patients.

In the realm of online security, expect to see more people embracing the ‘No-Password’ era being propagated by giants like Google and Yahoo. Advanced encryption and decryption algorithms will also be a hot topic. Apple recently noted that it cannot decrypt encrypted data on its new devices, with the aim to prevent potential government backdoor access.

Bringing the focus back home to Africa, it is our expectation that we build on the achievements of 2015. One, in particular, is the building of data centres to cater to the burgeoning local demand for data storage. Incubation centres across the continent are already acting as a catalyst for new local tech innovations, thereby increasing appreciation levels of local technology. Despite the significant contributions expected from tech powerhouses like Nigeria and South Africa, also watch out for burgeoning tech nations like Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, and Egypt. Kenya, now rated as the fourth most influential tech nation in Africa, is one to keep an eye on as it strides towards the elevation of technology on the continent.