7 Biggest Tech Trends for 2022

Alesia Prytulenets

December 23, 2021 • 5 min

Enjoy our research-based top list of technology trends for the coming year.

What is the next big technology breakthrough and how will it influence our lives? What changes will we face on the high-tech and investing markets in the coming year and how to prepare for them? These are the main points of interest these days not only for IT-related companies, but for many other industries representatives and market players. To figure it out, we researched the related predictions of trustworthy sources like Forbes, Deloitte and McKinsey and put all we found together to present to you our list of top technology trends for 2022. Let’s start!

AI Extensive Adoption

Speaking about the upcoming technology trends, the first place here definitely takes massive AI adoption. Technological companies have already succeeded in developing AI algorithms that can collect, identify, and self-learn data in a given application, just like in Siri and Google voice assistants that are far better now than 10 years ago. But still these algorithms are far from being perfect, having numerous errors and limited functionality. That’s why more powerful neural processors will appear in 2022: able to crunch huge datasets, quickly submit nuanced insights and recognize sophisticated data patterns. They will be used not only in text and audio algorithms, but also in images, videos, and gestures, making interactions with websites more intuitive. For example, customers will be able to find products just by their pictures, while businesses will create super-personalized online experiences. Moreover, these algorithms will improve the existing artificial workforce solutions like RPA, making them capable of performing complex manoeuvres. McKinsey even declares that AI will be able to write software, resulting in shorter deployment time and better customer satisfaction.

Era of Robots Has Come

If we look at hardware, it’s easy to notice that in the last 50 years, these devices have become as small as chocolates but more sophisticated and powerful than ever. We call such devices ‘Internet-of-Things’ since they are connected with each other wirelessly via the internet and allow us to control them remotely. Their number is steadily growing: in 2020 it was 9 billion, and by 2022 it is expected to surpass 12 billion. Along with the number, their functionality also grows: smartwatches can now respond to calls, texts, and emails, while businesses get rich customer data from phones, the TV, watches, etc. These new emerging technologies result in industrial robots popularisation: it is expected that businesses will employ 600,000 of them in 2022, and according to McKinsey over 50% of today’s work would be automated by 2025. But the new age of robotics also brings us a new set of challenges: CIOs now must consider how to onboard, manage and secure these crucial physical assets, while solving the problems of labour displacement and educating the workforce to work alongside machines.

Advanced Analytics Everywhere

Eric Schmidt, Google’s former CEO, noticed that within a span of 100,000 years, till 2003, people have created only 0.5% of a zettabyte of data, and today, it takes us only 2 days to create that amount. Soon it will take us hours to do so, that’s why humankind is looking for more complex and faster datasets. We have already seen the rise of 5G and innovations in broadband internet, which made learning, working and even gaming from home smooth and steady. In 2022 even more breakthroughs should follow: wirelessly controlled tools in manufacturing, patient monitoring in medicine, augmented and virtual experiences in entertainment and sports, etc. With this super-connectivity companies will be able to collect lots of data and produce detailed insights into customer behaviour in real-time. According to McKinsey, this will place advanced analytics among top trending technologies and contribute over $1 trillion to the global GDP by 2030.

Cloud Infrastructure Scales

In May, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, announced their approach to flexible work, wherein employees can “spend approximately 3 days in the office and 2 days wherever they work best.” Now Google has already expanded its cloud collaboration services, and in 2022 it will scale even more, turning into a powerful system with super-connectivity and overall accessibility. That is especially good for small businesses, as they will get equal opportunities with corporations in competing for customers, and by the end of 2022 over 70% of companies will rely on cloud management tools for this.

Cybersecurity Goes First

As the time we spend online constantly increases, so does the amount of sensitive data that is uploaded onto the internet: our health, insurance and banking details, messages we send our friends, etc. In 2020 alone over 8.5 billion data records were compromised. That’s why the need for data privacy keeps growing, placing it in the top list of the current trending technologies, and next year we will see a significant rise in cybersecurity aiming at preventing privacy breaches and establishing accountability.

Bioengineering Splash

During the last 5 years the bioengineering market has doubled in value from $14 billion in 2016 to $30 billion in 2021, and now it's become the core domain supporting emerging tech industries. In 2022 it will go further and start a real revolution in personal health and nutrition, putting several top technologies together: cutting-edge bioscience, AI algorithms, and IoT-generated data. Thus the biggest challenge to bioengineering ‒ testing ‒ will become easier, cheaper and faster, significantly shortening the deployment time of products. The bonuses of such a breakthrough will be overwhelming: from highly personalised medical recommendations and production of genetically-based vaccines to the development of next-gen materials that would be tiny and light, but with great aerodynamics and durability like graphene. Industries like skincare, transportation, and manufacturing are investing in bioengineering right now, and their number will only grow in 2022.

Clean Energy Growth

A new record was registered in Australia recently: renewables generated over 60% of the energy on its main grid. And this is not a single case, but a hint of bigger things to come, as the European Union has also announced reforms in its current climate policy that are part of its ambitious plan on reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 55% by 2030. The same applies to the USA in its Electrification Policy for 2021, the main goal of which is to reduce pollution and decarbonize the economy by 90% by 2035. According to Forbes, global renewable energy consumption has increased by about 21 exajoules in the past decade, which also sounds very promising and allows to speak of clean energy growth as of a coming trend.

Our list of the biggest technology trends for 2022 is over, but the progress never stops, so it will definitely grow bigger by the end of the coming year. What things do we miss in our research and do you agree with the results? Feel free to write to us or leave your comments and desires on our social networks, so we could check together whether our forecast was true or not. Thank you for reading and stay updated!