Two interesting events have happened recently, the Annual Consumer Electronics Show has just come to an end in Las Vegas and NESTA’s in-house experts have predicted what will be big over the next 12 months.

There are a number of interesting technologies which many may say are already out in the market but to date they have not been that accessible or financially obtainable but predictions are that they will be in 2014 and as BIC clients are areas you should maybe look to get involved with:

It is predicted there will be an increase in Automated self-checkout technology, extending from beyond the current small basket use to large trolley shoppers where 360 degree scanners will be able to scan 60 items per minute and be twice as fast as a normal checkout. Self Checkout will be used in smaller convenience stores and will also extend beyond the grocery market

Renewable Energy will also be in our own backyard as Britain strives to reach the target of producing 15% of the UK’s energy demand by 2020 from renewable energy. There is an ever increase in advice, support and funding to encourage people and communities to use and build small scale renewables such as solar panels, photovoltaic panels, ground heat sumps etc and 2014 is predicted to be the year to push these through further.

Wearable Healthcare will make a real life appearance in 2014. We will soon be able to wear a high-tech bracelet which will count steps, sleep and calories allowing the user to upload, analyse and share their own health data but research and plans are also already in place to develop a Star Trek style Tricorder diagnostic device to diagnose up to 17 common health problems such as heart disease and diabetes etc This handheld scanning machine will be far less intrusive than the examinations we have to go through today and diagnosis will be instant. Video Link

Scandu Scout - Star Trek Style Tricorder

LG - Fitness Tracker

The Connected Home – the web is increasingly being used to connect things more than just our phones, tablets, laptops and TVs – we will be able to tell our SMART phone to turn off the lights and TV as we go out the door, we will be able to check on our empty properties via smart phones or tablets and we will be able to text to our fridge to see what we have in there for our tea or set the washing machine to run before we get home.

Virtual Reality will finally be realized in the form a headset which in using 3D printing, LCD and gyroscopes and accelerometers will deliver a super-immersive VR experience which could be sublime, educational, wacky, terrifying, awesome or erotic !

Oculus Rift - VR Now

There will be a lot of responsibility on the developers and we should also ask is it OK to create virtual worlds that are so alluring that their users won’t want to come back to reality?

Robots haven’t really had much effect on our daily life so far but NESTA believes that in 2014 we will see them becoming a bigger part of our lives in the form of self-driving cars – Volvo is introducing 100 driverless cars onto the public roads this year allowing them to drive in every day normal conditions and will even self-park. Their aim is to demonstrate the benefits of improved safety and efficiency of self-driving cars.

Robots will also increase their presence behind the scenes in factories and many other automated processes on a daily basis.

These are all predicted for 2014 ………………………

If you would like to read NESTA’s full predictions do read www.nesta.org.uk/news/14-predictions-2014
And if you want to read more about the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas have a look at www.cesweb.org