Top 10 Tech Trends In 2022 National STEM™ Honor Society

Digital change is constantly occurring, but even more so after the unexpected switch to remote working and schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interest in digital communications and innovations skyrocketed due to the sudden need for a contactless world. There are numerous emerging technologies every year, but here are the top ten technology trends that will shape 2022.

Computing Power

As technology continues to grow, the need for faster and more secure communication has grown alongside it. The technology industry is seeing the growth in demand for speed and power in order to improve digital communication channels and other Internet-connected machines.

5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology and began spreading in mid-2019. 5G provides higher speed, lower latency, and greater capacity compared to the previously launched 4G network. This means devices will have quicker downloads and lower lag under 5G.

Now that 5G is becoming more universally used, there is only a matter of time before 6G launches. Wireless networks tend to launch every ten years, but 6G is already being tested. The goals of 6G is to include data analytics and AI to use with communication and data gathering within devices.

Smarter Devices

Growing computer power naturally results in the creation of smarter devices. 5G can now be used to power connected cars, smart stadiums, and advanced gaming products.

Just about any device can now be online and connected. This is increasingly being seen in the medical field. There are remote medical devices that doctors can use to diagnose patients, some are even able to carry out surgeries remotely. Lots of medical equipment, including heart rate monitors and insulin pumps, are connected now which allow them to collect data for doctors to use in better understanding their patient’s conditions and lifestyles.

The use of connected devices will surely become more common as products advance and computing power becomes more capable.

Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is a type of computation that uses quantum mechanics to calculate outputs. Quantum computing is different from classical computing because classical computers use key-like structures called bits, while quantum computers use nonlinear structures called qubits. In quantum computing, a change in the state of one qubit can result in an immediate change in others.

The use of quantum computing will help people monitor, analyze, and act on data from any source at any time. What people can do with quantum computing will just continue to grow from here, potentially resulting in advancements in logistics, portfolio management and drug innovations.

Datafication

Datafication refers to the tools used to turn an organization into a data-driven enterprise. Data makes all the trends on this list possible. As the world becomes more digitized, the amount of available data rises.

Data is extremely important in business to better understand customers, research trends, and gaining insight on the inside operations of organizations.

Artificial Intelligence

As stated earlier, increased amounts of data and better computing power results in greater capabilities of AI. We can see AI increasingly being used in smart phones and smart TVs. They are useful in machine vision, or being able to recognize objects in videos and photographs. Language processing AI is advancing, helping people with translating languages and allowing communication between humans and machines.

AI algorithms can be amazing at approaching individual tasks or tasks that have a small degree of variability. However, they do struggle with having to do more than one thing well so we are still far away from achieving human-level artificial intelligence.

Extended Reality

Extended reality refers to the use of augmented reality which is when users’ physical world is enhanced with computer generated input. The phone game, Pokemon GO, is a well-known example of this.

There is also the creation of the metaverse, a virtual world that users can access through different devices and platforms. The metaverse focuses on growing virtual reality. There will be more advanced virtual reality headsets and hardware in 2022. There is potential for VR glasses and AR contact lenses.

Digital Trust

Not only are there virtual worlds, but there is a virtual economy! Digital trust refers to the trust needed to act in the global economy that is reliant on connectivity, data use, and technologies.

This economy involves cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, and digital ownership of things like NFTs. Companies are enhancing physical objects by using blockchain technology and tokens. The usage of this digital economy will grow in 2022, so companies will likely be working harder to grow the trust customers have in this digital forum.

3D Printing

Amazingly, it is possible to create three dimensional solid objects solely from a digital file. The use of 3D printing is becoming more common. Plenty of STEM-based schools already use 3D printing to further studies in technology.

3D printing uses additive manufacturing. This means an object is created by adding layers of materials down until the object is fully created. When looking at the finished product, the layers can be seen as a thinly sliced cross-section of an object.

The types of objects that can be manufactured will continue to expand, including the creation of concrete, furniture, dental products, and prosthetics.

Genomics

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna are scientists that were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry due to their development of a method used for genome editing.

Genome editing gives scientists the ability to change an organism’s DNA. Being able to remove, add, or replace DNA can be beneficial in treating diseases with a genomic basis, like cancer or diabetes.

New Energy Solutions

Climate change is getting worse so there continues to be innovations in turning away from the use of fossil fuels to the use of renewable alternatives. Many companies are expanding their use of solar and wind power which provide zero-carbon electricity.

The ongoing advances in engineering will bring more powerful photovoltaic panels used for solar power and stronger turbine blades used in hydro and wind power generation.

These energy trends will likely result in allowing people to power cars, ships, planes, trains, and more with cleaner and more sustainable energy.