5 ways technology is impacting our lives right now

Technology is moving forward at an astounding pace and keeping on top of new trends in different fields can be challenging. To help, we’ve brought together five key reports from the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR).

C4IR gathers stakeholders from across the world to help drive responsible adoption and application of exponential technologies.

See how emerging tech, AI, aviation, digital jobs and the space industry are impacting our lives right now.

As we move through the second half of the year, it’s a good time to reflect on the technologies that have emerged so far in 2024.

The Top 10 Emerging Technologies report, first published in 2011, draws on insights from scientists, researchers and futurists to identify 10 technologies poised to significantly influence societies and economies each year.

The technologies for 2024 – which include privacy technology, reconfigureable intelligent surfaces and alternative livestock feeds – were chosen by the report’s steering group who considered them against four criteria: novelty, applicability, depth and power.

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces – akin to ‘smart mirrors’ – can “turn ordinary walls and surfaces into intelligent components for wireless communication” – essential with 6G on the horizon, the report says.

While alternative livestock feeds, sourced from insects, single-cell proteins, algae and food waste, offer a sustainable solution to the current over-farmed ingredients of soy, maize and wheat, it says.

AI has continued to dominate technology conversations this year. We are seeing increasingly impressive applications of the technology. But as it develops, we are also seeing the potential dangers.

The Forum’s white paper AI for Impact: The PRISM Framework for Responsible AI in Social Innovation examines social innovators – mostly working in the fields of healthcare, environmental action, economic empowerment or education – who are currently deploying AI worldwide and explores how we can ensure the technology is used responsibly – while achieving maximum impact.

More than 50% of social innovators currently apply AI to enhance core products or services. The PRISM Framework aims to guide them through “the nuanced landscape of AI integration”.

Advanced air mobility (AAM) – an umbrella term for automated and electric aircraft – has the potential to revolutionize the industry, allowing for the democratization of aviation through technological advancements.

AAM is expected to benefit industries, such as healthcare, geographies (with better accessibility in remote areas, for example) and people (with fast urban transit).

This white paper explores the opportunities AAM holds for passenger and non-passenger transport, as well as the challenges that must be solved to allow for broad adoption.

“Global digital jobs, if managed well, have the potential to drive economic growth, create new opportunities and improve the lives of people around the world.”

These comments come from the white paper, Realizing the Potential of Global Digital Jobs, which explores how the new digital landscape enables many jobs to be fully remote – and the opportunities and challenges that come with that.

Cyber risk, quality of working conditions and insufficient performance management systems can all create challenges for employers. However, advances in technological infrastructure means that higher-income countries facing labour shortages can now look to lower-income counties to find talent.

By identifying where skills shortages and excesses exist, and analyzing key case studies, the white paper provides a roadmap that can aid in the development of sustainable global digital workforces.

From cordless power tools to scratch-resistant lenses, we’ve long seen technologies designed for space become commonplace in everyday life.

But what new technologies could we see impacting our lives here on Earth in the coming years? This report explores how lower costs and improved access to space-enabled technologies such as communications, navigation and Earth observation could take the global space economy from $630 billion in 2023 to $1.8trillion by 2035.

While many of these technologies have the potential to connect individuals, organizations and services more seamlessly, there are other advantages too. The report considers how collaboration between public and private players in different geographies could mitigate global challenges such as disaster warning and climate monitoring, improved humanitarian response and providing more wide-spread prosperity.