Disruptive technologies are revolutionary innovations that change how industries, enterprises and consumers operate by replacing systems or habits with their superior attributes. The past decades have seen many disruptive technologies from the telephone to the television and, more recently, the internet.
Canada is among the countries at the forefront of this technological revolution. According to Statista, the Canadian software industry alone will have spent $24 billion by the end of 2020. Given the current technological frontiers, Canada is set for a future full of disruptive technologies unlike ever before. Here are some of the most promising disruptive technologies in Canada.
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Previously a futuristic concept reserved for science fiction movies, AI is quickly becoming an essential element of numerous enterprises. According to a recent report by Forbes, 80% of modern organizations have invested in some form of artificial intelligence, e.g., machine learning, to enhance their efficiency.
While some people may view AI as a potential risk to job security, the outlook of the bigger picture is very encouraging. The livelihood lost to AI will create room for more jobs because, after all, AI will not train itself.
With many Canadian businesses heading online, AI will play a central role in increasing work efficiency and yielding more jobs with better pay. Some primary industries that may grow significantly after AI integration include aircraft, automobile, oil, fishing and logging.
Automation and the Internet of Things
IoT (Internet of Things) involves seamlessly interconnecting various devices and systems into a single network over the internet. By integrating numerous technologies to form one efficient, high-functioning system, we can reap all the benefits AI has to offer.
IoT is the idea behind smart homes and cities that will enable companies and consumers to achieve improved mobility, remote monitoring and overall, more efficient management. Through automation, AI can control the interconnectivity of devices in an IoT network with minimal or no human intervention. In more advanced scenarios, AI can study, learn, monitor and assess tasks without human intervention.
The Canadian IoT market is immense, with projections by the Energias Market Research anticipating a huge jump from $1.2 trillion in 2017 to $6.5 trillion in 2024. This growth in market size exceeds the global average of 26.6%.
5G Technology
Given the ubiquity of smartphones, many Canadian enterprises will be keen to adopt major technological innovations in the smartphone industry. The adoption of 5G technology will improve mobile usage significantly by providing faster network speed, more reliable bandwidth and better cost-efficiency.
While 2020 was supposedly the year of breakthrough for 5G technology, the global pandemic has halted its progress. Regardless, Canadian businesses that will adopt 5Gs technology post-pandemic would likely enjoy a boost in profit opportunities and efficiency. By 2028, 5G technology’s market size is expected to grow to $248.46 billion from 2018’s $680 million.
Cloud computing and SaaS
While small and medium scale enterprises collectively make up the foundation of Canada’s economy, many of them lack the individual capacity to establish complex digital infrastructure. However, SaaS (Software as a Service) offers a viable solution to this problem.
SaaS provides customizable services such as digital marketing, point-of-sale systems and payment processing via a subscription model; hence, eliminating the need for owning complex digital infrastructure. By pairing cloud computing and SaaS, small and medium enterprises can store their data online and access it on-demand. According to Statista, public cloud spending has risen fivefold over ten years, from seven $77 billion to $411 billion in 2020.
