Hype Cycle

A friend recently pointed us to the Gartner's Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, and we did a look back at 2015 and 2016 cycles and then compared them to the recently released 2017 report. The research details several new or emerging technologies and plots them on a graph relative to where they are in the following cycle: Innovation Trigger, Peak of Inflated Expectations, Trough of Disillusionment (is it just me, or does this sound like dating to you, too?), Slope of Enlightenment (ommm) and Plateau of Productivity. It also details the time frame estimated for mainstream adoption, and this too, includes an amusing sequence: 0-2 years, 2-5 years, 5-10 years, more than 10 years or "Obsolete before plateau". That last one is a killer.

Anyhoo, in 2015, cryptocurrencies & cryptocurrency exchanges were headed toward the dreaded "Trough of Disillusionment", but in 2016, they were not on the list, but blockchain was headed toward the "Peak of Inflated Expectations". In 2017, blockchain was headed back downward toward the "Trough of Disillusionment", and cryptocurrencies were no where to be found, signaling (in our mind at least) mainstream acceptance. Quite an interesting read, and it details many emerging technologies that it's valuable to be aware of beyond financial technologies such as "Smart dust" and "Brain-computer interface".

(Cindy Taylor/Publisher)

"Gartner added eight new technologies to the Hype Cycle this year including 5G, Artificial General Intelligence, Deep Learning, Edge Computing, Serverless PaaS.

Virtual Personal Assistants, Personal Analytics, Data Broker PaaS (dbrPaaS) are no longer included in the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies.

The Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2017 provides insights gained from evaluations of more than 2,000 technologies the research and advisory firms tracks. From this large base of technologies, the technologies that show the most potential for delivering a competitive advantage over the next five to 10 years are included in the Hype Cycle.

The eight technologies added to the Hype Cycle this year include 5G, Artificial General Intelligence, Deep Learning, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Digital Twin, Edge Computing, Serverless PaaS and Cognitive Computing. Ten technologies not included in the hype cycle for 2017 include 802.11ax, Affective Computing, Context Brokering, Gesture Control Devices, Data Broker PaaS (dbrPaaS), Micro Data Centers, Natural-Language Question Answering, Personal Analytics, Smart Data Discovery and Virtual Personal Assistants.

The three most dominant trends include Artifical Intelligence (AI) Everywhere, Transparently Immersive Experiences, and Digital Platforms. Gartner believes that key platform-enabling technologies are 5G, Digital Twin, Edge Computing, Blockchain, IoT Platforms, Neuromorphic Hardware, Quantum Computing, Serverless PaaS and Software-Defined Security..."

Full Story at Forbes