International Women’s Day – The Technology Sector in 2040, According to CW’s SIG Champions
As part of CW’s recognition of International Women’s Day, we reached out to the women in our SIG Champion network and asked them what they thought the technology sector would look like by 2040. SIG Champions are the bedrock of CW’s activities, and each are experts in their specific fields. Their insights make for an interesting quick read!
Nadia Aziz, Founder, Unbounded Futures
I recently had my newborn daughter and as a technology enthusiast, cannot be more excited to see what technologies her generation get to use in 20-30 years. Hopefully less of the social media.
Humour aside, in a decade or so there will be a blurring of what is real and virtual in work and pleasure as computers eventually get embedded inside our bodies perhaps through digital contact lenses completely obviating the need of phones and laptops. I also expect longer term that we Earthly beings will benefit from mining from Mars and potentially other planets while questioning what life really is as technology challenges are resolved to create actual cognisant synthetic life and AI-based robots with emotional and perceptual abilities.
The age of the Jetsons is looking like it will be achieved in our lifetimes!
Marine Barbaroux, Head Of User Experience, Fluidic Analytics
I don't think we'll talk about the technology sector anymore - I think it will just be everywhere. But I'm hoping that a lot of the "new technology" invented will be dedicated to solving the mess we have created in the past 50 years.
Iris Barcia, COO and Co-Owner, Keima
I think there won´t be a harsh line between the technology sector and other sectors, e.g. healthcare, food, transport. We have already started to see that evolution and how technology is also about making life better for humans, helping the environment, helping us to cope with a pandemic… The technology sector will have to be more collaborative and that´s the reason why we have to start today removing barriers and biases.
Julie Bradford, Managing Consultant, Real Wireless
An increasing reliance on wireless devices and hence connectivity not just for consumers but across a range of other sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, media and entertainment to name a few. Certainly, immersive technologies are on the rise and it is likely we will see much greater usage of Augmented and Mixed reality devices not just for entertainment but reducing errors on construction sites, aiding workers on production lines, providing remote live input from a specialist etc
Esther Ford, Partner, Marks & Clerk
Society already needs 'all hands on deck’ to develop technologies that will reduce the impacts of our lives on this amazing planet. Coronavirus has shown just how powerful the combination of university research, SME commercialisation and large corporate infrastructure can be in solving apparently insurmountable problems. This is why I believe that the technology sector by 2040 will have a more extensive network of SMEs providing crucial bridges between university and corporate capabilities. In terms of how technologies will have developed, it’s clear that AI/ML will have transformed all sectors. And based on my lockdown experience, I’m hoping that video-conferencing will have been replaced by holo-portation!
CW would like to thank our SIG Champions for their contributions and wish everyone a thoughtful International Women’s Day. For further information, you might be interested in this upcoming event, run in collaboration with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women: