2021: tech innovation boom!

For those who are perhaps less comfortable with this kind of technology, let me add an important disclaimer. Language technology is very good at recognising patterns, which is how it learns to translate. However, it still falls far short of human levels of comprehension.

The same is true of everything that's commonly bundled together under the label "Artificial Intelligence". The clue is in the name - this tech still represents an artificial and limited form of intelligence. It applies only to specific tasks and still requires some level of human programming. We're a very long way from Artificial General Intelligence, which can handle the broad range of simultaneous tasks the human brain performs every day.

Plastic recycling

After years of a society-wide push to reduce the production of plastics, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a resurgence in plastics. Throughout 2020, we relied on plastics in the production of face masks, visors and other essential protective equipment.

The reliance on plastic is not something we can maintain for the longer term, though. In the UK, five million tonnes of plastic are used every year. Almost half of this is used for packaging. Globally, five billion tonnes of plastic ends up as waste.

As we start to emerge from the immediate effects of Covid-19, we'll see plastic recycling become a major focus for innovation. We need to speed up mechanisms for turning plastic waste into re-usable products.

Bioinformatics

This is an area of technology that calls on mathematics, computer science, biology and statistics to study complex biological data.

It's used extensively by the pharmaceutical sector and will be hugely helpful in the development of new drugs and therapies.

It will also be useful in terms of food production, in the development of meat-free sources of protein, for example. This could be a great boon for countries that can't feed their populations, or where there are concerns about carbon emissions from the farming of meat.

Virtual Reality

One of the fastest-growing areas of technological innovation relates to the management of mental health. Psychologists and others are starting to see the potential of virtual reality (VR) in treating anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions.