The Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected the business world. We can predict that changes in consumer preferences and business models will take longer than this pandemic. Once consumers become accustomed to new digital or remote models, it will be expected that new technologies and approaches will permanently change people's expectations.
In 2021, we will witness some commonly used keywords and concepts that can be considered new. At the same time, we will see rapid changes in technological and business innovation based on the experiences of people during the epidemic.
When we look at the efforts to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, we witness the clues of the first orientation. It is understood that 2021 will lead to revolutionary transformations in drug development as well as the fight against Covid-19. Covid-19 has wreaked havoc in the pharmaceutical industry, making it faster and easier to test drugs. Researchers have suspended many traditional clinical trials or transitioned to a virtual structure by conducting online monitoring and consultations and collecting data remotely. Remote clinical research and other changes can significantly change the evolution of pharmacy.
In the limited and limited living conditions created by the epidemic, computers and the Internet have become indispensable for life. This gives clues that remote working and video conferencing experiences will increase through IT tools and virtual platforms in 2021 and beyond. This field has seen rapid growth during the pandemic and will likely continue to grow in 2021.
Starting out as a scion startup in 2011, Zoom became a recognized and widely used software application during the epidemic. Other enterprise tools such as Webex (Cisco), Teams (Microsoft), Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting and BlueJeans (Verizon) also provide technological video conferencing systems, facilitating remote work around the world.
Meanwhile, many new initiatives are emerging in the remote work sector. Bluescape, Eloops, Figma, Slab, Tandem etc. initiatives such as these provided visual collaboration platforms that allow teams to create and share content, interact, monitor projects, train employees, and run virtual team building events. These tools also help distributed teams track shared tutorials and documents. By allowing colleagues to communicate and collaborate effectively with each other, it provides the opportunity to create a virtual office that facilitates working together. Also, Idea Boardz, Realtime Board, LucidPark, Miro etc. software such as offers the opportunity to carry out many idea development activities virtually.
With the rise of the risk of Covid-19, another trend has developed in the form of contactless transportation and delivery. Various sectors on a global scale, especially retail, have developed different contactless application options.
Contactless delivery is a development under one of the concepts of the new era, the new normal fish. On a global scale, DoorDash, Postmates, Instacart etc. startups like these offer different applications to minimize physical contact. In our country, initiatives that offer such applications to their customers as a service feature have started to emerge.
The use of service robots for contactless delivery is becoming more common in developed economies. We observe that such autonomous vehicles are supported by artificial intelligence software in China and the USA.
With the Covid-19 epidemic, fields such as medicine, biotechnology and genetics came to the fore. With new and evolving technologies, fields such as telehealth and telemedicine seem to be candidates for more attention and work in 2021.
In particular, institutions in healthcare are working to reduce the direct interaction of Covid-19 to patients and employees – to reduce the risk of transmission. Many different applications, such as doctor-patient video virtual communication, artificial intelligence-based diagnosis, and more telehealth services such as non-contact medicine distribution, have already started to be implemented in healthcare institutions that are also pioneers in technology. In the coming period, starting from developed economies, a large number of people will benefit from virtual diagnosis and care services.
Telehealth services are attracting more and more burgeoning startups globally. There are initiatives in both the public and private sectors in different countries among the organizations oriented to this field. Beyond telehealth, we can expect to see more studies, products and services on health in general in 2021. In addition to its developments in biotechnology, we can say that machine learning – an artificial intelligence sub-field – will attract more attention to support diagnostic and robotic health services.
The education-teaching approaches we lived until before the Covid-19 epidemic are going towards a renewal. School closures were mandatory during the pandemic; this has affected many people and organizations all over the world. Meanwhile, terms such as online education, learning, and e-learning began to be used more frequently.
There have been significant opportunities in schools, universities and even coaching centers in the field of videoconferencing. Although current online methodologies, techniques and tools are not yet sufficient, there are serious studies in this field all over the world. The software industry has found a new venture area with the contributions of Industry 4.0 technologies. Serving communities during the epidemic – Udacity, Coursera, Age of Learning, Outschool etc. like – many online learning platforms have emerged. Starting from 2021, we can predict that their number and variety will increase.
Between the annoying images of every workplace and accommodation environment, there are cables scattered around. With the increasing development of 5G infrastructure, new applications and utilities, physical spaces, especially factories, seem to get rid of the 'cable problem'. On the other hand, the demand for higher-speed Internet and the shift to quality connected homes, smart cities and autonomous mobility are driving the advancement of 5G-6G Internet technology. We will often see new technology infrastructure, utility or application development updates in 2021 and beyond.
There are important studies for the actual applications of 5G technology all over the world. 5G network is on the way to become widespread in the world's major economies such as the USA and China. Among the companies working in this sector, we will hear names such as Verizon and Ericsson more often. There are over 400 operators currently investing in 5G. More than 35 countries have already launched commercial 5G services.
5G technology will help transfer data over longer distances. Meanwhile, local governments and local organizations will benefit from 5G in areas such as lighting networks, smart city applications and monitoring settlements with sensors. 5G will make significant contributions to seafloor research, which attracts attention due to reasons such as fault lines and water pollution, but also has difficulties at the same rate.
On the other hand, 5G technology is an invaluable aid for the existence of unmanned autonomous vehicles – on land, in the air or at sea. The Internet of Things, which will enable every object to be connected to each other via wireless networks, will gain new benefits with 5G. In the meantime, I should add the satellite technologies –satellite teams – that will enable every point of the world to be connected to the Internet at all times, in order to contribute to the above-mentioned and mobility.
Artificial intelligence, robotics, Internet of Things and industrial automation applications are rapidly diversifying and multiplying in the technological field. In 2021 and beyond, we will see an increase in demand accompanying rapid growth in artificial intelligence and industrial automation technologies. As technological applications increase, the need for qualified manpower in this field will also increase. In this context, the importance of enterprises and companies in the robotics sector in every country will increase gradually.
With virtualization, we are witnessing the increasing importance of visualization more and more. The use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies is increasing in every field. New applications and tools are constantly being developed in these areas. The Covid-19 outbreak, while encouraging robotics with its forces that require less contact, also paved the way for virtual and augmented reality applications. These interesting technologies have become a part of daily life in many areas, from entertainment to work. Indeed, the advent of Covid-19 has led to greater adoption of these technologies as businesses return to a collaborative teleworking model.
Virtual and augmented reality technologies have become a fresh source for an astonishing transformation in all industries. With these technologies, applications such as indoor virtual navigation and positioning, remote assistance, integration of artificial intelligence with VR and AR, mobility, virtual sports events, eye and face tracking will become more common in 2021 and beyond.
The easy development of these mentioned technologies depends on the elimination of the cables of technological tools, which we can consider as 'shackles'... 5G technology comes at the beginning of the developments that will ensure this. With 5G, communication will be intensified and accelerated, and it will be possible to get rid of indoor cabling to a large extent. Thanks to the growth of the 5G network, easier communication will be possible with the expanding Internet bandwidth.
The concept of mobility includes many different elements. New devices will be added to devices such as smart mobile phones, tablets and portable computers that can connect to the networks and Internet we are using. It will be easier to connect to business and home systems remotely. The variety and number of applications used for this purpose will increase. New remote working and learning systems will develop.
The connection of vehicles operating on land, in the air and at sea to networks and the Internet is becoming increasingly common. Meanwhile, with the ecological transportation orientation, the use of electric bicycles and motorcycles is increasing in many settlements. These vehicles began to be seen as suitable transportation alternatives that also meet the social distance requirements related to Covid-19. This market, known as micro mobility, will continue to grow. In addition, the number of enterprises working on such tools, which can also be network and Internet connection, has started to increase.
We will see major advances in autonomous driving technology in 2021 and beyond, accompanying electric vehicle design and production. Major automotive companies have announced that they will mass-produce autonomous vehicles that will not require any driver intervention under certain conditions. The introduction of fully autonomous devices in traffic will await the appropriate redesign of transportation systems. The development of autonomous vehicles in rail transport may find easier opportunities.
The first quarter of 2020 started with the rise of new and evolving technologies. The Covid-19 outbreak affected this rapid development – in terms of the market shrinkage due to the epidemic – to some extent. However, with the lightening of the burden of the epidemic on the one hand, and the emergence of work and lifestyles suitable for new conditions on the other, science and technology will continue on their way from where they left off.
