Metaverse and decentralised identity flagged as emerging tech to watch – Gartner

Research by Gartner identified 25 “must-know” emerging technologies across three key areas which it predicts will greatly impact business and society over the next two to ten years. Importantly, Gartner explains that these technologies will assist CIOs and IT leaders in their efforts to achieve digital transformation. Across the three main themes of evolving/expanding immersive experiences, accelerated artificial intelligence automation, and optimised technology delivery, Melissa Davis, VP analyst at Gartner explained: “All these technologies are at an early stage, but some are at an embryonic stage, and great uncertainty exists about how they will evolve. “The embryonic technologies present greater risks for deployment but potentially greater benefits for early adopters, which differentiates them from Gartner’s top strategic technology trends.” Within the immersive experiences category, the 2022 Gartner Hype Cycle lists the following trends as critical technologies in the space:

• Decentralised identity – where an entity (typically human users) controls their own identity by leveraging technologies such as blockchain or distributed ledger technologies along with digital wallets
• Digital humans – interactive, AI representations of humans
• Internal talent marketplaces
• Metaverse
• Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
• Superapps
• Web3

The report’s second category outlines four examples of accelerated AI automation it expects will become transformational for organisations in the next five to ten years. The four technologies it lists include: causal AI, foundation models, generative design AI and machine learning code generation. The final category features examples of technology which assist firms in their efforts to build a digital business, through optimised technologist delivery. The tech provides feedback and insights which help to optimise product, service and solution delivery, and sustainability. Examples provided by Gartner stretch from cloud sustainability and computational storage, to minimum viable architecture and platform engineering.