Hear me out: NOT robotics. The recent things were trendy and had hundreds of startups because a small team could hype something up and generate a life changing amount of money very quickly. It is much more difficult to "get that bag" with a robotics startup, so founders aren't going to gravitate as much towards it (other than ones that are already super rich, but statistically there aren't many of those).
The next trend IMHO will be apps and interfaces for whatever replaces websites over the next 5 years. Whether that's API layers for systems to communicate with each other, "SEO" for chatbots, whatever CMSs will morph into, etc. remains to be seen. Websites (in the 90s/2000s sense of the word) are clearly on the way out, but it's unclear what exactly will replace them.
Why do you think websites are on the way out? Do you think everyone is going to download an app from the app store for a website? Like instead of mypersonalsite.com I would have an app in the app store? Or do you envision a web where every site has the exact same structure and aesthetic, like a Finder window in macOS, and only the data is different?
Either scenario seems unlikely to me and I've seen no proof we're trending that way.
I don't think websites will literally cease to exist, and web applications aren't going anywhere, but the future is probably closer to:
> a web where every site has the exact same structure and aesthetic, like a Finder window in macOS, and only the data is different?
That "finder window" is Google AI search responses or Google Business listings or Perplexity or Facebook or LinkedIn.
These "websites" are being generated by platforms in real-time. There are billions of people on the internet -- are they mostly going to websites or are they going to platforms, and which direction do you forecast their behavior will trend going forward?
I suspect we have not heard the last of The Metaverse(TM); note that the big push a few years back was actually the second one (after absurd levels of SecondLife hype a decade or so before).
Some sort of quantum computing hype feels inevitable at some point.
The return of the revenge of wearables.
Biotech, again.
After all that, we'll probably be ready for another AI bubble, as is traditional (there tends to be one every couple of decades).
Not completely tech related but I think at the moment culture is very maximalist
Hyper-comercialization of music, social media, influencers, marvelification of movies, etc…
Feels very saturated and overproduced at the moment
I wouldn’t be suprised if in the coming decades the pendulum will swing towards more a cultural trend of minimalism and authenticity as a reaction to that
Apps that create false data to crash advertising algorithms. Random GPS locations, random product interests, random web site visits, random follows and likes. Like how SEO poisons search results.
Apps that respond to video ads by calling/messaging the sponsor CEO and the media company CEO with the audio of the ad.
AI and blockchain are here to strive (not the scam version of both), I would bet more on federation and decentralization that would make a strong comeback
Geothermal, solid state 3D printed batteries already a thing but soon to be mass produced, Self Piloting Flying Cars, Mass adoption of mini-micro-mini-micro nuclear power plants, Slight increase of self hosted decentralized platforms, Spartan lifestyles simplification, small home living, less junk, more work from home, "AI" branded everything. AI water, AI computers, AI cell phones, AI diapers, AI energy drinks it's what plants crave...
The next trend IMHO will be apps and interfaces for whatever replaces websites over the next 5 years. Whether that's API layers for systems to communicate with each other, "SEO" for chatbots, whatever CMSs will morph into, etc. remains to be seen. Websites (in the 90s/2000s sense of the word) are clearly on the way out, but it's unclear what exactly will replace them.