The 30 must-watch technologies on the Gartner Inc. Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2020 include technologies that enable a composable enterprise, aspire to regain society's trust in technology, and alter the state of your brain.

“Emerging technologies are disruptive by nature, but the competitive advantage they provide is not yet well known or proven in the market. Most will take more than five years, and some more than 10 years, to reach the Plateau of Productivity. But some technologies on the Hype Cycle will mature in the near term and technology innovation leaders must understand the opportunities for these technologies, particularly those with transformational or high impact,” said Brian Burke, research vice president at Gartner.

For example, health passports and social distancing technologies, both related to the COVID-19 pandemic, are taking the fast track through the Hype Cycle and have high impact. Technologies rarely enter the Hype Cycle at the point where social distancing technologies has entered it, but this technology has received extraordinary attention in the media, mainly because of privacy concerns. Health passports are also unusual as technologies with market penetration of 5-20% are rarely introduced, but this technology, required for access to public spaces and transportation in China (Health Code) and India (Aarogya Setu), is being used by hundreds of millions of people in those countries. Both technologies are expected to reach the plateau of productivity in less than two years.”

The Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies is unique among most Gartner Hype Cycles because it garners insights from more than 1,700 technologies into a succinct set of 30 emerging technologies and trends. This Hype Cycle specifically focuses on the set of technologies that show promise in delivering a high degree of competitive advantage over the next five to 10 years.

Figure 1. Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2020

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