The study revealed that countries are likely to experience a more immersive and deeper partnership with machines, with human lives and business activities encountering tech-led shifts such as sentient cities, connected mobility and robots going mainstream.
In addition, the findings detail a future brimming with opportunity as advancing technologies hold the potential to drive human progress across the world, including but not limited to the business and investment sector.
The IFTF forecasts some shifts between now and 2030, citing how organisations and governments must act now to overcome challenges and prepare for the digital future.
One change that was highlighted in the study is the networked reality, and how it is likely to overlap with existing reality. This network will also extend into the mobility sector, as the vehicles of tomorrow increasingly move towards becoming mobile computers.
Countries as a whole are also shifting towards a networked infrastructure of smart objects, self-reporting systems and AI-powered analytics. Robots will also serve as a medium to enhance human skills and abilities.
“Our connection and relationship to technology will likely be vastly different in 2030 and we believe that the most successful relationships between human beings and machines will be those that are symbiotic and make use of their respective complementary strengths,” says Amit Midha, president of Asia Pacific, Japan and Global Digital Cities at Dell Technologies Singapore.
On the local front, the study notes that Singapore business leaders have made the first steps in digitalising their companies. However, there is still some noticeable resistance to the more advanced forms of technology.
Some 53% of business leaders in Singapore would welcome machines becoming self-aware, compared to 49% in the region. At the same time, 70% of the leaders would also welcome day-to-day immersion in virtual and augmented realities, compared to 63% regionally.
However, 77% of business leaders in Singapore expect they will restructure the way they spend their time by automating more tasks, compared to 80% in the region. Meanwhile, 57% of business leaders in Singapore say they would welcome brain computer interfaces, as opposed to the regional figure of 62%.
And although technology-led shifts have brought about improvements in business environments and are likely to continue doing so, IFTF highlights the challenges that organisations might face.
According to the survey, data privacy seems to be at the forefront of challenges, with 85% of local business leaders anticipating that they will be more concerned about their privacy in 2030 than they are today, compared to 78% regionally. In addition, 86% of respondents considered data privacy to be a top societal-scale challenge that must be solved, compared to the regional figure of 74%.
“As the Singapore government is forging ahead with our Smart Nation ambitions, significant investments have already been made to address emerging issues that would impact the digital economy, including governance for artificial intelligence, mobile payments and establishing digital identities,” says Eric Goh, managing director of Dell Technologies Singapore.
“Emerging technologies will transform our lives in ways that we’ve never experienced before,” he adds. “It’s important for us to continue discussing and exploring how we will realise this future with immersive human-machine partnerships.”
