Tech companies are racing to develop the potential of these digital spaces in 2021 with a focus on social life, culture and brand presence. 

According to experts, the incredible speed with which virtual technologies are developing will lead to an increase in the number of digital services related to both aesthetic and functional experiences, and people will spend more and more time on the web. 

At the forefront are digital assets in the form of clothing and design items, as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).  

According to McKinsey,  brands see the metaverse as an opportunity to engage customers more deeply. The digital fashion market is already valued at $31 billion and has more than 100 companies. Deloitte also claims that by the end of 2022 there will be 4-5 million sports fans in the world who will purchase or receive as a gift collectible digital sports artifacts for NFT tokens. 

Safe AI 

Homomorphic encryption technologies (a type of encryption that allows computing on encrypted data without decrypting it) are now available to the market, which will help make the implementation of artificial intelligence systems more secure.  

As a result, analysts expect the secure computing market to double to $250 million in 2022. For consumers, this means a wider and more widespread application of AI in various fields. In particular, artificial intelligence will be actively introduced in the healthcare sector. This will allow the development of telemedicine, as well as health monitoring applications. Companies such as Apple, Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, IBM, Intel and others are already actively investing in this area. 

Accordingly, regulation in the field of AI will also be tightened. It is likely that in 2022 governments will be able to develop a unified approach to legislation in the industry. It is possible that some jurisdictions will ban the use of facial recognition technologies in public places and other controversial technologies, analysts say. 

Distributed enterprises

 Gartner predicts that in 2022 there will be more so-called distributed enterprises, which will be built on a business model focused primarily on digital and remote work. 

As analysts say, distributed enterprises will be able to better meet the needs of remote workers and consumers, as well as increase the demand for virtual services and hybrid workplaces. 

Cloud Work 

Forrester experts predict that the active use of enterprise clouds in the work of companies during the pandemic will continue to expand in 2022, as enterprises expand their digital presence and create new products. Cloud service providers are looking for cloud efficiency, scalable solutions, and unique customization. 

Forrester analysts believe container adoption will reach 50% by 2022 as cloud computing takes center stage in enterprise clouds. At the same time, many enterprises in the development of cloud strategies will use the native cloud environment. In this way, cloud technologies will go beyond all the main areas of application, such as big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of things. 

Green Smartphones 

According to Deloitte, in 2022, the number of smartphones in use will reach 4.5 billion, and the associated carbon dioxide emissions will amount to 146 million tons. The majority of these emissions (83%) relate to the manufacturing process, delivery and the first year of use of devices. In this regard, companies will think about extending their expected service life. 

This requires support and updates to smartphone systems for at least five years, analysts calculated. Therefore, vendors can start offering devices at a higher price, charge consumers an environmental surcharge, or include services and services in the price of a device. 

In addition, companies will increasingly use recycled materials to create devices. For example, Samsung has already announced that it will launch its new line of Galaxy smartphones in February, which is made using recycled fishing nets. 

Solar panels on the water 

Deloitte predicts that alternative energy sources will continue to develop in 2022. One of the ways to popularize them will be the installation of floating solar panels directly on the surface of water bodies where there is not enough land for these purposes. By the end of 2022, the total capacity of such panels will reach 5.2 GW, analysts predict. By 2025, this figure may reach 13 GW. 

This practice will be most widespread in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, which already leads in terms of installing solar panels on water (90% of the total). Africa is another promising market. Analysts have calculated that the use of even 1% of the water resources on the continent for the needs of solar energy can provide local states with 58 GW of energy for consumption annually. Similar projects will also be developed in Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Norway. Solar panels will be installed in the North and Adriatic Seas in addition to existing offshore wind platforms.