The ‘Internet of Things’ has become a 21st century talking point with the increased growth of ‘smart device connectivity’. We previously explored this in 2014 in 'Internet of Things' - From cars to cookers, it's a connected revolution.

Wearable technology is playing a growing role in sport all over the world, used to help coaches, trainers and general managers maximize player performance. While on work experience, Daniel Fernandes (Yr12 student) of The Bishop’s Stortford High School explored how ‘wearables’ are shaping the future of sport.

The wearable technology industry is growing at an extremely rapid rate, currently selling $14bn worth of wearables and expected to increase to $34.2bn by 2020. Everyday new wearable tech, commonly referred to as ‘wearables’, is released; and people are buying them. The range of wearable technology is vast, with some established businesses (Tommy Hilfiger), offering solar powered jackets that act as portable chargers, and some smaller businesses (Future Interfaces Group) enabling you to use your skin as a touchpad, with their new technology- SkinTrack. The range of wearable technology is truly extensive.

Whilst on work experience Alex Ainsworth (Yr11 student) from The Bishop's Stortford College explored the growing phenomenon of autonomous vehicles.

In 1908, the Ford Motor Company created the world’s first mass produced automobile, the model T. In 2016 Ford announced its plan to have fully autonomous vehicles in operation by 2021.  As such, with the demise of driving seemingly on the horizon, this raises many questions

Despite the slow down of global internet growth, half the population are now online (3.6bn). 

Mary Meeker's annual internet trends report is always a highly anticipated slide deck (294 slides) on understanding the tech industry.

TL;DR- Here we share 20 key takeaways from this year's report summarised by Techcrunch.

The full report can be downloaded here

These are the key technology themes we will be watching closely during 2019:

1. #Techlash - tech builds a conscience

By 2020, it is forecast that 1.7MB of data will be created every second for every individual on the 

planet. Managing data properly must be a top priority for companies in 2019. If they do not have

robust procedures in place to ensure that data is managed, stored and utilised appropriately, they

will run the risk of being caught in the #techlash epidemic.

2. #5G – the race has begun

5G will open up significant opportunities across industries by increasing reliability, saving time, 

money and dramatically enhancing the final user experience. Three key reliability improvements 

over 4G will be a 1,000 times speed increase, improved latency and high precision connectivity due 

to the ultra-high frequencies. IDC predicts more than 30 billion devices will be connected to networks globally by 2020. 

Whilst on work experience Lauren Beaver (Yr11 student) from The Bishop's Stortford College explored the growth of the 'smart city' phenomenon.

Before we can talk about the future of smart cities and their benefits we must ask what they actually are? 

Data will continue to be the fuel of the digital economy and this year it underpins all our tech themes. We believe blockchain technology has only just started to revolutionise industries, IoT adoption will surge as it drives productivity and government regulation will have to move fast to catch up with past innovation. A year on from our Ten Tech Trends for 2017 - A quantum leap the digital revolution continues to displace and disrupt. 

‘The digital revolution is the new industrial revolution’. Digital disruption continues to shape our world of today and our future of tomorrow. Following on from our research on Ten Technology Themes to watch in 2016, here are the ten tech trends we shall be tracking in 2017.

A new wave of innovation, led by car manufacturers and automotive-tech companies, is transforming the driving experience. Louis Dolding from the University of Nottingham has written a an article on the future of vehicle technology.

Looking back at cars of the early ‘noughties’ where heated seats, Bluetooth and an AUX socket were considered luxuries in an everyday saloon, it is difficult to comprehend how the cars of today have progressed so rapidly. Driven by new innovations and huge advancements in technology over the last decade, comforts such as cruise control, SatNav and parking sensors are now common place in even the most affordable of hatchbacks. With this is mind it is no wonder that car enthusiasts eagerly predict what advancements may be coming to the cars of the future. 

With the implementation of 5G currently underway in the UK, Charlotte Cavanagh Yr10 student from The Herts & Essex High School wanted to explore the potential of this emerging technology and how it will affect our lives going forward.

The advances in technology in the past 40 years have been more drastic than we could’ve ever expected. From 1G, launched in the 1980s, finally allowing mobile voice calls, to 2G giving us SMS, to 3G which brought mobile browsing, and then to 4G with much higher speeds and the ability to make conference calls, watch HD TV and use gaming services all on our mobile phones. However, 5G has surpassed these earlier technological advancements that will change our world more than ever before.