Disruptive Technology – Keep an Eye On

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by Micky Oliver

Every investor, whether a newbie or a veteran, wants good returns on their investment. But in investing, there are no guarantees to reaping high profits. As mentioned in a previous Traders Paradise post, investors should learn how to temper expectations to prevent disappointment. However, if you want to increase your chances of long-term returns, you ought to consider disruptive technology—innovations that alter the way that consumers, industries, or businesses operate.

Investing in disruptive technology is something that investors have always done, and often with great success. One prominent example is Masayoshi Son’s investment in industry trailblazers like Uber, Slack, and WeWork. Through his Japanese conglomerate Softbank, he was able to take early bets on these companies, and now the way we work, travel, and life has changed for the better.

Success stories like this have urged investors to keep an eye out on technologies that could potentially revolutionize industries. If you, too, want to place your bets, here are five disruptive technologies that may be worth investing in:

Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics

AI has already been adopted by many industries, but it appears that its full potential hasn’t been realized. While we already reap its benefits every day with our continued use of things like ridesharing apps, voice assistants, and mobile check deposits, there is a whole crop of emerging uses of AI. This includes adaptive machine learning, edge analytics, transfer learning, generative adversarial networks, and more, as mentioned in the Tech Republic. And as technology continues to evolve, there will be more opportunities for investment.

Blockchain

It may seem like blockchain technology has lost its novelty since having gone mainstream, but tech writer James Gonzales explains that it’s seeing lots of use outside of the finance industry, with new applications in the legal sector ranging from the creation of smart contracts to corporate filings and notarizations. While these use cases are still primarily theoretical, they could potentially have a transformative impact, making them worth investing in.

Space exploration as a disruptive technology

Renowned entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Paul Allen have long been at the forefront of investing in space exploration technology. Business journalist Derin Cag highlighted that there is already quite a bit of progress in this domain, most notably the NASA-spearheaded space colonization projects, including the National Space Society, and International Space Development Conference. Given the prediction that the human population could exceed one trillion people in the 22nd century, it may be a good time to explore investment opportunities in space colonization as it’s likely that disruptive macro technologies will get invested as a result.

Green IT

Green technologies are nothing new, but as Tech World noted, renewed discussions about climate change propelled its resurgence. New advancements in green IT include renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, and environmentally-friendly services, all of which allow companies to increase resource productivity and efficiency, cut on costs, as well as decrease their environmental impact. In an effort to cut their emissions and go carbon neutral, organizations continue to invest in environmental technology, which led to an all-time high of $393.8 billion in transactions. As Greenpeace head of IT Andrew Hatton noted, going green is not only the ethical thing to do, but it also makes the most financial sense.

High-speed travel as a disruptive technology

Another disruptive technology impact, that is predicted to have a second coming, is high-speed travel, which reemerged thanks in part to Elon Musk’s Hyperloop project. In 2003, when the Concorde went out of commission, the high-speed travel industry took a massive downturn. But its demise was expected due to its exorbitant costs and defiance to noise regulations. With Hyperloop, a sealed tube with reduced air resistance through which a pod, or in this case, a train, would move at impressive speeds, people can travel from London to Scotland in just 45 minutes. It managed to secure $80 million in funding, and we can soon enjoy a mode of travel that solves many complex long-distance issues. Supersonic flights, aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound, may soon follow. 

Investing in disruptive technology can be intimidating due to the sheer complexity of the underlying products, but if you manage to hit the jackpot, the rewards are astounding.