IHS cites 8 technologies trends to watch in ‘18

IoT, artificial intelligence and robots top the list

By IHS Markit January 18, 2018

A new report from IHS Markit cites eight major trends in technology for 2018 that will impact operations and supply chain for the next decade.

“Technology industries have both enabled and benefitted from digitization for the better part of the last 50 years,” IHS Markit officials said in the report. “While the idea of digitization is not new, what we are now seeing is a new wave of transformative technologies with the potential to significantly impact the world around us.”

According to IHS, the eight technologies to watch in 2018 are:

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • IoT 


  • Cloud 


  • Connectivity 


  • Blockchain

  • Machine vision

  • Ubiquitous video

  • Robots and drones

“While AI, IoT, machine vision, robotics, and the cloud are not really new technologies, they are coming together in new and powerful ways and fundamentally changing businesses, fueling innovation, disrupting industries, and creating both threats and opportunities for all,” IHS officials said.

Among the other comments on specific technologies:

On Artificial Intelligence: “AI is being implemented in two ways: device and cloud-based. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. Cloud AI has more computing power to analyze data as it utilizes deep learning algorithms, but there are potential issues around privacy, latency, and stability.”

On the Internet of Things

“IHS Markit has identified four stages of IoT adoption and implementation:

  1. Connect—embedding connectivity and processing capabilities into devices;

  2. Collect—adding sensors and storage that enables devices to gather data on their surrounding environment;

  3. Compute—processing and analyzing large amounts of data generated by IoT devices; and

  4. Create—monetizing the IoT or creating unique solutions through access to transformational data.

“The global installed base of IoT devices will rise from 27 billion in 2017 to 73 billion in 2025, IHS Markit forecasts show. Accelerating IoT growth in 2018 and movement through this four-stage IoT evolution will be the confluence of enhanced connectivity options with edge computing and cloud analytics.”

On robots and drones: “The global market for robots and drones will grow to $3.9 billion in 2018. Beyond that number, however, the deeper underpinnings of the story lie in the disruptive potential of robots and drones to transform longstanding business models
in manufacturing and industry, impacting critical areas such as logistics, material picking and handling, navigational autonomy, and delivery.”

IHS Markit is a CFE Media content partner.