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Tech Report: Your Disruption Forecast

 

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Those familiar with Moore’s Law know that the expectation of technology is that it will continue to become more sophisticated and simultaneously more affordable. In our personal and professional lives, technology advances at a pace that is at once staggering and subtle so that when tech prophets claim the next big thing is coming, we tend to poo-ha-ha the predicted consequences. Artificial intelligence, for example, was long depicted as the next big thing for business and it was, just not in the ways people tend to view AI. In accounting, the introduction of automation and cloud services have reorganized certain functions of the profession and have been directly responsible for the current shift toward advising, changing forever the way we think about the primary role of CPAs.  

Those shifts were more subtle, more focused. However, according to a new report by Fast Company contributors, RethinkX co-founders, we are on the precipice of the most consequential technological disruption of all time. According to the predictions, the world’s most intractable problems—poverty, inequality, and climate change—are all on the brink of realizing their solution. Before dismissing this claim entirely, consider that RethinkX has documented history of correctly prophesizing technological forecasts since 20051.     

Furthermore, their predictions cite technologies at the center of this disruption already occurring related to Big Data and quantum computing, advancements the MICPA has been reporting on steadily since the beginning of the year as it relates to accounting. In the grander scope of the global community, however, RethinkX cites these technologies are among those which will converge in the next 10 years to disrupt five foundational sectors: information, energy, food, transportation, and materials.  

The challenge for businesses and governments will be figuring out how to maximize the benefit of this convergence. According to the report, both the private and public sector need to let go of tradition, something well underway within the financial sector. Protecting traditional industries is unsustainable as the focus should shift toward protecting people and ensuring society can cope with the shifts in production related to energy, agriculture and information.  

On the face, this seems like a massive undertaking for a mere decade, however practical examples of these technologies, which already exist, include Lyft and Uber (transportation), impossible food (agriculture), wind and solar as the most affordable global energy source (power) and Black Lives Matter as a social mobilization driver (decentralized information).  

Furthermore, the NATO Science & Technology Organization seems to agree that information is at the heart of disruption in coming years. In the 2020-2040 Science & Technology Trends Report, NATO concludes that quantum data, biotechnology, materials, space and hypersonics will be the major strategic disruptors over the next 20 years. The report agrees with RethinkX that these five technologic developments are the predominant disruptors because they build upon already existing technology2.  

Are you and your organization ready for the next big thing? Subscribe to the MICPA enewsletter to stay ahead of trends like these.


  1. Arbib, James & Tony Seba. “We are Approaching the Fastest, Deepest, Most Consequential Technological Disruption in History.” Fast Company. 5 Oct. 2020.
  2. Eaton, J. & D.F. Reding. “Science & Technology Trends 2020-2040: Exploring the S&T Edge.” NATO Science & Technology Organization. March 2020.

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Source: MICPA

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