The Future Today Institute's
14th Annual Tech Trends Report
The cataclysmic events of the past year resulted in a significant number of new signals. As a result, we've analyzed nearly 500 tech and science trends across multiple industry sectors. In our 14th annual Tech Trends Report, we have published 12 separate reports with trends grouped by subject. We are including what we've called Book Zero, which details our methodology and shows how we did our work.
Find inspiration for your next movie, show, commercial or other creative work. FTI collaborates with the creative community on a wide variety of projects. Start with the scenarios and trends in this year's report. If we can help on your next project, please be in touch.
Explore our 2021 Tech Trends at your own pace.
Scenarios
1-minute read
Short, speculative stories exploring plausible futures. Find them in all books.
Summary
20-minute read
Concise summary of highlights from all trend books.
Individual Reports
50-minute read
Scenarios, provocative questions, and speculative art are featured in all books.
Full Report
Don't read in one sitting
Get the full, 504-page PDF with everything in one enormous book.
Overview
This book shows our work: the tools, frameworks and methodology we used to develop FTI's trends and scenarios.
Artificial Intelligence
AI trends: enterprise; health, medicine & science; consumer; research; talent; creative; geopolitics; China.
Scoring + Recognition
Trends related to face, voice, gesture (and more) recognition, algorithmic scoring systems and surveillance.
New Realities
Synthetic content and media, deepfakes, algorithmic content generation, streaming, AR/DR/VR/MR and journalism.
Work, Culture + Play
Tech trends related to the future of work, fashion, beauty, cognitive enhancers, vices, gaming, eSports, toys.
Health + Medical
Tech trends about healthcare, medicine, Covid-19, smart fitness, smart glasses, watches + other wearables.
Consumer Electronics
Tech trends covering the future of smart homes, rollable screens, consumer electronics and working from home.
Government + Policy
Tech trends related to geopolitics, geoeconomics, U.S. government (federal, state, local), policy and warfare.
Privacy + Security
In-depth tech trends covering privacy and security. Plus a list of major breaches and a glossary for execs.
Blockchain + Fintech
Tech trends covering the future of blockchain, cryptocurrencies + fintech. Plus use cases and applications.
5G, Robots, Mobility
Strategic trends covering 5G, 6G, network infrastructure, robots, supply chain, logistics, drones + mobility.
Energy, Climate, Space
Tech trends on the future of energy, climate change and off-planet exploration. Plus deep-futures scenarios.
Biotechnology and Agriculture
Trends covering synthetic biology, CRISPR, mRNA, vaccines, brain-machine interfaces, agriculture and food.