Fast Company Predicts The Future Of Tech

Fourteen writers and editors at business publication Fast Company have chosen the Next Big Things In Tech.

They broke the 65 companies up into six categories with innovations in industries, including credit, crypto, electric vehicles, voter data, water, and animation, among many more. The six categories are money, smart machines, sustainability, AI & data, health, and experiences.

Among the companies mentioned is credit card company Mastercard. Mastercard’s protection of customers' transactions that can withstand a quantum attack while limiting the processing time in milliseconds. Previously, quantum computing could crack existing encryption standards that posed security threats to many areas of online information.

IBM created a chip that fits “50 billion transistors on a piece of silicon the size of your thumbnail . . . the width of two strands of human DNA.” Among the many benefits, the chip gives smartphones 400% better battery life.

GM created a single battery architecture for all of their electric vehicles, instead of creating a new battery from scratch for each vehicle. The breakthrough makes transitions to an all-electric fleet of cars easier.

PepsiCo and Wint partnered to get smarter about how Pepsi consumes water at its facilities. Wint’s technology detects anomalies in water flows, which Pepsi’s Belgian facility’s water consumption by 10%. Pepsi plans to bring the technology to five more European sites.

Adobe created Super Resolution, which uses machine learning to allow users to blow up an image without it becoming grainy or pixelated.

Powerhouses Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet all reported higher second-quarter 2021 revenues even as they face heightened scrutiny from antitrust regulators for their growing dominance of key economic sectors AFP / JUSTIN TALLIS

Amazon developed Nimble Studio, which makes creating animation, CG content, motion graphics, and VFX, among other visual effects, affordable to create.

Microsoft and InfernoRed created ElectionGuard, which keeps voter data encrypted while it is being processed, and people can still check if their vote has been counted. The system works with both voting machines and paper ballots.

Microsoft also partnered with Adaptive Biotech came together to create ImmuneCODE, a database of immune responses to COVID-19. With this information, they developed a T cell test to detect past infections. It will also help improve the understanding of how human immune systems react to being infected previously and after getting the vaccine.