Start-up founders give their predictions for 2022

“BIG things have small beginnings.”

The line from Lawrence of Arabia might be a good way of characterising the coming year in tech.

Tech that will be very important to the future will begin graduating from R&D labs and enter the marketplace. More self-driving automobiles will traverse the roadways. Augmented reality glasses may start showing up in public.

The US government will probably begin regulating Big Tech in such areas as antitrust and privacy.

The industry will continue talking about, and, in some cases, building for, the metaverse.

And some of the foundational technologies underpinning Web3 might begin to take hold.

Fast Company asked start-up founders, Big Tech execs, VCS, scholars, and other experts to speculate on the coming year within their field of interest. Here’s what they had to say:

Joanna Lambert, president and GM, Yahoo

We see many businesses, particularly in the banking, payments, and technology space, making large investments in cryptocurrencies, while other companies create crypto opportunities for consumers with the marriage of credit and debit cards and expanded use cases of NFTS for digital and physical items. Virtual real estate will become more commonplace in the NFT ecosystem next year as well, given the sales happening in the metaverse as industries continue to intersect in 2022 and break new ground.

Vijay Pande, general partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Industrialised biotech will be the next industrial revolution in human history. Covid-19 has shown the world the promise of engineering in health care. Just look at how we developed the MRNA vaccine – and how fast. But we are just at the beginning of a revolution where AI drives industrialisation across biopharma and health care, turning what was formerly manual into something that is repeatable, predictable and scalable. Expect to see the rise of full stack companies with complete, end-to-end products or services that take biotech into huge markets beyond pharma and health and into manufacturing, construction, and durable goods – and in ways that combat climate change.

Shawn Carolan, partner, Menlo Ventures

2022 will officially end the debate over whether blockchain and Web3 is a meaningful pillar for the future of technology. We’ll see mainstream adoption and acceptance of blockchain for P2P payments, international remittances, and other common and useful applications that will start to cross the chasm from currency speculators to people who are just trying to live their lives better. |