**Disclaimer: This blog post is not a sales pitch nor a paid promotion for any of the products or services listed below. **
In 25 years a lot can change; in fact, in 25 minutes a lot can change! ICTC has witnessed incredible history for the last 25 years in the technology industry that has seen milestones met and surpassed which were previously only thought to be from cartoon worlds. In this time of accelerated technology advancements keeping us looking to the future, it is good to remind ourselves of the road that brought us to where we are now. This blog will be updated twice a week with a step by step look back at the past 25 years in technological advancements and how they have impacted different components of our lives such as health, entertainment, communication, and companionship. Starting from where we are now and looking back, we will take you along on a journey of exciting discoveries and breakthroughs of the past 25 years to celebrate ICTC’s 25th anniversary!
1992: First Text Messaging Event!
In 1992 Neil Papworth sent the first SMS message to Richard Jarvis which read “Merry Christmas”. At the time cell phones did not have keyboards like ours do now so this first message was sent via a personal computer. Since then we had moved from multi push texting to having full digital keyboards on our mobile device, and now we can even have the phone write our text for us while we speak our message. In the The Appification Of Everything: Canada’s Apps Economy Value Chain it says: “Canada’s 18 million apps users—along with their two billion global counterparts—download apps, both free and paid, to their mobile devices and a significant number of jobs are being created in Canada’s apps economy as a result. The apps labour market includes technical and non-technical positions in small start-up companies, in growing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and in large corporations.” Our phones play such a heavy role in our lives today and in each smartphone is an insight into the person using it based on the apps their phones house. Phones and apps have enabled businesses to upgrade their strategies and workplace and introduce new procedures.
Learn more about the first text message at: http://mashable.com/2012/09/21/text-messaging-history/#lrgQUs2OvZqX
1993: PDF viewing made easy!
On June 15th, 1993 Adobe released version 1.0 of Acrobat. This was a tool that would allow individuals to create and view PDF files. PDF documents are still a dominant document type and having the knowledge and skills to work with and edit PDF documents are just one of the digital skills needed by employees today. “As the workplace becomes more digital, the requisite skills for a successful worker are evolving. In this dynamic environment, every professional requires to be comfortable with both digital technologies and business processes. If organizations do not have employees with these critical skills, they put the brakes on making the digital switch and miss out on the productivity, innovation, and new revenue opportunities offered by technological innovations.” (Skills in the Digital Economy) Sometimes the other skills such as social and creative skills can be overlooked as important skills to bring to the workplace.
Learn more about PDFs at: https://www.prepressure.com/pdf/basics/history
1994: Before Google, Netflix, and Facebook…
Sometimes it is hard to remember a time before the internet, and all of the flashy websites that we tend to surf aimlessly for hours on end. In person visits, fax machines and phone calls were the only options when you needed to get a contract signed, talk to a friend, or entertain yourself for hours. Tim Berners-Lee is a computer scientist from London, England who in 1989 started laying the foundation of a way he felt would help improve information sharing. After a few years of working on this new project, he had ‘created’ HTML (HyperText Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and URI/URL (Uniform Resource Identifier/Locator). Berners-Lee joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994 where he founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) where he remains the Director. W3C is an international group dedicated to the creation and improvement of open web standards. Now fast forward to today, where we are dealing with topics like Cybersecurity, the Internet of things, Cloud Computing, and Mobile Technologies. We can have movies instantly ‘delivered to us, search thousands of resources in 1.5 seconds, and connect with friends around the world in the blink of an eye. I don’t know if this was what Berners-Lee had in mind when he started out on his quest for a more efficient way to share data.
Learn more about the internet in 1994 at: http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-in-1994
1995: Transferring files made simple?
In 1995 Intel introduced the first Universal Serial Bus (USB). The USB 1.0 debuted late in the year and had a data transfer rate of 12 megabits per second. Today a USB stick has become a table for students going back to school as well as anyone who utilizes multiple devices without an internet connection. We have all been warned never to put a strange USB into your computer due to the ability to house viruses, fry your computer, and event instantly allow the hacker perform scripted attacks on your computer. Everyday there are new ways that your digital information can be taken so we are learning new ways everyday to protect ourselves from those attacks. It is important that everyone is educated on what Cybersecurity is and how you can protect yourself from any potential cyber-attacks. In a white paper published by ICTC outlining Cyber Security, it says: “Cybersecurity refers to ICT security services that are utilized to apply ‘safeguards to preserve the confidentiality, integrity, availability, intended use and value of electronically stored, processed or transmitted information.’ Attacks by hackers are on the increase and are becoming ever more sophisticated. Serious consequences can occur due to the illicit use of personal information. Identity theft, health information leaks and unauthorized financial disclosures exemplify the issues that Canadians are concerned about.” It is important to educate ourselves, but also our youth with 74% of Canadian households and 87% of businesses using Internet services as of 2008. With this being such a hot topic ICTC has partnered with different organizations to help with education on Cybersecurity through the competition CyberTitan! CyberTitan is focused on preparing students from middle school right through to the final years of secondary school with skills for the digital economy. We have created learning opportunities for students to engage in a hands-on simulated environment that develop skills necessary to pursue post-secondary education programs, to learn skills essential to work in many STEM fields, and to identify roles students can play help to secure our systems.
Learn more about USB at: http://www.allusb.com/usb-history
1996: Bolt (not the movie)
In 1996 the classification of a Social Media Platform has yet to be invented. But what were the ‘social media’ platforms of the year? Bolt (no, not the movie) launched in 1996 and was essentially the Facebook of the time. Starting out as a teen community the hosted chat rooms, message boards, photo albums, and an instant messaging service, howeve, in 2008 the site was sold to another company and after a few short months it was announced the site would be removed. In Canada approximately 71% of the population (2016) are on Facebook, 49% are on YouTube, and 27% are on Twitter, and yet there are many business who do not train their executives on how social media works, and what it can do for their organizations. “Companies are in need of social media specialists and security specialists. The demand will far exceed the supply in the not-too-distant future.” THE SOCIAL MEDIA SKILL SETS A CIO’S STAFF WILL NEED How will you take this information and educate your own employees, and even yourself to strengthen your company’s online marketing and social media strategies.
Check out a web archive of Blot at: https://web.archive.org/web/19990422033306/http://www.bolt.com/
1997: New device hits stores!
The 90’s were known for shows like Full House, Home Improvement, The Fresh Prince of Bell-Air, Frasier, Boy Meets World, and Saved by the Bell. In March of 1997 the first DVD player was released in the U.S and by the end of that first year over 300,000 DVD players were sold changing the way we watched our favourite shows. Now, in 2017, we have devices and software that can be added to other devices with Artificial Intelligence to make our lives as easy as possible. “Making intelligent machines, robots and software programs, have been a central focus of scientific explorations and ICT industry inventions. Since 1950, AI research and developments have economically impacted many industries such as robotics, telecommunications, computer applications, health, finance, heavy industry, transportation, aviation, service industry, e-commerce, military, music and finally toys and games. In fact, many ideas, systems and technologies have been developed in the world of AI, however, they are not called or considered AI products, rather they are mentioned with their specific names such as smart graphics, machine learning, e-commerce and so forth (i.e., this is called “AI effect”).”- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CANADA WHERE DO WE STAND?
Learn more about the history of DVDs and the DVD player at: http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/recording.technology.history/dvd.html
1998: Look it up? No. Google it!
In August of 1998, Andy Bechtolsheim (the co-founder of Sun) paid the two co-founders of Backrub (renamed to Google) $100,000 which allowed them to incorporate on September 4th, 1998 and upgrade from their original office (their dorms) to a garage in Menlo Park, California! Since its incorporation, it has moved from dorms to a garage, to actual offices, as well as created numerous software and online platforms including Google search engine. Now, it’s hard not to involve Google into your business. In Canada’s Cloud Imperative it says the following: “It should be noted that cloud adoption is likely underreported in many firms. It is likely that many reporting managers don’t recognize that a service they are using is cloud computing or actively consider where their services come from, especially when these services are free of charge. As an example, the Google search engine is a cloud service. As a relatively new technology, cloud services aren’t as identifiable as traditional software and hardware resources. These factors lead us to the conclusion that far more than half of all Canadian companies employ cloud services and related tools.”
Learn more about the history of Google at: www.google.com/intl/en/about/our-story/
1999: Allergies? No problem!
Before 1999 people with allergies had two choices; the first being never having a pet at all… or the second being that they have a pet but struggle with keeping allergy symptoms at bay. In May of 1999 Sony put an end to the struggle and released Aibo! Aibo is a trainable robot dog that goes through full development from a new born pup to an adult representing Artificial Intelligence. This particular example is utilizing Artificial Intelligence for entertainment and potentially companionship purposes but how else could this technology help the world? In the white paper released by ICTC, Artificial Intelligence in Canada: Where Do We Stand?, it says “Among the AI-related technologies, there are a few that have significance for the impact on society and especially on digital economy. As a heterogeneous field, AI is particularly influential in machine learning, robotics, transportation, finance, health and bioinformatics, e-commerce, games, big data and internet-of-things.” These robo dogs were just the start of what is to come. Now we have had robots working in factories, healthcare, and many other industries.
Read more about Aibo at: http://www.sony-aibo.com/aibos-history/
2000: Walk? Let’s take the Segway!
Right before the turn of the millennium Dean Kamen, an American inventor, founded “the Company”. At first it was unknown to the public what this new organization was going to do. The first conceptualization of the technology was a wheelchair that was self-stabilizing, but in the year 2000 the newest type of transportation was announced: Segway! Segway’s utilize a balance system that as the rider shifts their balance it runs sensors that set off a pair of electric motors that power each wheel individually and adjusts to prevent itself from tipping over. In other words, it utilizes a set of systems made up of sensors, and other mechanical components; similarly to Intelligent Transportation Systems that were discussed in the Wireless Technology Roadmap: 2006-2016. It says “Intelligent transportation systems comprise integrated networks of sensors, computers, communications and control technologies.”
Learn more about the Segway at: http://segway.ca/en/index.php
2001: Apple Vs. the MP3
One of the many market drivers for digital adoption was the creation of multimedia capabilities such as MP3. Since 1999 a German company invented the first MP3 player that would allow users to only carry a small device instead of the classic Walkman or Discman and the invention quickly found its way around the world having companies who were making those larger devices have to re-invent the device to keep up with the competition of these new MP3 players. Soon many MP3 Players were on the market but Apple wanted to make the best MP3 player and in 2001 they released the iPod. Was this one of the first steps to the smart phones we all know and most love? As we have seen over the years the evolution of the cell phones we know from car phones to briefcase phones, to the original cell phone handheld that was bulky, has shaped the style of not just those phones but also the iPod and other music players. Now the fact that we want our technology to be as user-friendly as possible, it’s hard to know what will be the next addition to our smartphones. In the report Wireless Technology Roadmap: 2006-2016, it says: “Human Interface design, including features like Adjustable to suit the user; Wearable (e.g., display glasses, gloves); Voice recognition, touch-screen control; Intuitive operation, user-friendly interface; Design optimized for gaming, not voice”. We have seen all of these become reality from the wearable watches to the human centered design, so what does the future hold for us? Only time will tell.
Read more about the history of the iPod at: https://www.lifewire.com/history-ipod-classic-original-2000732
2002: NASA officially selected the team!
AI-related technologies facilitate our lives with, for example, industrial robotics, robotic medical assistants, smart games, financial forecasting software, big data analysis algorithms in health and bioinformatics, pilotless cargo planes, drone ambulances, general purpose and workplace robots and others. What about space? How do AI-related technologies help us? In 2002 NASA officially selected the team for the Mars Rover 2004 mission, and they got to work producing two twin rovers that were to land on the red planet. With a combination of transmitted series of commands and the ability to be autonomously roaming towards a set target, the rovers of the past had some features we are only seeing on earth in recent years. We are seeing the autonomous cars in road tests with detectors NASA would have loved to have on their 2002 rovers. ‘General Motors’ plan to create and fill up to 1,000 engineering jobs in Canada to do R&D and develop autonomous cars is certainly a good example to point to.’
Read more about Artificial Intelligence at www.ictc-ctic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/AI-White-paper-final-English1.pdf
Read more about the Mars Mission at https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/spotlight/marsrover01.html
2003: The power of assisted power!
Even though the Iron Man movie did not come out until 2008, a professor at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology in 2003 created a Power Assist Suit which is a computer-controlled system, providing the strength similar to the red suit in the movie. This suit would allow physical labours to reduce the risk of physical harm as well as reduce the number of employees required when lifting heavy objects. Could it be possible that this suit can be added to which could allow the development of robotics where the employees could ultimately be virtual works from home? In the report Digital Economy Monitor of Canada ICTC states “Labour-intensive production processes are giving way to technology-driven mechanisms and even creating virtual workers, working from home and telecommuting.”
Learn more of about the Power Assist Suit at http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1935038_1935082_1935713,00.html
2004: Facebook takes the social stage.
Back in 2004, the question in many conversations was ‘are you on Facebook?’ In an ICTC report, Canada’s Digital Imperative, it says “Digital platforms are allowing agility for Canadian enterprises, helping them gain efficiencies in their business practices by efficiently sharing, communicating, disseminating, and broadcasting digital content.” On February 4th, 2004 Mark Zuckerberg, along with his team, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin officially launch Facebook to students at Harvard University and after only a month it expands to a few other universities. By the end of 2004, Facebook had 1 million active users on the platform and has continued to grow ever since. Now Facebook has changed from a University/school only networking tool to having over 1.3 billion active international users. Facebook has become a marketing tool used to reach a large audience by many different sized companies around the world including the 43% of Canadian businesses who use social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, or Facebook. 59% of adult internet using Canadians have a Facebook profile and half of those users check/ are active on their profile more than once a day. With such a large portion of Canadians on Facebook, the question has shifted from whether someone was on Facebook to if someone ISN’T.
Read more about the History of Facebook at https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/
2005: YouTube Opened the door
In February 2005 a new platform was launched by creators Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. The very first thing to be posted on this new web based platform was a short 19-second video of Karim at the San Diego Zoo. A year later in 2006 Google bought the company and at that time the platform was host to over 8 terabytes of videos. Stated in a report released by ICTC in 2013, 28% of Canadian businesses employ dynamic platforms featuring user-generated content such as YouTube or iTunes. YouTube has provided the opportunity to see more of the world and discover cultures like never before. It has also enabled teachers/educators to create video courses for people around the world using the platform for free. There are now many different free courses available through YouTube. YouTube also made it possible for anyone with a camera to showcase their videos on an open platform for anyone to see.
Read more about YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/
2006: New Opportunities from Cloud Computing!
In a report published by ICTC, Canada’s Cloud Imperative, it states that “cloud systems are infinitely scalable, provide multiple infrastructure sources, and can be used for every computing purpose ranging from disaster recovery to business continuity.” There has been an argument, for many years, as to when exactly the term cloud computing was coined. One side of the argument is that the term was used in 2006 by companies such as Google and Amazon when discussing the use of the web to replace or replicate the use of a desktop. Though computer hardware sharing first appeared in the 1950s, which enabled for the first simultaneous shared use of a computer system by independent users, the term wasn’t coined until much later and even five/six years (2011/2012) after the term was allegedly coined was just then being described as the “Year of the Cloud.”
Read Who Coined ‘Cloud Computing’? at https://www.technologyreview.com/s/425970/who-coined-cloud-computing/
2007: Netflix hits big data gold!
In 2007 Netflix, originally accompany that sent movies through physical mail, began a new delivery method through online streaming. With the instantaneous way that users can interact with movies and shows online, it would now allow Netflix to gather information faster than ever before. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2011 Netflix had over 21 million subscribers, and now they have seen that number grow to over 94 million subscribers! How did they do it? Netflix uses every little piece of data to better serve their subscribers, and better predict which shows and movies will do well and which ones won’t be a hit before putting money into production or contract retrieval. From genres preferences to which movie/show poster image will entice the viewer to watch any particular show, Netflix has become a powerhouse of data. ICTC has released a report, Big Data & the Intelligence Economy, and in that report it states “Leveraging big data analytics is no longer considered a novel approach to decision-making, but an important strategy for organizations looking to raise their competitiveness” I believe that Netflix has been leveraging their own collection of big data, and their expertise in analytics to become a strong competitor in the entertainment industry. Through their processes, they can reveal insights about viewer’s trends and tendencies to where they put individuals into detailed categories which allows them to predict what shows and movies those would group most likely be interested in to provide, what feels like, a personalized experience for each profile holder.
Read more about Netflix and their use of Big Data at https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/03/big-data-lessons-netflix/
To read the complete Big Data report visit: https://www.ictc-ctic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BIG-DATA-2015.pdf
2008: The Internet of What?
In 2008 a collection of over 50 companies joined together to launch the IPSO Alliance. Their mission was to promote and enable the use of the Internet of Things (IOT). From goods to machines to appliances and even buildings, the Internet of Things connects it all. In the report, Big Data & the Intelligence Economy published by ICTC, the Internet of Things is defined as the extension of the internet to the physical world through embedded technology. The report also explains how a big company like Shell uses big data and IOT to reduce their production costs and monitor its equipment. Watching the video linked below will give any viewer an excellent idea as to how the IOT currently affects their life, along with the impact of coming technology and they way things are starting to have the ability to communicate.
Watch this video by IBM Think Academy to learn how the Internet of Things works! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSIPNhOiMoE
2009: Artificial Intelligence and transportation?
For years we have seen different types of popular culture have provided us with platforms for the imagination to dream of what is possible for the future. With the ability to add software to things like cars that allows them to behave and make choices like/better than a human, it makes us wonder what is next. Well, in 2009 Google began their quest to create a fully self-driving car. They wanted to give everyone, no matter their abilities, to have the freedom to go anywhere they need/want without the assistance of anyone else. Though the project has since been recreated into an independent company named Waymo, it still remains a major priority of Alphabet Inc. The goal of the project in 2009 was to have a Toyota Prius drive through ten uninterrupted routes of over 100-miles each. Within a matter of months, their goal had been met and they were on to continue to clock more than 300,000 accident-free miles. According to the Waymo website, the self-driving cars work as followed” “Our vehicles have sensors and software that are designed to detect pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles, road work and more from a distance of up to two football fields away in all directions.” Essentially these cars utilize what we know as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to keep its passengers safe with human anticipation.
Learn more about AI in ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CANADA
Learn more about Waymo at https://waymo.com/tech/
2010: Apple’s newest mobile device: iPad
Apple, in 2010 sent out a press release with the subject “Magical & Revolutionary Device at an Unbelievable Price”. The iPad was released as a smaller alternative for a laptop but a larger alternative for a cell phone running over 140,000 apps that were on the App Store at the time. In a report released by ICTC, Canada’s Mobile Imperative, it is stated that “Mobile devices are the most rapidly adopted technology in history and the most popular and widespread personal technology in the world.” At the time that the iPad was being released, we saw that 3 / 5 Canadian enterprises started their involvement in the app development stream in 2010 or later.
Learn more about the iPad at https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2010/01/27Apple-Launches-iPad/
2011: Nintendo and Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality (AR) is simply an overlay of computer-generated images on top of the view of the real world through a device. AR has been experimented with since the 1960’s, starting with Ivan Sutherland’s ‘The Sword of Damocles’. The device created the illusion that what was a 2-dimensional image was now a 3-dimensional one through the use of a head-mounted display. In 2011 Nintendo released the Nintendo 3DS which let, for the first time, players view and play 3D games and other content without a head-mounted display or those blue and red 3D glasses. After the new 3DS was out for just under a year, Nintendo heard their customers and knew players desired more challenges. Nintendo decided to bring some of their pre-developed games and features into a new light by creating a network for the players to create opportunities to find more live online competitors to play with. This network is comprised of players around the world who want to share their love and passion for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U platforms. In a report, Wireless Technology Roadmap, published by ICTC it is said that “Mobile multiplayer gaming is a demanding wireless application that will push game design, networks and handheld devices to new levels of performance.” Nintendo has worked to ensure that their portable devices are able to handle multiplayer gaming in a way that doesn’t compromise the integrity and quality of the current design.
Learn more about the history of Nintendo’s portable systems at https://play.nintendo.com/3ds/#!/Timeline
Read more about The Evolution Of Augmented Reality (AR)
2012: Baxter a manufacturing robot
Baxter, a manufacturing robot built to assist in industrial automation, was released in 2012 by Rethink Robotics. In a study by ICTC, Intelligent Industrialisation, automation is defined as “the creation and application of technology to monitor, control, and expedite the production and delivery of goods and Services.” Baxter was built to provide a cost effective solution that would also provide the high volume manufacturing firms were looking for. From repetitious task to hazardous jobs, this mighty machine is able to perform any task. Baxter isn’t like the average programmable robot because it isn’t programmed to complete a task, it learns by observing present personnel. Baxter is also re trainable to allow manufacturers to move Baxter at any point along the production line. Industrial automation is a growing industry and will continue to grow. The year after Baxter was released, 2013, we saw the biggest surge in industrial robotics sales, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).
Learn more about Baxter at http://www.rethinkrobotics.com/baxter/
2013: Xbox One brings new AI features to the Gaming world
Artificial Intelligence (AI) allows machines or the built-in software to behave like humans. ICTC released a report, Artificial Intelligence in Canada: Where Do We Stand, which provides an in-depth look into the impact and use of AI. The report states, “According to Microsoft Research, video games can be more realistic, virtual creatures can exhibit intelligent behaviours, and game environments can be realistically complex.” In 2013 the Xbox One was released with one key feature- Xbox Kinect which would allow the player to essentially play the game without a controller. The Kinect contains two cameras, a depth sensor, and a microphone which allows the Kinect to track your movements, as well as figure out who is in front of it. This software can essentially learn, search and strategize similarly to a human who is seeing a friend they know or meeting another person for the first time.
Learn more about the Xbox One and the Kinect at http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/xbox-one-x
2014: Virtual Reality Comes to Forefront with launch of Google Cardboard
2014 was the year that virtual reality (VR) became available to people around the world with the simple purchase of a piece of cardboard and the download of an app. Google released their newest innovation, Google Cardboard. This invention would essentially turn the average smartphone into a virtual reality headset with the use of a downloaded app. ICTC released a report in 2014, The Appification of Everything: Canada’s Apps Economy Value Chain, which states that the total number of app users, at the time, was 18 million in Canada and 2 billion worldwide which provided a large market for this new innovation to be able to grow in popularity. As of February of 2017 Google had shipped over 10 million VR viewers and the Cardboard app had been downloaded over 160 million times! This piece of technology is currently being used by different organizations and even countries as a new marketing tool. With the development of apps, Canada has seen over 28,000 jobs in Ontario alone being created for the growing App industry. In another blog post, The Evolution Of Augmented Reality (AR), published by ICTC it is stated, “Augmented Reality is being accredited with helping businesses over all sectors through learning, direction, and creation.” In 2016, ICTC partnered with Blippar to create interactive learning in schools across the nation with the Future of Interactive Learning Initiative (FOIL), funded by the Canada Media Fund (CMF). The program brought AR into high school classrooms, teaching students to engage with AR, while exploring innovative means of telling Canadian stories.
Learn more about Google Cardboard and other Google Virtual Reality projects at https://store.google.com/ca/category/virtual_reality?Gl=ca
2015: First Drivable 3D Printed Car
Recently the Information and Communication Technology Council published a report, Additive Manufacturing: The Impending Talent Paradigm, which speaks about the current way 3D printing is being used in different industries. In 2015 the full capabilities of this technology were not known, and many minds would not be directed to the idea of 3D printing your own car. Local Motors had big ideas and in 2015 showcased the first drivable 3D printed car that took four months to design and build but the actual construction of the car is only a 44-hour process. They took the blueprints of a regular car that is comprised of over a thousand parts and reduced it down to 44 parts that would be mostly printed through AM. The hope is to one day customers will be able to walk into a car dealership and once they select a car that they would like, down to every colour choice and a size. The only parts that were not printed were things like the tires, engine, and suspension. In ICTC’s report, it states that 25% of manufacturers, globally presently are implementing AM technology for prototyping only, 10% use AM for prototyping and production of final parts, and 1% use AM for final parts production only.
Learn more about the first 3D printed Car see the promotional video from 2014! Https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=daiowlkh7zi
Read more about Additive Manufacturing in Additive Manufacturing: The Impending Talent Paradigm.
2016: Amazon Drone Delivery
Digital technologies play an important role in the improvement of productivity and innovation as found through research conducted by ICTC. The report, Skills in the Digital Economy, discusses the benefits of digital adoption and it is found that 81% of respondents stated that digital technologies enhanced productivity within a business (ICTC, 2016). Many companies are finding creative and innovative ways to introduce digital technologies into their day to day business practices.
Following an interview for 60 Minutes Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon revealed the latest research and development project being conducted at the Seattle offices in 2013. This new delivery service would change the way we receive packages: octocopters! Octocopters are the type of drone that Amazon had planned to use to make deliveries of packages, which weigh no more than 5 pounds, within a 30 minute period. As of December 2016, Amazon completed its first delivery in Cambridge, UK.
Looking at big companies like Amazon, who are leading the technological innovation charge, how can any sized businesses across Canada utilize technology like drones and other digital technologies to improve their businesses?
Read more about digital adoption in Skills in the Digital Economy | Where Canada Stands and the Way Forward
Learn more about Amazons Drones at https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-Air/b?node=8037720011
2017: Tesla Solar Roofing
In late October of last year (2016), Tesla officially announced their newest technological upgrade along with improvements to a pre-existing product. Tesla, along with recently acquired SolarCity, put a twist on the normal way to capture energy from the sun with their solar roofing tiles. These roofing tiles are an alternative to the traditional solar panels and make a welcomed change to the traditional roofing shingles. These tiles have a predicted lifespan of 50 years, which would outlive traditional Asphalt shingles and traditional solar panels. The improved Powerwall is where the energy goes once collected from your solar roofing to be stored for use and has a 1.4% larger storage capacity than their original. The Powerwall will monitor the energy being collected as well as consumption in real-time and it will send alerts to your own devices which is a part of the Internet of Things. According to a report published by ICTC, Big Data & the Intelligence Economy, the Internet of Things will alter the consumer experience and create a market where 100% of large organizations purchase external data by 2019.
Learn more about Tesla’s Solar Roofing at https://www.tesla.com/en_CA/solarroof
Read Big Data & the Intelligence Economy at https://www.ictc-ctic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BIG-DATA-2015.pdf