We are only halfway past 2022, and yet, so much has happened: we’ve seen new laws proposed to put an end to the increasing dominance of big tech companies; we’ve seen stocks slump, reaching bear market territory; we’ve seen headlines replete with news of Elon Musk’s attempt to take over Twitter.

In a sea of surging economic winds, we wanted to highlight tech trends poised to redefine the rest of 2022 and the years ahead.

Data Management Takes On New Forms

Due to privacy and regulatory concerns, large volumes of data have been sitting idle in servers across the globe. However, a promising new trend in secure data sharing is creating business opportunities out of these largely unused stores of data.

More and more organisations are beginning to explore data-sharing capabilities to monetise their information assets or leverage other people’s data to realise their business goals.

Furthermore, privacy-preserving technologies such as differential encryption, federated analysis and fully homographic encryption, among many others, are making it possible to perform computations on encrypted data without needing decryption, merging the best of both worlds: security and privacy.

With this new trend, we expect to see more industry-specific data marketplaces, more organisations working together to realise a shared goal and more platforms where organisations can buy and sell data.

Cybersecurity Gets Beefy

Against growing cyber threats such as cloud vulnerabilities, third-party exposure or the industrialisation of hacking-as-a-service, many organisations are increasingly looking at ways to strengthen their cybersecurity.

In fact, a report by Fortune Business Insights reveals that the global cybersecurity market is projected to reach US$376.32 billion in 2029, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.4%.

We are seeing these efforts take shape in the form of increased demand for business services that provide software assurance, innovations in cybersecurity architecture, the adoption of AI as means to respond faster to cyberattacks and more.

Cloud Gets Vertical

According to Deloitte insights, the value of the cloud market industry is projected to reach US$640 billion within the next five years. Much of this growth is credited to a growing demand for industry-specific cloud services that can help organisations become more nimble and efficient.

As a result, Hyperscalers, SaaS vendors and global system integrators are working together to develop modular cloud services preconfigured to support common industry use cases. These solutions are easy to adopt and customisable; they allow industry players to quickly and more easily transform at scale, unlocking resources that can be used for competitive differentiation.

In line with this new trend, it is recommended for companies to assess their business process ecosystem to determine which systems can be cloud-sourced to external vendors.

At the same time, it may prove worthwhile for cloud service startups to exploit this trend through unique offerings or new partnerships and strategic collaborations.

Open Innovation Test Beds Mushroom in Europe

The European Union has invested more than €285 million to provide SMEs and industries engaged in the development of innovative advanced materials with access to Open Innovation Test Beds (OITBs).

These materials are used in a wide range of products across different sectors including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, energy and more.

All too often, SMEs and industrial startups face difficulties with financing tests and validations. The EU hopes that with this new open innovation model, innovators can reduce costs, investment risks and time to market, which will help the region meet its long-term economic, technological and environmental goals.

Some noteworthy OITBs include Oasis, LEE-BED, MDOT, SAFE-N-MEDTECH and TBMED.

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At Scaler8, we take pride in helping our clients understand and navigate the European market. Whether it be connecting with potential customers or new partners, establishing a local presence, or conducting market research, we can help. We have an expert team and a large network of partners and mentors ready to help you penetrate the European business landscape. Get in touch with us to learn more.