Trend Forecast

Investment in artificial intelligence, deep learning, robotics, virtual reality and chip technology is powering Rust Belt 2.0 to levels that will greatly and quickly surpass, both in investment and market gains, the dot-com boom.

There is virtually no industry that won’t be significantly impacted or transformed by the expanding capability and affordability of robot and intelligent automation. Innovations will come from all corners of the globe and sweep across virtually every commerce, business, professional and lifestyle category.

These new technologies will transform the medical industry through robotics and deep learning; redefine public and private education through virtual-reality learning; accelerate the fast track to a cashless global economy through Blockchain technology; merge physical and virtual-reality experiences in unimaginable ways to challenge our sense of time, space and reality; and affect every dimension of ordinary life, from how we eat, sleep, work and spend our leisure time.

These advances will emerge from individuals, research teams, universities and companies large and small from across the globe. In the Rust Belt 2.0 era, there is no single startup innovation center.