Emerging Tech Glossary

Can you imagine if the walls of your workplace could stiffen and stretch in response to earthquakes or shifting loads? What if your water pipes at home can change shape to accommodate varying rates of water flow? Or what if a table can assemble itself when you touch it?

That is the idea behind four-dimensional (4D) printing, a process where three dimensional (3D)-printed objects transform in response to external environmental stimuli, such as heat, wind, water, and other forms of energy. The process creates objects that can alter their shape and perhaps even their functions over time.

An aerobot is a robot designed to operate in the air. The term “aerobot” is a shortened form of “aerial robot” that is typically used in the context of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or space probes.

Aerobots are still in their early stages of development, but they can potentially revolutionize many industries. For example, they can explore remote and dangerous areas, such as the aftermath of a natural disaster or a war zone. They can also deliver medical supplies to remote villages or inspect power lines and other infrastructure.

Biotechnology is a broad term that refers to the process of using living organisms and biological systems to develop products, technologies, and services. Its main goal is to use biology to improve our lives.

As early as the prehistoric period, people have been engaging in biotechnology, although the term itself was only coined in the 1900s. Examples of traditional biotechnology include domesticating animals, breadmaking, fermenting food, brewing alcoholic beverages, such as beer, and cultivating plants, among others.

These days, modern biotechnology is synonymous with genetic engineering where genes are modified, removed, or manipulated to change the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) information of organisms.

Blue brain technology is a program that powers the blue brain—the first artificial brain to have ever been developed. Brain Mind Institute (BMI) and International Business Machines (IBM) collaborated to launch the Blue Brain Project (BBP) in July 2005 with the primary goal of simulating mammalian brain functions in great detail. It aimed to gain a better understanding of biological intelligence and its processes using the blue brain technology. It was launched by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) through its founder Henry Markram, a strong proponent of human brain simulation.

Blue brain technology is a virtual machine powered by artificial neural networks (ANNs). It is one of the advanced applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to the human brain that aims to address many of the pressing problems involved in brain dysfunctions, the human mind, and consciousness.

Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the process of creating still or moving visual content using computer software. The content can be used in various media, including printed and digital, as well as in artworks, video games, and films.

CGI involves a wide range of techniques and styles, from 2D vector graphics to intricate 3D models and simulations. The goal is to create believable and realistic visuals that tell a story or showcase a product, among many other purposes.

You have probably seen CGI in action many times. In the movie “The Irishman,” CGI was used to realistically de-age Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. Aside from advanced CGI, the creators used a three-camera rig and infrared technology to create 3D models of the younger versions of the actors’ faces.

A challenger bank is a new retail bank that directly competes with well-established traditional banks. The term is more widely used in the U.K., where challenger banks aim to serve the population that the “Big Four” (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and NatWest Group) typically fail to. Over time, though, the term has been recognized globally.

In some cases, challenger banks are created by traditional banks to cater to customers that they can’t serve. In others, conventional banks that “fail” transition into challenger banks.

Dataware is a new data architecture approach that eliminates the need to integrate information from different sources, which can be complex and time-consuming. Instead, dataware creates a shared data backend that all an organization’s applications can access in real time.

Let’s say you are a retail store owner. You want to track your inventory and sales. Traditionally, you would have to integrate data from your website, point-of-sale (PoS) systems, and inventory management system. That would involve the complex process of writing and maintaining data integration schemas and processes.

With dataware, you can simply connect data sources to the dataware layer that will automatically integrate the information for you. As such, you can track inventory and sales in real time, giving you a better understanding of your business and helping you make better decisions.

Eco-friendly technology refers to innovations, processes, products, and tools that minimize adverse environmental impacts and promote sustainability. It is often called “green technology” or “clean technology.”

The primary goal of eco-friendly technology is to create a more sustainable future by reducing pollution, conserving resources, and minimizing the harmful effects of already existing technologies. It is energy-efficient, nontoxic, biodegradable, and has an expandable life span. Some popular examples include solar panels, electric vehicles (EVs), biodegradable plastics, and organic farming products.

Financial technology (FinTech) refers to technological innovations in the way financial transactions are conducted. Fintech innovations include mobile banking, double-entry bookkeeping, peer-to-peer lending, and cryptocurrency.

With growing interest in cryptocurrency and its driving technology, Blockchain, many more FinTech innovations are expected to come soon.

Legal tech refers to any application of technology that helps lawyers and law firms digitize processes involved in providing legal services. It is a broad term that includes a wide variety of technologies, from applications that enable lawyers to find clients to artificial intelligence (AI)-based platforms that aid legal research.

Legal tech is one of the many industry-specific technological developments, alongside fintech (banking and finance industry) and insurtech (insurance industry).

Have you tried advertising for a friend through social media? Perhaps, you’ve tried selling something online by announcing it on a website? If your answer is yes to any of the questions, congratulations!  You’ve taken part in a basic form of martech.

It’s a combination of both marketing and technology in order to accomplish various goals and objectives in marketing. In fact, any technology that relates to marketing is called martech.

Martech tools are used in automating and streamlining processes such as the collection and analysis of user data and the discovery of ways to reach and engage with target audiences.

Nanophotonics, also known as “nano-optics,” refers to the study of the behavior of light on the nanometer scale and how light interacts with nanometer-scale objects.

Nanophotonics is a branch of optics, optical engineering, electrical engineering, and nanotechnology. Its other name, nano-optics, like the term “optics,” usually refers to situations that involve ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light.

Nanorobotics is a field that seeks to create very tiny robots. It combines the engineering requirements of robotics with the scale of nanotechnology to build machines that are as small as the very molecules that make up matter.

In 1959, the famous American physicist Richard Feynman gave a talk entitled, "There's Room at the Bottom". In it, he mentioned a device that could write "The Lord's Prayer" on the head of a pin. Then he asked, "Why can't we write the entire 24 volumes of the "Encyclopaedia Brittanica" on the head of a pin?" The talk was an eye-opener that inspired many engineers and arguably sparked the beginning of nanorobotics.

Have you ever imagined having superpowers that enable you to shrink in size even smaller than a breadcrumb and explore the world that way? When you go to your living room, you won’t be seeing tables, chairs, or computers but cells, atoms, molecules, and even proteins!

This is how being in the ‘nanoscale’ would be, and the study of Nanotechnology is about doing all kinds of amazing things on this level.

Scientists around the world are experimenting with nanotechnology in the hope of inventing something new. Some examples include allowing doctors to treat cancer cells directly, reducing the size and power consumption of electronic devices, and using nanoparticles to clean up the environment.

A neobank is simply a bank that operates without any physical branch. It is also known as an “online bank,” an “Internet-only bank,” a “virtual bank,” or a “digital bank.”

A neobank only exists in the virtual realm, much like an e-commerce store like Amazon that does not have brick-and-mortar establishments.

Physical AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that allows machines to interact directly with the physical world. It gives machines a brain that can perceive, reason, and act in real time through a body, such as a robot, self-driving car, or industrial machine.

At its core, physical AI sits at the intersection of computer science and mechanical engineering. Unlike traditional software AI, physical AI must operate under real-world constraints such as gravity, friction, forces, and timing. 

Property technology or PropTech, for short, refers to applying IT and platform economics to the real estate industry. Platform economics, in this sense, gives users a glimpse into the social and economic activities shaping the sector through a digital interface. PropTech is also known as “real estate technology.”

In the simplest terms, PropTech involves using IT to revolutionize or enable the real estate industry’s digital transformation.

Quantum coherence is a property of quantum systems that refers to their ability to maintain a stable phase relationship between different quantum states. In other words, it refers to the ability of a quantum system to maintain a well-defined quantum state over time without being affected by outside disturbances or interactions.

In classical physics, systems tend to lose coherence over time due to the effects of friction, heat, and other external forces. However, in the quantum world, coherence can be maintained for long periods, even in the presence of external influences.

This property is essential for various quantum technologies, such as quantum computing and quantum communication, as it enables the creation and manipulation of entangled states and superpositions, which are the basis of many quantum algorithms and protocols.

A quantum computer is a device modeled after the principles of quantum mechanics. It is characterized by unprecedented processing power, which can solve complex problems in a matter of seconds, rather than thousands of years.

Regular computers (your desktop or laptop at home or in the office) encode information in binary digits or bits represented by the numbers “0” and “1.” Your computer has to manipulate billions of these bits based on a given set of instructions to produce a single word or image. The computer repeats this process over and over at a rapid pace until it completes the output. 

A quantum computer is a standard computer on steroids. It processes information using a different unit of data called a “quantum bit” or a “qubit.” A qubit runs exponentially faster than a bit, allowing a quantum computer to solve a problem much more rapidly than a normal one does. 

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a method to distribute cryptographic keys between two parties securely, often referred to as “Alice” and “Bob,” using the principles of quantum mechanics. The security of QKD is based on the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, which state that measuring a quantum system disturbs it in a way that cannot be replicated without leaving detectable traces.

In QKD, Alice and Bob exchange a series of single photons encoded with quantum states, such as polarization or phase. By measuring these photons, they can establish a shared secret key, which they can use for secure communication. Suppose an eavesdropper, often called “Eve,” tries to intercept and measure the photons during transmission. In that case, the disturbance caused by her measurement will be detectable to Alice and Bob, alerting them to an intruder and allowing them to discard that part of the key.

Qubit is short for “quantum bit,” which is the unit of measure for quantum information. It is the quantum computing version of a binary digit or a bit.

In classical computing, bits are used to communicate encoded information. They represent two possible states represented by 0 and 1. These two states could mean “true” or “false,” “empty” or “full,” or “on” or “off.” Bits can only operate in one of two states at one time. They can switch from one state to another at a slow speed and under low electronic voltage.

A qubit is similar to a bit in the sense that it encodes information on two levels. Unlike a bit, though, a qubit does so in two quantum states at the same time. That said, you can only manipulate qubits to accomplish complicated tasks or calculations using so-called quantum principles such as quantum superposition or entanglement. Because of this property, a qubit can encode a more expansive array of information than a bit.

In Dirac notation, which is a way to describe quantum states, the following equation represents a qubit:

|0〉 + |1〉

Imagine if financial companies can collect every detail about mistakes they’ve made in the past few years and use the information to come up with suggestions to do better next time. With this ability, many such firms would be able to find areas for improvement easily and ensure that due diligence is maintained at all times.

That is the very essence of regtech. It’s a combination of the words “regulatory” and “technology” and is a relatively new field that aims to help financial organizations analyze big data to predict risk areas they should focus on to ensure compliance with regulations.

Regtech solutions should provide a number of features that include handling real-time data in the proper context and integrability with existing systems. They should also help users analyze trade-offs between risks and rewards and more.

A robotics software engineer is a programmer who designs, develops, tests, and deploys the software that controls the robots and enables them to perform tasks autonomously. These engineers play a vital role in the field of robotics as they can push the boundaries of what robots can do.

Robotics software engineers can work in various industries, such as manufacturing (e.g., industrial robots), healthcare (e.g., surgical robots and prosthetics), logistics (e.g., automated vehicles), and agriculture (autonomous farming equipment).

In the 90s, a researcher named Kris Pister predicted that people in the future would be sending out numerous miniature sensors no bigger than grains of rice to carry out various observations and studies. He called these specks of technology “smart dust.”

These are tiny sensors that can be used to detect and monitor everything on the planet – light, vibration, temperature, etc. – acting just like the nerve endings on our body. Smart dust systems will be operated wirelessly and will be able to observe and relay a huge amount of real-time data on people, cities, and environments.

A swarm robot is a small autonomous robot that’s part of a larger group that works together to perform a task. Swarm robots communicate using signals to coordinate actions to achieve the same goal.

The concept behind swarm robotics is based on the collective behavior of ants, bees, termites, and other social insects. Because of their size, swarm robots have various applications, including environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and disaster relief. 

Warehouse automation is the process of automating inventory movement into, within, and out of a warehouse to customers with as little human assistance as possible. When implemented, it helps a business eliminate labor-intensive duties that involve repetitive physical work and manual data entry and analysis.

Contrary to what you may think, warehouse automation does not necessarily require physical or robotic automation. In many cases, warehouses use software to automate manual tasks.