Disruption has practically become commonplace in the post-pandemic business world. What does the coming year have in store? With bold predictions and forecasts, the second annual Charting Disruption 2023 research report from exchange-traded funds provider Global X ETFs offers insightful data sets and analyses to best anticipate the changes and critical developments that may lay ahead.
The new report, produced in partnership with Wall Street Journal Custom Content, seeks to help navigate the current landscape of accelerating change. The research team leveraged a panel of hand-picked experts—across academia, the consulting industry, and the investing world—to chart these changes and identify the most critical developments on the horizon.
“Change is accelerating all around us, and this interactive report offers a roadmap for those looking to explore the disruptions that might lie ahead—both next year and beyond,” said Pedro Palandrani, director of research at Global X, in a news release. “From navigating disruptive technologies to unpacking changing consumer demand to preparing for the unique challenges of the future, [the report] presents a guide to the trends, technologies and ideas transforming the world, and a glimpse into what might be next.”
The following key insights emerged:
- Genomic sequencing & diagnostics: The global sequencing industry is expected to reach $15 billion in revenue by 2030, opening the floodgates for a wide variety of healthcare segments that rely on the technology and spearheading improvements in early disease detection.
- Therapeutics: The future of medicine offers a more nuanced, personalized approach to treat illnesses. Sales of next-generation medicines could potentially comprise 18 percent of the $1.35 trillion pharmaceutical market in 2030, up from 3 percent of the $856 billion market in 2022.
- Telemedicine & digital health: The increased utilization of digital offerings is driving telemedicine adoption. At maturity, 1 in every 3 patient visits is expected to be virtual.
- Climate change: The wind and solar power sectors are forecast to account for a combined 87.5 percent of net electricity capacity additions from 2022 to 2032.
- Mobility: Electric vehicles (EVs), including battery EVs (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), are forecast to reach annual sales of 63.1 million units in 2035, up from a projected 10.1 million units in 2022.
- Disruptive materials:Mining revenue from disruptive materials could increase five-fold to over $250 billion by 2040, while coal mining revenues could decline by 59%.
- S. infrastructure development: About 83 percent of the U.S. population is concentrated in urban areas, up from 70 percent six decades ago, exacerbating the need for infrastructure improvements, especially in population centers.
- Global decarbonization: Demand for the compliance and voluntary carbon markets is likely to increase significantly as corporations with net zero commitments work toward meeting targets, and prices in these markets are expected to rise with demand.
- Big data & SaaS: More than 180 zeta-bytes of data will be processed worldwide by 2025—nearly 3x that of 2020. As a result, we should see a rise in consumption of cloud-deployed software as businesses struggle to store, process, and understand their data.
- Future of commerce: Global e-commerce revenues are expected to top $10 trillion by the end of the decade, accounting for nearly one-third of all retail spend.
- Metaverse & digital experiences: By 2030, 88 percent of the global population (over 6 years of age) is expected to be digitally connected, and in less than five years nearly 4.4 billion people worldwide are expected to have 5G connectivity.
- Robotics: Sales of professional service robots, such as those used for delivery or healthcare, are become larger than industrial robotics, serving as a catalyst for a paradigm shift in 2023.
- Artificial intelligence: The global graphics processing unit (GPU) market is set to grow tenfold from $25 billion in 2020 to $247 billion by 2028.
- Connectivity: By 2030, Internet of Things (IoT) adoption could generate $12.6 trillion in economic value, a nearly 8-fold increase from 2020. Adoption is set to continue its rise, in many instances accelerated by the pandemic shifting consumer behaviors.
- Future of money: Survey data found that 3 in 4 Americans, including the vast majority of Millennial and Gen Z participants, prefer digital banking.
- Blockchain: The rise of smart contract blockchains has catalyzed the development of a new software stack that provides users with the tools to harness the potential of these general-purpose computing platforms. These protocols and applications make up the software infrastructure for the decentralized web.
- Web3: As innovations across Web3 hardware and software stacks accelerate, there is evidence to suggest a positive feedback loop between application development, user adoption, and investment has been set in motion.
“Charting Disruption 2023 utilizes Global X’s unparalleled research capabilities to their fullest extent. As a leader in thematic investing, it is our responsibility to provide clients and investors around the world with the tools to understand and capitalize on powerful trends shaping the global economy,” said Luis Berruga, CEO of Global X, in the release. “We are thrilled to be able to share this transformational report, which spans a wide variety of innovative topics and is the culmination of many months of in-depth research and analysis.”
Download the full report here.
The report was produced in partnership with Wall Street Journal Custom Content, a unit of The Wall Street Journal Advertising Department. The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.
