While most of us have spent the past few years endlessly debating artificial intelligence and its implications, there are some who have been working under the radar, creating new technologies that quietly reshape our daily lives. These innovations haven’t arrived with a bang or announced themselves to the world with a flashy keynote presentation. They’ve gradually become interwoven into the fabric of our systems and daily habits.
Only in a few years will most of us look back and reflect on the breakthroughs we never noticed at the time. So if you want to get ahead of the rest and find out more about the stealthiest innovations in recent times, you’re in the right place
Invisible Infrastructure
We’re all aware, on some level, that technologies such as cloud orchestration tools and edge computing are essential to modern life. They aren’t particularly exciting to the masses and don’t make any outlandish promises of a bold new future for us all; they just keep everything working.
If we look a little more closely at edge computing, for example, we can see how hospitals, transport networks, and other essential systems react so much more quickly when data is processed closer to its source. We can see the difference most clearly when equipment needs to shut down safely or needs to work unscripted in real time, adapting to its surroundings – like traffic systems, for example, which can now react in milliseconds.
Most of us won’t notice these seemingly small improvements, but if you look closely, you’ll see the subtle signs of the world running a bit more smoothly.
Read: Engineering for Impact: Delivering Reliability in Aerospace
Building Better
It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the construction industry has a reputation for moving slowly, but right now, some of the most impactful practical innovation is happening there.
One of the biggest developments has been to do with identical twins. No, not biological; think more digital. Imagine you’re charged with leading a project that involves building a new skyscraper in a major city. Well, now you can have a detailed virtual model of the building and its infrastructure that updates as you make progress, at every stage of development. On top of that, engineers can use this tech to simulate changes and plan preventative fixes long before logistical problems present themselves on site.
On top of this, companies have continued to develop equipment and machinery that have become increasingly intelligent. Hitachi, for example, has released a range of autonomous dump trucks and excavators that take repetitive tasks, like trenching, loading and compacting in their stride, reducing the ‘human error’ risks that come with operating these machines and improving safety on site. What’s more, these machines are becoming increasingly accessible, as plant hire companies offer business owners the option to rent these machines instead of spending a fortune buying one outright.
New digital tools, advanced automated machinery and innovative changes to how construction businesses operate enable flexibility, improve efficiency, and, hopefully, mean that more projects remain on schedule in the future.
Energy Efficiency
Enormous renewable energy projects might grab the most headlines, but a huge proportion of emissions reduction actually comes from unsung heroes whose duller deeds aren’t anywhere near as flashy.
Our buildings have become more intelligent. So-called smart building management systems can now control and optimise heating and lighting based on how they’re used, with easy-to-use software that can fine-tune processes to reduce energy wastage.
Grid optimisation tools can manage supply and demand more precisely than ever before, making it easier to integrate renewable energy and helping us transition to sustainable energy sources at scale in the long term.
These improvements stack over time, lowering costs and reducing fossil fuel emissions, all without astronomical research and development price tags.
Final Thoughts
In the past few years, we’ve grown accustomed to technologies that overpromise and underdeliver: think robotic butlers that can barely open a door and electric cars that can hardly last two hours on the road.
But low-profile technologies do the opposite. They thanklessly solve real problems without the hype or fuss, slotting into existing systems and workflows and growing through word of mouth because they work, rather than just being the flavour of the week. This can happen on the down-low over the course of a few years, as industry standards shift towards a new normal that isn’t even registered by ordinary people.
Think about how construction has adopted new software to track the progress of a project as it’s being built, where something as simple as digger hire is modernised, and when automated machinery and plant hire come together to make cutting-edge machinery accessible to business owners. The future is always being built, but mostly out of sight. But if you’re looking, you can find it in software that sharpens modern infrastructure and reduces emissions in newly built office buildings, and in automated processes that speed up the way we work.
