This article elaborates on a few innovations that will be coming in a few years and have the potential to drastically change our societies. They are Starlink, 3D printed meat and room-temperature superconductors. Despite their potential, people do not seem to realize their future impact on the world. Why are we not talking more about this?

Do you remember that time in 1998, when everyone was so eager to get a smartphone and hook-up on Facebook?

 If you are like most regular people, the answer is probably warm-hearted no.

Most people had no idea what was coming to them. In less than ten years, the way we communicated, organized and consumed information was changed forever. It is not just mobile phones. There are many examples of disruptive technologies that change the world without people realizing it, not even a few years in advance. Why do we not see these changes coming? I believe this is mainly due to two reasons.

1.      People do not like change.

2.      People do not recognize a good idea.

Combine these two and you have a lovely cocktail of denial. In addition, people are simply too busy running their lives and certainly not aware of the amazing innovations that sound like science-fiction, but are just around the corner.

Granted, there are counter-examples of this phenomenon. For example there is a broad public discussion nowadays about self-driving cars. Nevertheless, most of the inventions, innovations and societal changes that await us in the coming years or decades will be unforeseen, unsuspected and most of all: paradigm-shifting.

This blog is an attempt to start a discussion about the unknown unknowns. The radical changes coming to you soon that nobody is talking about. Please note that I am not an expert futurologist. On the contrary. What I am is an eager amateur, driven by my curiosity to constantly look for innovation and radical new technologies or ideas. Maybe it is due to the fact I grew up watching Star Trek, the show that has made science-fiction into science for nearly fifty years. Or perhaps it is due to my line of work as a Sustainability “Guru”, where not a week goes by that I do not encounter a new innovation with the potential to change the world.

No matter the reason, I have decided to list three of the innovations that strike me as world-changing in the coming years. My goal is to start a discussion and see if I have overlooked things. Maybe you know of even more innovative ideas that are even more mind-blowing. Who knows. Comment below and tell me what I don’t know!

Starlink

The Starlink Satellite Constellation is to be a system of at least 12,000 satellites in orbit that cover the globe with high-speed internet coverage. This idea, envisioned by Elon Musk and under construction by SpaceX, will drastically lower the digital divide by expanding internet access to everyone around the world. It will most likely lower prices for consumers, as well as give unparalleled access to internet around the world.

Recently, SpaceX successfully launched an array of 60 satellites recently with barely a hitch. They are now on track to carry out up to six Starlink-related satellite launches in 2019 This would, in theory, be enough for them to begin providing internet coverage in the United States and Canada. This is really happening, and they are not the only ones. Jeff Bezos is trying to create a similar network, called the Project Kuiper initiative. You might wonder, why is global internet coverage in even the remotest places on Earth such a big deal? Let me tell you why.

Satellite-based internet is an almost irresistible proposition. Only about 56 percent of the global population has internet, according to the latest estimates. Satellites would be able to provide global access, quickly. Even in the United States this has the potential to be a game-changer. One in ten U.S. adults still doesn’t use the internet, according to the latest data from Pew. Some of those users are simply old and don’t care about being able to get online, but many abstainers would likely use the internet if they could. One in four rural residents describe the lack of broadband access as a “serious problem.”

And it is in precisely these rural areas around the world that a proper internet connection can make all the difference. Let me try to illustrate it further. I once read a story about a farmer in Africa. Unfortunately I cannot find the source anymore, but I remember the story vividly. This farmer had a potato-field, with potatoes that would not grow. He had no proper education on farming, he simply learned it from his parents as was done for generations. It so happened that at this time, an internet café was opened in a village nearby. As his crops were threatened to be destroyed, together with his livelihood, he decided to turn to “the internet” for his problems. He went to the café, and looked up the symptoms on Google. Within one hour, he found the cause: ants. Armed with pesticide and other control measures, he went back to his farm and saved his crop. For me, this story opened my eyes and illustrated the enormous potential of providing people around the world access to the knowledge of the world.

As of April 2020, Elon Musk stated that Starlink will begin private beta testing within three months. Already, over 400 satellites are in orbit and that number is increasing rapidly with each SpaceX launch. Broadband internet coverage will soon surpass any existing satellite internet service, and perhaps even existing regular broadband services (such as the 5G network, who knows). Some time ago, I spoke with an innovation manager from KPN, one of the major Dutch telecommunications companies. It surprised me that they knew nothing about these developments. Even though you could argue that regular, non-satellite based services might be less impacted, even I would be persuaded by a gigabit internet service everywhere I go around the world.

To summarize, Starlink will provide almost 4 billion people the opportunity to be connected to the rest of the world. At the very least, it will drastically revise the current communication markets. People who can access high speed internet would also likely still benefit from lower prices satellite arrays would likely inspire. According to Broadband Now, Starlink’s array alone, is estimated to save consumers some $18 billion in subscription broadband costs per year. It’s not just about helping people, it’s about making some money while you’re at it, right?

Check out everything you wanted to know about Starlink (but were afraid to ask) by clicking here.

Lab-Grown Meat (3D-Printed Meat)

How would you feel if you could eat guilt-free meat from any animal imaginable, the healthiest possible kind created without any antibiotics? The tastiest possible combinations of meats you can think off, including even endangered species? How would you feel, if it would actually cost less than existing meat? I bet you would feel pretty damn great. And it is coming to you sooner than you might think.

3D-printed meat, cultured meat or lab-grown meat, is meat that is grown in a petri-dish (or bio-reactor when scaled) instead of the “natural” way from animals. It is made by “printing” stem cells in a special, donut-shaped circle onto a layer of nutrients. These cells will naturally grow into organic structures, such as muscle or even layers of fat. Recent developments included growing meat in a ‘scaffolding’ of soy, to improve the 3D-printed meat properties and growth rate.

It may sound like a miracle to some, but “3D-printed meat” is really like organically growing meat cells to form anything you want. You could theoretically even grow meat from extinct animals such as mammoths. It requires orders of magnitude less water, land and energy compared to conventional meat. This has the added bonus of significantly reducing our footprint on the environment due to our meat consumption. In addition, the meat is guilt-free as no animals are slaughtered for our consumption.

The first hamburger from lab-grown meat was created by Mark Post from the Maatsricht University back in 2013, though it came with a costly price tag of 250.000 euros for a single hamburger. Guess what the price is now? At the moment, a lab-grown hamburger costs about 9 euros (!). It is only a matter of time before 3D-printed meat will become cheaper than “organic” meat, which would be a true tipping point in our societies. And it will come sooner than you expect. KFC recently announced they will create the “world’s first laboratory-produced chicken nuggets”. The final product should be ready by fall 2020.

 So what will happen when you have the option to choose between cheaper, guilt- and antibiotics-free meat or more expensive regular meat? Meat, grown in a bioreactor from stem cells, could make it possible for meat-eaters to continue their diets without slaughtering animals, and may even help spark an eco-friendly food era where beef is produced in a process with 90 percent less emissions in just two years. Mark my words: the moment that 3D-printed meat becomes cheaper than regular meat and more readily available, our way of life will be changed forever. 

Room-Temperature Superconductors

Now for something truly out of this world: room-temperature superconductors Once such a superconductor has been made commercially viable, our world will never be the same. Let me explain.

 A superconductor is a material that can conduct electricity “perfectly”, i.e. without any losses. The potential uses for this are as vast as they are exciting: electrical wires without diminishing currents, extremely fast supercomputers and efficient magnetic levitation trains (or maybe even cars!). Superconductors already exist and are used in science, for example in CERN. In order for them to work however, they have to be cooled down to –271°C, colder than deep outer space. This is incredibly expensive, and not really practical. The ability to create a superconductor at room-temperature therefore is like the holy grail for material science. Researchers are now getting close to achieving that goal.

 The University of Chicago, as part of an international research team, has discovered superconductivity at the highest temperatures ever recorded. The team studied a class of materials in which they observed superconductivity at temperatures of about -23°C. There is also good hope that graphene can be made into a superconductor. Graphene is a two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms that's super flexible, harder than diamond, and stronger than steel.

 Imagine what we could do with a material that can conduct electricity perfectly, can be used to build skyscrapers kilometers high, and is made from one of the most abundant materials on Earth: carbon. Though it is safe to say that it may take some time before a room-temperature superconductors become widespread, they will revolutionize our way of living.