Disruptive and innovative trends are fundamentally transforming our world, with some of them sped along as a matter of necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic. With disruption comes innovation, which is a long-term driver of global economic growth. So, what are some of the disruptive trends that investors should have an eye on over the next five to ten years? Here are some industries and technologies to watch.

5G: Powering the Next-Gen of IoT

The move to 5G systems will be at the heart of much disruptive innovation over the next five to ten years by making possible ultra-fast, low-latency internet connectivity. 5G will mean a 10x rise in connection density (important for IoT devices) and a 10x decrease in latency. More importantly, 5G connectivity will provide 100x the traffic capacity of current networks and 100x efficiency of those networks’ processing and energy usage. A new generation of 5G devices will make immersive AR/VR experiences more responsive and interactive; enable the development of smart venues and cities, and make possible wireless broadband connectivity in the remotest areas without the need for land infrastructure.

One healthcare technology with the potential to be disruptive—and which will benefit from the implementation of 5G—is telemedicine. The pandemic catalyzed the speed of telemedicine’s proliferation and adoption. In the United States, between February and April 2020, telemedicine grew from less than 1% of primary care visits to nearly 43.5%. There were by some estimates over 1 billion telemedicine visits made in 2020.

With this genie out of the bottle, telemedicine will fundamentally redefine the healthcare experience over the next decade as it enables easier access to healthcare. Telemedicine will become a standard service, with patients accustomed to virtual care choosing healthcare providers and hospitals based on telemedicine access. This will mean business and revenue growth for health systems that embrace the change and a decline for providers who don’t. Look for immediate access to specialists to become the norm thanks to virtual appointments, and for telemedicine to be an efficient, cost-effective option for boosting preventative care.

Automobile Innovation: Driving Transformation

A major beneficiary of the 5G revolution will be the next generation of innovative automobiles, which promise to disrupt the role of vehicles in our lives and our society. High-speed connectivity will help make the long-promised autonomous car a reality and make it a realistic transportation option for both fleets and individual consumers. Likewise, expect vehicles of the next five to ten years to be heavily networked. They will be connected between cars and smart transport infrastructure as well as for the passengers, who will be able to communicate, work, and play on the internet and access multi-media services from their car at any point during their trip.

The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) will also continue to accelerate as they become an increasingly common reality for the broader public. Especially as governments look to drive innovation and adoption within the EV space in an effort to minimize carbon emissions and fight climate change, expect manufacturers to move away from fossil fuels to provide more EV options for fleet and consumer use.

Genomics: Revolutionizing Healthcare and Beyond

Genomics has significant implications for fields as diverse as agriculture, biofuels, and even synthetic biology—the ability to customize organisms by “writing” their DNA.

In healthcare, genomics will revolutionize how pharmaceutical companies develop drugs. With a person’s full genome taking only a few hours to map at the cost of around $1,000, a personalized roadmap to a patient’s DNA will allow fully customized treatment regimes, including tailor-made drugs.

Rapidly advancing technologies like CRISPR will allow life sciences companies to produce therapeutic treatments to edit individual genes to treat diseases like cancer or eliminate genetic predispositions altogether.

Cloud Computing :  A ‘Cloud Everything’  World

While already a growing SaaS industry, the next frontier in cloud computing is the distributed cloud. This enhanced cloud service will deliver significant performance improvements due to eliminating latency issues thanks to, ironically, physical cloud substations that function akin to Wi-Fi hot spots located close to the point of use. This will provide redundancy to reduce the risk of global network-related outages or inefficiencies. Expect at least some distributed cloud services to be available from most cloud service platforms by 2024.

How can investors take advantage of this disruption and innovation?

The Evolve Innovation Index Fund provides access to global companies involved in disruptive innovation across a broad range of industries, including cybersecurity, cloud computing, eGaming and eSports, automobile innovation, 5G, blockchain, genomics, and robotics and automation.