“These top five technology growth sectors are currently lighting up investment opportunities, and we have specifically aligned our investment pipeline to them,” said Paul Stannard, Chairman of the Vector Innovation Fund (VIF), an international alternative investment vehicle dedicated to advancing enabling technologies globally. They are critical to resolving important global concerns such as sustainability, healthcare, energy, food security, and the equitable distribution of innovation globally.
“While the majority of technology sectors are developing, the game-changers garnering that $2+ trillion investment will not be companies upgrading existing products, such as making your television screen sharper.
“What we have seen with the pandemic and Climate Change is a global recognition that we must also accelerate investment in enabling technologies that support environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) principles and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) principles where impact can result in better outcomes for all.”
According to market statistics, the top five technology growth sectors are as follows:
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Intelligence Artificial
AI has the greatest potential, with the market expected to more than double from $62.35 billion in 2020 to $997.77 billion by 2028, growing at a 40.2 percent compound annual growth rate. It has already demonstrated how it can improve food science, reduce retail and banking costs, and develop medical advances such as remote patient monitoring and more intelligent clinical diagnosis.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the future of healthcare, food, energy, transportation, construction, and aviation, among other fields. Combining artificial intelligence and nanotechnologies, for example, enables platform technologies to re-invent sectors over the next decade.
According to data compiled by StockApps.com, there was a tremendous rise in investment in AI technology businesses in the fourth quarter of 2020, totaling $73.4 billion, a $15 billion increase from the start of the year. According to the investment monitoring platform Pitchbook, 4,080 investment deals in AI technology startups occurred in the first half of 2021. In 2020, the average investment transaction flow value will have nearly tripled.
Related: Top 5 Technology and Business Trends of 2022
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is expected to rise from $54.2 billion in 2020 to $126.8 billion in 2027, enabling substantial advancements in medical, electronics, environmental solutions, and materials, with the potential to improve drug delivery and storage procedures, as well as renewable energy.
COVID-19, for example, increased vaccine and virus testing and sparked specialized advancements such as nanotechnology material masks that filter out 99.9 percent of germs, viruses, and particles.
Pitchbook, an investment monitoring website, estimates that $5.56 billion will be invested in nanotechnology startups in 2020. Already in the first half of 2021, $7.72 billion has been invested in nanotechnology companies through 775 transactions, with the average deal size increasing thrice in the last six months.
“The COVID pandemic is fueling an investment trend in nanoscale technology that is already being dubbed the ‘COVID Decade,’ and is being driven by fear of human and economic destruction from another pandemic,” said Paul Sheedy, co-founder of the World Nano Foundation (WNF).
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the largest and most mature market on the list, forecast to grow at a 15.83 percent compound annual growth rate from $752.88 billion in 2020 to $2.44 trillion by 2028, owing to significant effects on agriculture, nutritional value and preservation of foods, waste minimisation, and healthcare advancements – the latter highlighted by the record-breaking speed with which Pfizer developed the COVID vaccine last year.
According to Nature magazine, global biotech fundraising reached a record high in 2020, with 73 life science enterprises raising a combined $22 billion. Additionally, private fundraising increased by 37% over the previous year — an already excellent year.
This trend is being accelerated by the COVID-19 mitigation market and the emergence of a new wave of investment in pandemic protection and readiness through the use of several vaccines, autoimmune therapies, and early intervention testing. In the first half of 2021, Pitchbook tracked 3,800 deals in biotechnology businesses, totaling $34.48 billion in investment in these companies.
Virtual Twins
Digital Twins are a new high-growth technology sector that is expected to more than double in size from $3.1 billion in 2020 to $48.2 billion by 2026, growing at a 58 percent compound annual growth rate. The technology is already widely used in the construction, energy, healthcare, automotive, and aerospace sectors, with new applications emerging all the time.
According to Pitchbook, $103.8 million in money was spent in Digital Twins technology start-ups last year by just 53 investors. In the previous 18 months, one company, Cityzenith, has added over 5000 new investors and raised $10 million.
Cityzenith’s Digital Twin SmartWorldProOS software platform enables architects, planners, and energy providers to track, manage, and reduce emissions and energy waste from individual buildings, infrastructure, and even entire cities. The company recently announced significant contract wins, which resulted in a 161 percent increase in its share price in early 2021.
The company is in the midst of a $15 million Regulation A+ financing round to expand its worldwide commercial potential.
Genomics
Genomics is expected to expand from $20.1 billion in 2020 to $62.9 billion in 2028, owing to its critical role in healthcare innovation and the ability to adapt care to each individual patient while also offering additional data on diseases and human genetics.
According to the World Health Organization, genome sequencing enabled the rapid development of COVID-19 tests and other tools used to manage the virus outbreak.
According to Pitchbook, the value of investment capital in genomics firms has more than doubled year over year in 2021. Post-investment valuations have also more than doubled so far in 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.
“The acceleration of innovation since the COVID-19 pandemic is astounding – some experts estimate that we saw ten years’ growth in the last 18 months of the outbreak – and it provides us with a glimpse of even greater possibilities, particularly when some of these pacesetters, such as nanotechnology, genomics, and Digital Twins, are able to advance, accelerate, and complement one another.”
