LEADERSHIP TEAM Dr. Dennis A. Trinkle, Director, Center for Information and Communication Sciences Dennis Trinkle is the Director for the Center of Information and Communication Sciences (CICS) and Director of the Applied Research Institutes at Ball State University. Dr. Trinkle brings a diverse multi-sector leadership background to his leadership of CICS, where he also holds the rank of Professor of Information Sciences and Communication. Prior to joining Ball State, Dr. Trinkle served as the system chief executive, provost, and chief academic officer for Harrison College. Dr. Trinkle has served leading institutions across the higher education, corporate, and government sectors, including serving as the chief executive officer of IHETS, chief information officer, associate vice president for academic affairs, and Tenzer Professor of Infor- mation Technology for DePauw University, and president, chief executive officer, and board chair for many companies and non-profit organizations. He is the author and editor of 17 books and more than 50 articles on entrepreneurship, technology, leadership, teaching and learning, and history. Together with Kevin Allen, CEO of EiGames, he developed the award-winning video game on the entrepreneurial process—Fireworks: The Entrepreneurship Experience (2018). His latest book: Recipes for Success: How to Start a Business was published in spring 2021. Christopher Nouhan, Graduate Student, Center for Information and Communication Sciences Christopher Nouhan is a Graduate Assistant for the Center for Information and Communication Sciences (CICS) at Ball State University. Prior to enrolling in CICS, Christopher attended Alma College, where he obtained a B.A. in New Media Studies. While at Alma College, he founded Bitworks Productions, a pre-pro- fessional program that bridged media students with community clients, providing professional development opportunities to his peers. Christopher has been published in the IEEE Future Directions publication for his work related to artificial intelligence in higher education. He is the co-founder and owner of N4 Studio, a digital marketing agency, and a Software Architect Analyst with Accenture. Cyrus Green, Graduate Student, Center for Information and Communication Sciences Cyrus Green is a Graduate Assistant for the Center for Information and Communication Sciences (CICS) at Ball State University. In April 2021, Cyrus became Ball State University’s first-ever recipient of the David L. Boren Fellowship, through which the U.S. Department of Defense sponsors overseas critical language study in exchange for government service. Prior to attending Ball State, Cyrus obtained a B.A. in International Studies from Miami University, where he was the recipient of a 2020 Fulbright Award. He is a 2021 Ful- bright-Hays Fellow and a Technology Analyst at Accenture Federal Services. Paul Faria, Graduate Student, Center for Information and Communication Sciences Paul Faria is a full-time employee with Ball State University Media Services (UMS) and an online student at the Center for Information and Communication Sciences (CICS). With UMS, Paul is a Project Lead for Uni- versity and Community commissioned video productions while also serving as Lead Graphics Operator for ESPN broadcasts. In 2016, Paul completed his B.S. in Communications Media at Fitchburg State University. During his time at Fitchburg State, Paul was the Vice President of the North Central Massachusetts Entre- preneurship Club in which he initiated a partnership with United Way of North Central Massachusetts and served as student liaison to the Board of Directors. An Introduction - Future Disruption The Covid Pandemic has upended many technology, business, and leader- ship trends while accelerating and adding new urgency to others. The inter- play of this disruption and acceleration is highly evident in the 2021 Horizon Report. To capture and represent this dynamic environment, this year’s re- port takes both a wide-angle and telescopic approach to identifying the ma- jor trends in technology, business practices, and leadership practices that will drive and reshape organizations over the coming decade. Through detailed surveys, interviews, and supporting research the Center for Information and Communication Sciences research team looked at current significant trends across all sectors, zooming in to look at current states, zooming out to look at developments anticipated to emerge further out on the time horizon, and widening the long-term lens to identify and describe the synergistic effect the individual trends will have in varied combination. What we discovered is an unprecedentedly rich period of innovation across all sectors and cate- gories. While it is difficult to anticipate clearly the ultimate outcomes of the trends identified here, we hope the trends and direction arrows identified below will help organizational leaders at all levels to better anticipate, plan, build and innovate. Methodology To identify the key trends identified in the Horizon Report, the research team relied upon expert surveys with more than 100 thought-leaders and top executives across diverse corporate, government, and non-profit sectors. Over 50 thought leaders participated in detailed interviews and follow-up conversations to add breadth, depth, and nuance to the analysis. These ex- pert forecasts were supplemented with research across current literature and findings from related studies. The results represented here are based on this combined research and reflect the input of the many experts who contrib- uted to the analysis. We are grateful to each of them for sharing their time, experience, and expertise. CONTENTS Leadership Team 2 An Introduction - Future Disruption 3 Technology Trends 5 Management & Leadership Trends 42 Business Model & Practice Trends 85 Contributors 131 References 132 An Introduction - Future Disruption The Covid Pandemic has upended many technology, business, and leader- ship trends while accelerating and adding new urgency to others. The inter- play of this disruption and acceleration is highly evident in the 2021 Horizon Report. To capture and represent this dynamic environment, this year’s re- port takes both a wide-angle and telescopic approach to identifying the ma- jor trends in technology, business practices, and leadership practices that will drive and reshape organizations over the coming decade. Through detailed surveys, interviews, and supporting research the Center for Information and Communication Sciences research team looked at current significant trends across all sectors, zooming in to look at current states, zooming out to look at developments anticipated to emerge further out on the time horizon, and widening the long-term lens to identify and describe the synergistic effect the individual trends will have in varied combination. What we discovered is an unprecedentedly rich period of innovation across all sectors and cate- gories. While it is difficult to anticipate clearly the ultimate outcomes of the trends identified here, we hope the trends and direction arrows identified below will help organizational leaders at all levels to better anticipate, plan, build and innovate. Methodology To identify the key trends identified in the Horizon Report, the research team relied upon expert surveys with more than 100 thought-leaders and top executives across diverse corporate, government, and non-profit sectors. Over 50 thought leaders participated in detailed interviews and follow-up conversations to add breadth, depth, and nuance to the analysis. These ex- pert forecasts were supplemented with research across current literature and findings from related studies. The results represented here are based on this combined research and reflect the input of the many experts who contrib- uted to the analysis. We are grateful to each of them for sharing their time, experience, and expertise. Technology Trends An Introduction - Future Disruption 6 AI & Machine Learning 8 Internet Connectivity & 5G 12 Big Data, Analytics, Visualization 15 Augemented & Virtual Reality 17 Cybersecurity Threats 21 Biotechnology & Digital Medicine 27 IoT & Next-Gen Networks, Cloud 30 Automation & Robotics 33 Blockchain, Encryption & Digital Currencies 36 Massive Computational Power 39 AI & Machine Learning 1What is it? 2How does it work? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the technological effort Artificial intelligence is a household name that has to simulate human intelligence in machines, partic- dominated headlines over the past few years, al- ularly in learning and problem-solving. AI is often though it is often misused. AI is a field of rapidly used as an umbrella term that includes a variety of expanding technology that was jump-started by technologies across many different functions. It is creating the Internet and advances in computation important to note that the term “AI” covers a wide power and storage capacity. AI refers to no sin- field of technology revolving around intelligent gle technology, but rather a combination of highly machines and code developed for problem-solv- complex devices all communicating with each other ing. Machine learning is frequently described as a to process data and react at incredible speeds. The subfield of AI that involves self-learning algorithms following subsets of AI can be applied in various for such tasks as pattern recognition and predictive capacities but should be noted individually. Each of analytics, rather than generalized human-like intelli- the following