Some predictions for the near term future

I very much enjoyed speaking at Integrate – Australia’s leading AV, Live Production + Systems Integration Event as well as checking out the latest display products this past week. As such, I thought it would be fun to talk about some of my near term predictions for the digital sign space and share some of my pics and videos from the show floor.

• In 2017 we will start to see the rollout of digital sign boards – including those mounted on robots – that use facial recognition to detect the emotions and demographics of the people looking at a sign board, which are then linked to the content being advertised (imagine a retail display changing what’s being advertised with a group of teenage boys vs little old ladies). This is technically possible today, although not mainstream. I wasn’t able to find any such displays on the Integrate show floor, although the folks at Samsung described a digital display that was able to pick out crowd demographics and display targeted content.
• In 2017 and beyond, these digital sign boards will also start to recognize individual people (perhaps VIP customers) and change advertising content accordingly.
• In the 2020s when digital signboards are common, advertising will get increasingly personalised and follow people around (for better or worse!)
  The use of augmented and virtual reality in retail settings will really start to explode in 2017. There are already mainstream companies like Ikea, eBay/Myer and Audi doing VR experiments as well as many retail companies rolling out AR applications.
• By combining 3D printing, 3D body scanning and AR/VR/Holographic projections, our shopping experience in the 2020s is going to change dramatically – with mass customisation becoming a reality.

I’m intrigued by the potential of holographic projections, and am looking forward to the day when holographic telepresence systems – such as you might envision in a Star Wars movie – become the norm for video communications. And, I’d love to open my keynote speeches as a hologram rising up from the stage. Whilst there are event staging companies that can do this, the cost for all but the largest of events is prohibitive.

In the meantime, RealVision was demonstrating striking digital hologram technology on the show floor (video). These displays are created with CAD files and then projected onto the glass displays giving a life-like walk-around view. RealVision had a range of holograms on display, including combinations of real products and holographic projections.

CreateLED Electronics had a very cool animated structure (video).

And, curved displays featured strongly at the show. My personal favourite was the LG Electronics Arch OLED (video).

About the author: Shara Evans is internationally acknowledged as a cutting edge technology futurist, commentator, strategy advisor, keynote speaker and thought leader, as well as the Founder and CEO of Market Clarity.