There’s no doubt that the last few years have thrown some curveballs. A pandemic, a war, and widespread tech industry layoffs – to name a few.
Thankfully despite all this, we see a lot of hope and opportunity on the horizon for women in tech in 2023. Think: new jobs, exciting career paths, and opportunities to explore where areas of passion intersect with technology.
Let’s look at the tech trends of 2023 that everyone’s talking about, and how you can get ahead of where things are going.
1. Sustainability in tech
With wild weather events around the world highlighting the effects of climate change, more people are considering their carbon footprint at every step. This goes for consumers, companies, product developers, and societies.
Tech is going to be critical in allowing people to make sustainable decisions, both at a macro and a micro level. For example, CCS Insights predicts that by 2027, mobile apps will enable users to track their carbon footprint in real time. And at a larger scale, carbon removal factories are being developed around the world, funded largely by tech companies.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in skyrocketing energy prices, and renewable energy technologies are being thrust into the limelight more than ever before. This is driving the need for stronger, faster development and adoption of technologies that will replace natural oil and gas.
How to get involved:
Whether you’re a full-blown eco-warrior, or simply curious about how the tech industry can become more sustainable, now is the time to flex your creative skills and identify opportunities to lower environmental impact in the workplace. Consider what transferable skills you can use to apply an eco mindset to your work, and practice design thinking strategies that bring sustainability to the forefront of every project.
2. Healthtech advances
With COVID-19 still very much a focus around the world, experts are predicting 2023 to be a boom year for products and services aimed at managing our health and wellbeing.
Many of us are turning to technology to stay fit and healthy, while telehealth tech is continuing to support medical care and smart devices are helping us monitor our progress. Apple and Google’s Fitbit are likely to battle it out over new health features in smart watches, while robotic surgery advances will improve treatment of conditions like cancer.
How to get involved:
Subscribe to the Girls in Tech Podcast, where we speak to women at the coal face of current technological advances in healthcare and beyond. For example, we recently spoke to Sandy Carter who shared how she started her career in the medical field before transitioning to tech, illustrating how interconnected technology is with every industry.
3. The Metaverse
Expect to see new iterations and uses for the Metaverse in 2023, with experiences accessible to more people than ever.
Experts predict that we’ll start to see the Metaverse surface in both mobile and post-mobile formats in coming years. “The default won’t always be a smartphone,” says Bernard Marr.
He suggests there will be new ways we access, experience, and interact with content, including headsets, smart glasses, and even full-body haptic feedback suits.
How to get involved:
Dive into some Girls in Tech resources to help you research the Metaverse and blockchain. If it’s your first time exploring this area of tech, there are a lot of new terms and concepts to wrap your head around!
4. Decentralization
With cyberthreats becoming common, and major data leaks leading to mistrust in big organizations, decentralization offers a path to greater enterprise trust and security in 2023.
What is ‘decentralization’?
“This means removing ultimate control of an organization, company, or process from any one central point of ownership, using decentralized networking built around consensus and encryption,” says tech thought leader Bernard Marr. “These are the building blocks of blockchain, which is really just a way of storing data or running programs that are spread across multiple computers and can’t be interfered with by anyone who isn’t supposed to.”
Expect to hear more about decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in 2023, which are entities managed and administered by software with decisions are made by consensus – i.e. stakeholder vote.
Experts also predict that machines will be able to use more decentralized technology, so more secure automations will be possible in business.
How to get involved:
Stay tuned for an exciting new Girls in Tech webinar launching in 2023! It will explore Web3, which is largely based on the concept of decentralization. This will be an epic opportunity to upskill in this area of tech and gain confidence on the basics.
Go to the Girls in Tech events page to see when the webinar drops.
5. Privacy improvements in business and personal life
Gartner predicts that enterprises will be focused on developing a ‘Digital Immune System’ in the coming years, using software engineering strategies to protect against risk. Improvement in business and personal privacy is expected to be a highlight in 2023, particularly as the field of cybersecurity grows and evolves, and protection methods become more sophisticated.
It’s also suggested that we’ll see a move away from passwords and towards other methods of authentication such as biometrics over the coming years.
How to get involved:
Level-up your cybersecurity skills in 2023. Girls in Tech often runs panel discussions, webinars and courses to support learning in this in-demand industry.
And to put your skills into practice, make sure to participate in our hackathons and programs next year. We’ll challenge you to get immersed in relevant issues and design tech solutions for the future.
