This years massive growth sectors – The Age and SMH
reprinted from the The Age and SMH
Companies specialising in wearable technology and privatised rentals are among the hot sectors set to take off this year.
Business analysts and trend experts predict boom growth for Australian businesses in a wide range of industries bringing new ideas to the market.
Research firm IBISWorld predict online grocery sales, fast fashion and hydroponic crop farming will see huge revenue escalation, but its coal seam gas extraction that will top the list of fastest growing industries in 2015.
Coal seam gas extraction is predicted to lift by a massive 148 per cent or $1.83 billion in the next year, while online grocery companies will enjoy a 14.6 per cent rise representing a $2.19 billion surge.
Fast fashion is tipped to jump by 10.4 per cent or $1.3 billion and hydroponic crop farming will increase by 5.6 per cent or $836 million, the report reveals.
IBISWorld senior industry analyst David Whytcross says hydroponics, which is used to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers, is enjoying strong and steady demand from consumers.
“In addition to water conservation, hydroponics allow for higher production yields of high-quality produce,” he says.
“Vertically tiered plants enable greater productivity, while greater quality control, faster plant growth and longer growing seasons offset the added cost of hydroponic systems over conventional agricultural practices.”
Adventurous start-ups embracing cutting-edge technology and new consumer trends are also set for a bumper year ahead.
Peer-to-peer business
Cutting out the middle-man is proving to be successful for the rapidly growing peer-to-peer businesses sector. Companies in this space include the hugely successful Airbnb and Uber.
Chris Noone, chief executive from Collaborate Corporation, which owns DriveMyCar Rentals and Caramavan, says businesses built on renting directly from private owners is going to continue growing this year.
“It all makes sense because the old way of doing business is owning something and not using it all the time and paying all the expenses,” Noone says.
“Owning everything you need is out – renting what you need, when you need it is in.”
Digital security
Businesss and individuals are now more guarded of their digital footprint than ever before. This creates more opportunities for savvy digital protection companies than ever before, says business futurist Morris Miselowski.
“Online security will definitely rise this year on the back of the Sony hack and various governments and agencies being digitally infiltrated,” he says.
“Digital payments and gateways will rise this year including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and also Apples push into the payment gateway through the iPhone 6 inclusion of a digital wallet.”
Virtual reality
Immersive media, entertainment and education are tipped to be big movers in 2015. Technology such as Google Glass and Oculus Rift, a headset for 3D gaming, have paved the way in this sector.
Entrepreneurship consultant Lauren Rielly says companies invested in augmented and immersive experiences are sure to hit the big-time in coming years.
“Those who embrace virtual reality during its infancy this year will be poised for high growth as it hits mass-market adoption during 2016,” she says.
“International film festivals, tradeshows and exhibitions are beginning to showcase virtual reality now and technological advancements see mobile phones we own today already capable of virtual reality.”
Wearable technology
Smartwatches that send you notifications and smartbelts that tighten and loosen depending on how much you’ve eaten are just some of the amazing wearables now on the market.
Miselowski says this market is only going to get bigger as consumers become reliant on devices to measure our work, our fitness and more.
“2015 is the year we cut the umbilical cord tying us to our so-last-century technologies and become technologically reborn into an ecosystem of omnipresent, deliciously small devices we carry on or in us, at all times,” he says.
“Each of these unique digital minions will do their own thing in their own way.
“Each is capable of not only providing a unique activity or exertion reading, but also seamlessly and collaboratively swarming and contributing with myriad other devices, objects and people in our designated ecosystem providing their real-time insights as part of a more holistic understanding of who we are and what actions we may want or need to undertake next.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What distinguishes a genuine growth sector signal from a media-amplified trend?
Genuine growth sector signals are characterised by: convergent evidence from multiple independent sources (investment flows, employment data, patent filings, venture capital allocation, and consumer spending all pointing in the same direction); structural drivers that are not dependent on a single catalyst (demographic demand, regulatory change, technology cost reduction, and shifting social values all reinforcing the same direction); and a trajectory that is visible across multiple geographies rather than being a local or national phenomenon. Media-amplified trends are characterised by: a single dramatic data point or story that attracts disproportionate coverage; claims that are not supported by multiple independent evidence streams; and a narrative that depends on exceptional conditions rather than structural change. The test for any growth sector claim is whether you can identify at least three independent structural drivers pointing in the same direction.
Q: Which sectors identified as high-growth in 2015 have proven to have lasting structural growth?
The sectors with lasting structural growth that were identifiable in 2015 include: health technology and digital health (driven by population ageing, technology cost reduction, and growing health literacy — all structural, all accelerating); renewable energy and energy services (driven by technology cost reduction that has continued to compound since 2015, making the trajectory unmistakable in retrospect); aged care and home care services (driven by demographic demand that was entirely predictable from population data); cybersecurity (driven by the growing attack surface created by digital transformation — also entirely predictable); and data analytics and AI services (driven by the data volume and processing capability trajectories). These were all identifiable as genuine structural growth signals in 2015 rather than media-amplified trends.
Q: What is the practical implication of a growth sector signal for a small or medium Australian business?
The practical implication of a growth sector signal for a smaller business is not necessarily to enter the growth sector directly — it is to identify how the growth in that sector creates opportunity in your existing market. If aged care is a structural growth sector, the implication for a technology company is demand for aged-care-specific technology; for a construction company, aged-care facility design and build; for a staffing company, healthcare workforce supply; for a training organisation, aged-care skill development. The growth sector signal reveals where demand is concentrating; the strategic question for most businesses is how their existing capability connects to that demand rather than whether to enter the sector from scratch.
Q: How can I book Morris Misel for a growth sectors, strategic opportunity, or economic foresight keynote?
Contact the team at morrismisel.com/event-organisers.
reprinted from the The Age and SMH Companies specialising in wearable technology and privatised rentals are among the hot sectors set to take off this year. Business analysts and trend experts predict boom growth for Australian businesses in a wide range of industries bringing ne.
When signals like This years massive growth sectors The Age and SMH emerge, organisations that engage early have the advantage of choosing their response rather than reacting to events. That gap between those who prepared and those who did not is where competitive positioning is actually made or lost.
The most important question is not whether This years massive growth sectors The Age and SMH will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
