This topic emerged through a screening of emerging issues in science, technology and society in the context of the FET CSA OBSERVE.

http://www.horizon-observatory.eu/radar-en/index.php

The big picture

Many teams of scientists and innovators around the world are exploring technologies and concepts to enable faster and more efficient computing with the FET community among the frontrunners. At the same time the way computing technologies are embedded into economy and society may also be changing with peer2peer approaches to hardware development and software programming fast emerging and some developments such as quantum computing challenging established organisational patterns.

The following aspects of future computing pathways were mentioned in the diverse set of sources screened by OBSERVE:

Quantum Computing: Combining advances in quantum technology and photonics to realize a quantum computer

Instead of binary digits that are used in conventional digital computers, quantum computers use quantum bits (qubits), which can be in superpositions of states. Quantum computers are still in an early stage of development but if realized, they may be able to efficiently solve problems that no classical computer would be able to solve within a reasonable amount of time. One approach to advance the development is to combine quantum technology and photonics. Source: FET Projects;

Quantum computing challenges cryptography

The US National Security Agency announced it would be abandoning the cryptography algorithms it has used since 2005 for fear of the coming quantum computing revolution. "Our ultimate goal is to provide cost effective security against a potential quantum computer," the agency wrote on its website. Source: Motherboard;

Advancing CMOS technology

Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits. CMOS technology is also used for several analogue circuits such as image sensors (CMOS sensor), data converters, and highly integrated transceivers for many types of communication. Research will continue in this area and new performance output and new applications will come out of these R&D activities in the future. Source: FET Proposals;

Spintronics: New principles for new, ultra-high capacity storage devices

Spintronics is a research field of nano electronics and deals with the study of the intrin-sic spin of the electron and its associated magnetic moment. Spintronics differ from older magnetoelectronics, in that spins are also manipulated by magnetic fields and not by electrical fields alone. One promise of this research field which is at the same time basic research and applied research is that with the help of the special principles, stor-age devices with much higher capacities may be developed in the future. Source: FET Proposals;

Combination of scientific advances in nanotechnology, optics and spintronics with conventional electronics

Advances in nano-electronics, nanoscale integration, optical signal processing and spintronics are currently being combined with existing electronics (chipdesign, switching technology, storage technologies) in order to increase performance or to build all new devices based on new principles. In the future, the incremental improvements from these combinations and inventions may turn into disruptive changes in computing and high-speed applications. Source: FET Projects;

Photonic crystals for optical computers

A photonic crystal is a periodic optical nanostructure that affects the motion of photons in much the same way that ionic lattices affect electrons in solids. Photonic crystals occur in nature in the form of structural coloration—and, in different forms (one-, two- or three-dimensional), promise to be useful in a range of applications. Photonic crystals can, in principle, find uses wherever light must be manipulated. Existing applications include thin-film optics with coatings for lenses. Two-dimensional photonic-crystal fibers are used in nonlinear devices and to guide exotic wavelengths. Three-dimensional crystals may one day be used in optical computers with superior performance. The related research field are silicon photonics, spectroscopy, optoelectronics, GaN, inte-grated optics, optomechanics, and photonic integrated circuits. Source: FET Proposals;

Neuromorph computing

Several sources from webmining and manual scouting point towards novel develop-ments in neuromorph computing in particular circuits formed after the human brain such as memristors. Some expect that these will allow designers to create devices with memory systems that function more like a brain. A third development is in the use of optical fibres for mimicking the human brain in neural networks. Some researchers point out ethical issues in dealing with future “digital brains”. Source: Aggregation of several;

Plasmonics

Plasmonics deal with information transfer in nanoscale structures, similar to photonics, by means of surface plasmons. In contrast to photonics, there is no light involved but surface charges are being analyzed in this research field. Being in an early stage of development, plasmonics may contribute to new high-performance chips and nano devices since surface plasmon-based circuits can overcome the size limitations of photonic circuits. Source: FET Proposals;

Biomanufacturing

Living organisms such as viruses are genetically modified to create materials e.g. for semiconductors or batteries. Biomanufacturing has advantages such as non toxic, low energy. Medical applications are also explored (e.g. finding and fighting tumours). With the development of pharmaceuticals and artificial organisms, new biology-based proc-esses will do things that only machines have previously done. For example, scientists have recently been able to modify cells to act like fully functional computers. Source: The Economist Technology Quarterly; IFTF;

Distributed collaboration platforms

Around the world citizens self-organize to research and address certain challenges such as energy-supply, waste-disposal, water, weather- and threat-monitoring or bee dying. These "peer2peer" initiatives need platforms to safely collect, manage and process data and resources in a distributed and collaborative way. At the same time technical solutions that allow orchestrating large numbers of distributed specialists at short notice and thereby enable new collaboration and service models such as Application Program Interfaces (API) and blockchain technology are receiving a lot of attention. Source: Aggregation of several;

DIY printing of circuits

Instructable offers a tutorial that will teach you how to modify your average inkjet printer to be able to print electrically conductive circuits. This technology is fairly new but can provide a faster and safer prototyping option for DIY printed circuit boards. This project also acts as an introduction to the larger field of printed electronics. Source: Instructables;

Universal software bug

Integer overflow, essentially meaning that numbers are too big to be stored in a computer system, can cause severe malfunction such as in the case of the failed Ariadne 5 rocket launch. This problem is often neglected by programmers. Source: BBC Futures;