The TechCast Project uses collective intelligence to forecast emerging technologies, social trends and wild cards for planners and decision makers. Founded at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

years ago, their website (www.techcastproject.com) pools background data and the knowledge of 130 experts worldwide to forecast breakthroughs in all fields and to assess their economic and social impact. Results are subscribed to

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

s, and the public around the globe. The TechCast forecasting system was developed by Professor

William E. Halal William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

and his associates at

and

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was orig ...

. An earlier version called "The GW Forecast" was conducted by mail, but the online version has been operating since 1998. TechCast researchers and editors scan the literature and media,

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

authorities, and draw on various other sources to identify trends and background data on roughly 100 forecasts covering the entire strategic landscape. This data is summarized to guide the estimates of 130 plus technology officers,

research scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophi ...

s and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or research ...

s, and other experts to estimate of the most likely year each breakthrough will occur, the potential economic demand, social impact, and experts' confidence. TechCast is somewhat unusual in that it tries to carry forecasting to the level of a global advisory service that provides authoritative forecasts covering all fields and updated in real time. The forecasts are also validated annually by comparing them to actual arrivals over the past 20 years, showing that results are accurate within roughly +/- 3 years. The research method is quite general, so it can be used to forecast almost anything, and the process enhances understanding. The project has been recognized as possibly the best forecasting system in the world. The U.S. national Academies cited it as one of the top-three systems available. It was awarded First Prize in an AOL competition for creative IT research, and has been featured in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'', ''The Futurist'', and scientific publications. Its panel of experts has conducted customized studies for the U.S. Federal agencies, Corning, AMD,

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field offi ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, and

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

References

Persistent Forecasting of Disruptive Technologies (Washington, DC: U.S. National Academies of Science and Engineering, 2009)
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William E. Halal, Technology’s Promise: Expert Knowledge on the Transformation of Business and Society (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)
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External links

* * ttps://www.feedbie.com/seven-digital-marketing-trends-to-expect-in-2017/ Blog {{GWU, show=yes George Washington University Think tanks based in Washington, D.C.