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The pace of technological change and the global nature of digital networks are causing much faster trend evolution and similarities with the West, as the Middle East increasingly identifies as a ‘global citizen’. JWT recently released their latest Future 100 trends document with compelling trends, themes and opportunities in travel, food, drink, beauty and tech to keep a close eye on this coming 2018. Here are 5 (out of the 100) that we think you should keep an eye on:

#3: Global Everything

From identity, to shopping and even entertainment, traditional boundaries are collapsing at the touch of technology, with a new ‘global’ trend emerging.Netflix, Amazon, Facebook and Google are increasingly transcending border regulations and traditional restrictions around intellectual property rights, creating globally connected networks and cultural taste frameworks

#11: Internet of Eyes and Ears

Smart computing is moving from the Internet of Things to the Internet of Eyes & Ears, as more and more everyday objects become outfitted with smart cameras and visual recognition technology, and developments in speech recognition and natural language processing (NLP) allow us to talk to computers in a way that seemed like science fiction just a few years ago.

#32: Interactive Narratives

Brands are adding layers of interactivity to their narratives, enabling a two-way conversation where the consumer is in control. At last year’s Future of Storytelling summit, Affectiva, an Egyptian tech company specializing in emotional AI, described their take on storytelling using the concept of “reactive narratives,” dynamic stories which react to our emotions in real-time by using facial recognition.

#47: AI Food

Artificial intelligence (AI) points to a future of effortless transparency when it comes to the food on our plate. While the application of AI in food contexts has still not arrived to the region, its use to support food transparency is not a distant reality in countries like the UAE. At the launch of the 11th Dubai International Conference on Food Safety last year, Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of the Dubai municipality, spoke about trending technologies that will be used in the near future to enable more monitoring and transparency of the food industry.

#61: Shopping comes to Life

Shopping is leaping off the screen and morphing into a more immersive experience, as voice technology, augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) transform the retail industry. Customers are increasingly expecting retailers to link the online and offline worlds to create a seamless, intuitive customer experience that makes buying products quicker, easier and more enjoyable.

Interested in reading more about these five trends (and the 95 others)? Download the full report here.