Israel National Technological Innovation Report 2018

96 | Israel National technological innovation report in an entirely human manner in a minimal amount of time. It could be effortlessly taught to talk about the weather, to prepare for a major life event, or to play a new game. We are still far from reaching this goal, and it would necessitate significant advances combining an understanding of human language, modeling knowledge and information, and programming – integration that would help form logical deductions. The next stage in technological advances is the field of Broad AI. Broad AI could use minimal effort to take models learned for one task and adapt them to be used in a new task. Conversely, it can begin a development process with very limited information, learn new information, and combine it with accumulated knowledge in order to succeed with more complex tasks. To this end, new technologies are being developed in labs. These technologies are called Active Learning (the ability of a computer to understand what it doesn’t know and to request additional examples), Transfer Learning (the ability to shift from learning in one field to learning in another), and Meta Learning (computers’ abilities to independently adapt the learning algorithm to existing data). The blockchain revolution The distributed ledger method at the core of blockchain technology amplifies the transparency and control of all involved parties, minimizes mediating factors, and cuts cost, risk and precious time – a huge asset for any organization. Moreover, this technology changes the way organizations communicate with customers, suppliers and competitors, creating new business procedures with significant potential for disruption. Accordingly, Gartner Consulting projects that by 2030, the added value of blockchain-based transactions will amount to no less than three trillion dollars. Tech companies recognize the enormous potential of blockchain technology and work in collaboration with universities across the globe to develop applications in fields such as finance, education, information security, supply chain, and other fields where many of these technologies are accessible by the cloud and by open-source code. Furthermore, not only does blockchain technology transform the way that organizations communicate with their ecosystem; it creates new models for business communications and helps extract new commercial value from organizational data. These are all core components of digital transformation. It is not a necessity to perform digital transformation in an organization in order to assimilate blockchain technology, but without a doubt, organizations that have already succeeded in beginning the transformation that is fundamental and required in our digital reality are slated to reap the benefits of what they have sowed in the preliminary feasibility stages. The revolution of quantum computing Quantum mechanics currently lies at the core of the upcoming revolution in the world of computing that is projected to have a significant impact on our lives – quantum computing. Quantum computers have incredible calculation capabilities that no other computers can contend with – not even supercomputers or the cloud, which is comprised of a large quantity of powerful computers. Technology giants are racing for quantum computing development that can solve a wide range of problems and that can be used extensively both by the scientific community and by the commercial scientific community. Quantum computing will contribute to humankind in a variety of aspects. In the world of pharma, new medicine and materials will be discovered through a deeper understanding of molecular interactions and chemical processes. In the world of supply chain management and complex logistics tasks, quantum computing will offer the optimal path to actions that will ensure maximum efficiency and an improved The digital transformation poses an explicit threat to organizations, yet it also presents a remarkable opportunity. As such, addressing this transformation requires that organizations adopt a culture of business flexibility, continual awareness of changes in the business environment, an ability to make decisions based on an understanding of the inherent value of data the promotion and encouragement of innovation, and a willingness to take risks