... It is Saturday morning 8 a.m. when Paul's alarm goes off. He has got a busy day ahead of him, with all kinds of sports activities for the kids. Paul went to bed quite late last night, so he could use some coffee now to help him wake up.

Just before he gets into the shower, Paul asks his digital assistant to make him two cups of coffee; one black, one with sugar. Because the coffee machine is equipped with the latest IoT, the machine starts warming up and makes sure that two nice and hot coffees are ready when Paul and his wife Amanda come down after they have had their showers. That's a great way to start the day!

After breakfast, the whole family rushes out of the house to make sure both children are on time for their sports games. Being away for most of the day does mean that their lovely dog Willow will be home alone for quite a few hours. Of course, Paul finds it important that Willow gets looked after, thus he uses his digital assistant once again: "Hi assistant, can you please feed Willow and play with her during the day? We will be back home around 6 p.m." The digital assistant responds: "Yes Paul, I will make sure to feed Willow at 1 p.m. and play with her at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m."

The family recently bought an automated pet feeder and an automated pet toy that can both be controlled by their digital assistant. Brilliant idea! Now Willow won't be hungry and will be entertained when the family is gone.

Just as Paul closes the door behind him, he remembers his house keys are still inside...Fortunately, he doesn't need them anymore. Being a keen biohacker, he implanted a chip in his arm just two days ago that can unlock his house door for him. Thus, Paul and his family don't have to worry about being locked out and can continue their trip to the kid's sports activities.

After a long and exhausting day, the family arrives back at the house around 6.30 p.m. Kids Jasper and Lauren both won their sports matches, so Paul and Amanda decide to order food to celebrate. Paul uses an app on his phone that only works with restaurants with a low environmental footprint when it comes to production, packaging and delivery of the food. Sustainability is very important to the whole family. They decide to order their favourite tacos at a taco place downtown, that uses biodegradable packaging materials and delivers their food using electric scooters that are charged using solar power!

After dinner, there is only one more thing left to do: "Hi assistant, please turn on Netflix".

This just imagine decribes the most important trends we see in the private environment:

Conscious consumerism; from wealth to wellbeing
Consumers start to understand that the current impact of human beings on the world needs to be changed. This means that people not only start to live healthier (nutrition), but also want to have more insights into the origin of food and goods towards a more sustainable planet.

Biotech; at the forefront of superhumans?
People are getting more and more aware of their health and the methods they can implement in order to prevent or overcome diseases and disablements. Technology embedded with biology reshapes the playing field of medical institutions, key in this; accessibility and scalability. From biohackers to CRISPR/cas9 gene editing, this 'new' industry is at the forefront of rapid growth and discussion.

Internet of Robotic Things; bridging the digital and physical world
Internet of Things (IoT) and Robotics are trends that are not new in themselves. While robotics for automation purposes already exists for decades, adding IoT into the mix will change the rules of the game: Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT) is making an entrance.

Voice; do you hear it? Voice technology as the new way to pay
The rise of voice technology is clear and everyone knows the voice assistants such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant. The technology enables voice assistance through a smart speaker which creates a three-way interaction between devices, services and people and has completely changed the way consumers interact with computer devices.

Personal environment' is one of the three categories of trends and developments that will change the global market place in 2020. Want to see more of our Outlook for 2020? Watch here the loft. Watch here the complete trend report.