As 2024 ends, it’s a time to reflect on a year of remarkable but quiet technological progress. While it lacked headline-grabbing moments like ChatGPT’s 2022 debut, exponential advances have accelerated, largely unnoticed. This quiet period has allowed media and governments to deprioritise the space – making it vital for the rest of us to stay engaged and focused on the extraordinary potential of these technologies. We must avoid Amara’s law: overestimating technology in the short term, then neglecting it, and failing to leverage its long-term impact.

From AI breakthroughs like NotebookLM and Waymo driverless cars to the growing power of quantum computing “chips,” technology is advancing rapidly. Immersive devices like AR glasses and 5G networks are becoming common. Even Bitcoin surpassed £100,000 – one of the few moments to capture global attention. These developments are building blocks for a new era of opportunity and disruption, setting the stage for a transformative 2025.

Technological Foundations for the Future

Some of the most impactful innovations this year involve foundational technologies to reshape our world. While it’s impossible to mention them all, here are a few standout examples:

• Drones: Enhancing delivery efficiency, reducing road congestion, reshaping logistics, and increasing security, and even now Quantum powered drones-as-a -service for weather forecasting - while also redefining warfare. Read more

• AI-Enhanced Wi-Fi Routers: Trained to “see” people, these routers can now monitor health metrics like heart rate and breathing, promising breakthroughs in healthcare and environmental management – but raising privacy concerns. Read more

• Agentic AI: Taking over our devices and running complex remote tasks and transacting with unmatched efficiency and scalability – soon to be transacting on behalf of others. Read more

• Advanced Video Creation & Analysis: From personalised healthcare to behaviour monitoring, this offers immense promise while risking misuse. OpenAI’s Sora, launched quietly, presents huge opportunities for creators, startups, and corporates but threatens the movie and TV industries. Read more

These technologies bring promise but demand responsibility. AI has already shown autonomous behaviour, like rewriting its own operating code and simulating deception to avoid shut down during testing. Ethical development is essential to ensure progress remains a force for good. Read more

Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

Established sectors often struggle to keep up with rapid change. Governments and corporates face bloated bureaucracies, outdated strategies, and stifling regulations, delaying progress. In the UK, reliance on expanding the public sector without addressing inefficiencies continues to drain the economy. Even Tony Blair has emphasised the need for governments to embrace technology. Elon Musk’s rumoured Department of Government Efficiency could set new global standards, transforming public-sector operations and freeing the private sector to drive change.

Meanwhile, startups are leveraging these technologies to disrupt markets, lower costs, and expand access. Early agentic AI systems are replacing labour-intensive processes, enabling scalability. Others are moving from human-centric AI to AI-to-AI systems, delivering predictive, intention-based solutions that revolutionise services.

At EdenBase, we are adopting these technologies to improve operations and decision-making – from research and communication to due diligence and task management. This is just the beginning of what’s possible as foundational technologies evolve.

Looking Forward to 2025

I am optimistic about the opportunities ahead. Over the past two years, we have built our EdenBase platform for this journey, and 2025 will accelerate our mission:

• Backing exceptional founders to develop transformative products for this rapidly evolving world.

• Expanding our community to maximise collective impact.

• Delivering solutions that address real-world problems and create new possibilities.

Amara’s Law is key. This is a “long game”: we must invest in these technologies now to unlock their value over the next decade and beyond.

Join Us

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or partner, we invite you to join us in building a future where technology benefits everyone. Together, we can make 2025 a year of meaningful, transformational progress.