As the clock ticked into a new year, people around the world took the opportunity to take stock and reset. The concept of a fresh start gets banded around as if the world had a complete reset. But many of us do categorise our lives in years and now that the 2024 archive has been consigned to history, it is time to turn our attention to what 2025 will bring.
And there is plenty of reason to get excited for new business ventures and exciting innovations that will potentially have the power to shape lives. Here are three of the most innovative businesses and industries to keep an eye on.
iGaming
Internet gaming, as it is more formally known, includes the rapidly emerging online casino market, as well as online sports betting, and Esports. We will elaborate on the latter later on in this piece, but for online casinos and online sports betting, there is an incredibly rosy future ahead for both. Online casinos, which host classic casino games like blackjack, roulette, poker, and slots in an online, animated, and interactive format, have been rapidly growing in popularity since the pandemic.
The digital movement is accelerating the evolution of online casinos, with cryptocurrency slowly gaining an influence in the iGaming market with the creation of “crypto casinos.” However, this entertainment avenue is not evolving too quickly. There are still online casino platforms where you can use a credit card to finance the online action, but such is the speed of technological and software advancements, it might not be long before iGaming providers gain an even stronger foothold in the entertainment industry.
Esports
We felt Esports deserved its own section, such is the explosive impact of electronic sports. Esports has been steadily growing in popularity since 1972, when Spacewar! took place at Stanford University. But it is only in the past couple of decades that Esports has emerged on the global stage. After the first “World Cyber Games” was held in Seoul, Korea, in 2001, many other tournaments and events have been organised around the year to boost the profile of Esports.
From the “Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics” at Stanford in 1972, Esports is set to host its first Esports Olympic Games, which was signed off by the International Olympic Committee at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris. Along with the Esports World Cup taking place between June and August 2025, the go-ahead given for an edition of the Olympics for Esports disciplines such as EA Sports FC™ 2025, Call of Duty, and Chess will surely draw more investment from big-name companies. With sponsorship of teams and players also on the rise, there is further potential for stock investments in an industry that is sure to have a future in an increasingly digitalised society.
Semiconductors
Moving away from the gaming theme, one industry that is expected to receive lift off (quite literally) is the production of semiconductors. The use of high-quality semiconductors is expected to accelerate the implementation of drone technology in everyday society. In a world that is becoming more automated with self-driving cars also emerging as an industry to keep an eye on, the increased use of drones in industries such as package delivery, real estate, and sport, will make for an increasingly competitive market with countries around the world racing to create the best semiconductor for domestic use and for exporting.
A Digital Future
The three industries mentioned in this piece all follow a similar pattern. They are all benefiting from positive strides made in technological and software advancements. People around the world are nowadays spending more time online than ever before and that activity is shifting the way businesses and industries perceive the world we live in and the products to equip humankind with. Who knows what the exact future holds, but for now, we can be almost certain that the digital factor will play a huge role in the coming years.
