Better health top benefit of technology for Brits

The vast majority of respondents worldwide believe that technology makes the world a better place, with most people in the UK hoping for better health as a result of technology advancements.

Tech Compass 2022, created by Bosch, reveals current technology trends and shows what people around the world think about them. The Bosch Tech Compass is a representative survey of the general population in China, Germany, India, the UK and the USA. A total of approximately 8,000 people were surveyed online for it in August 2021.

The vast majority of respondents worldwide (72 per cent) believe that technology makes the world a better place. The positive attitude towards technological progress is most pronounced in China (87 per cent) and India (83 per cent) and least pronounced in Germany (51 per cent).

When asked about the benefits they expect from technology for themselves, the majority of people in China said they hope that technology will make their lives more comfortable (66 per cent). Most people in the UK hope for better health (57 per cent), in the US, for more safety (55 per cent), and in India (62 per cent) and Germany (51 per cent) they expect it to make work easier. Aside from these individual hopes, most respondents (83 per cent worldwide) agree that technology should be used to tackle the major challenges of our time rather than serving individual needs.

More than three out of four respondents worldwide believe that the future technological progress will play the key role in combating climate change. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority (40 per cent) considers climate engineering as the technology with the best contribution to society, followed by biotechnology (38 per cent) and hydrogen as well as AI (both 35 per cent).

According to all respondents worldwide, the list of technology trends with the most future relevance is clearly dominated by AI (43 per cent) and 5G (42 per cent). Particular relevance is attributed to AI and 5G in China and India, while — in contrast to Asia — more relevance is attributed to self-driving cars in western countries, which ranked third (with 28 per cent) on the global index. When asked whether they would prefer to beam from one place to another or take the car, around two-thirds of respondents in the West and India said they would prefer to drive. Only in China did the two modes of transportation balance each other out.