For many of us at SDI, Silicon Valley is where we call home. Not is it our home today, but for most of us, Silicon Valley has always been home. We’ve watched this little valley grow from that place near San Francisco, to a globally recognized place, a place where millions flock to turn their dreams into a reality – our founder included. While some changes are less than ideal (seriously, $1800 for a studio apartment AND 3 hours of traffic to go 3 miles???), others have been nothing short of astonishing to watch. Growing up, the idea that our area would be the place where people go to make a name for themselves, to change the world and their own destinies. Today, we want to focus on three specific instances where entrepreneurs have gone and created businesses that are truly astonishing. And we don’t mean the small potatoes here: Smart Homes and AI for businesses are cool and all but we’re talking about things that seem like they’re straight out of a Science Fiction novel. Flying Cars “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” We’ve dreamed about it since the 50s. We’ve seen it portrayed in popular TV and Film, from the Jetsons to Back to the Future. We’ve been teased and lied to, But today, it’s really here. The first in what is (hopefully) a long line of Flying Cars. Yea, you heard me. Flying Cars. Kitty Hawk, a Silicon Valley tech company, just recently debuted their first prototype. While still a rough version of what the end product will look like, it’s still a big leap over previous attempts. Kitty Hawk isn’t the only startup looking to crack this nut: companies in Silicon Valley and around the world are all trying to be the first company to create an actual, commercially viable Flying Car. Take that, Google Car. And this isn’t just a pipe dream chased by a few outsiders. Some of the richest people in the world (plus the entire government of Dubai), including the aforementioned Google Co-Founder Larry Page see real potential in the burgeoning market. More notably though, is the interest shown by industry-leaders in the Aerospace business, including global giant Airbus. While the idea sounds crazy, and we’ve been led on before, this market is probably going to explode. Strike while the iron is hot! Cloaking Devices See, the thing about blog posts like this is that every item is fun to research and even more fun to discuss. Talking about real-life cloaking devices brings out the fangirl and boy in all of us. But we have a confession: this new tech is only in the proof-of-concept stage. It’s not even technically a Silicon Valley Dream come true. But it’s so cool!!! Plus, where else in the world does the technology, brainpower and the ability to dream up crazy stuff come together as well as they do here? This newest development in Cloaking Technology is considerably smaller (and more commercially feasible) than previous iterations. But what’s the market here? Well, the Romulans insisted on the Treaty of Algeron for a reason. The Military applications of being invisible are clear (pun very much intended), but there are other applications as well, such as home security. Image how valuable a safe cloaking device would be to the right buyer? This technology is still decades out and very much in the early stages- think the Wright Brothers just figured out how to build a plane that might fly, eventually, early stages. HoverBoards It seems like the theme of the day is Back to the Future today, but it’s not our fault that they were so on the nose. Silicon Valley-based startups like Hendo are creating Marty McFly style Hoverboards that are pretty much the coolest thing ever. I mean, they’re no self-tying shoes, but the applications of such technology may catapult us into what is truly a SciFi-esq world. The power of Magnetic Field Architecture (MFA) will almost definitely be harnessed by the larger transportation industry in general. Within a few decades, technologies such as hover cars and even hover boots (a kid can dream!) may be commonplace. But more than cool boots, MFA will likely be used to create buildings that can respond to earthquakes and other natural disasters that often plague our world. Out of all of the technologies on this list, MFA may very well be the only one that can save potentially millions of lives. Furthermore, we don’t really know the full extent of this technology power. The potential disruption MFA poses to the way our world is structured is substantial; in other words, this technology is likely to be a trillion-dollar industry within 50 years. At the outside. SDI don’t build HoverBoards. But we do know how to create successful tech enterprises, from creating a digital brand to attracting funding from Angel Investors and Venture Capital Firms. We help startups find or develop the tools they need to survive in this competitive and rapidly evolving world. Want to talk more? Give us a call at +1.408.805.0495 / +1.408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!