So much has been made about the future of the internet, and world renowned futurist Thomas Frey believes 5G may not be that far away.

Sponsored by Vodafone to speak at a recent local government information management conference, the man billed as Google’s number 1 futurist, said South Korea has done more than just set a deadline to have 5G installed everywhere before 2020.

“Next year all of the high schools will be doing software education for all the students. In 2018, they’ll have software education for all of the grade schools [primary schools in NZ], so they’re going to teach people to become software literate at a very young age”, Thomas said.

The race to 5G is the equivalent of the new space race, with Japan, America, and China all jostling to take the lead.

For Thomas Frey, the speed of the internet won’t be the only thing defining its future.

“If I’m out I the middle of the ocean, Antarctica, the desert, can I connect – that’s an issue that’s going to affect a lot of people. Can I use it to track where my kids are at any given time?

“Can I do a physical search of the world around me, can I put that in my internet search engine and actually find where my keys are… in the future we’re going to be able to do things like that” Thomas added.

He firmly believes that phones which have recently gone from small, to bigger with more capabilities, will in the future morph again – to the ultimate hands free “invisible” device.

Crafting whatever takes the place of your phone, could even one day be a job you could take on yourself.

When it comes to 3D printing, Thomas Frey’s belief is that device will prove the ultimate disruptor to the traditional manufacturing model.

“As an example you can get your body scanned when you go into a clothing store, and we can print clothing that fits perfect every time. Glasses designed for our face, with some A.I it’ll tell us the right colour of the frames, and shape.

“Instead of getting things from China I print it locally – no tariffs, no transport costs, it’s going to take a while make that transition, but we’re on the verge of doing that” Thomas said.

His predication is that in the next 10 years, 3D printers will be used to apply make-up for all women.

“You just put your face into this device and it’ll put all the make-up on, and it can go very fast, and it doesn’t have to be traditional make-up, I mean you can have the skyline of Auckland put across your face if that’s what you want” Thomas added.

With technology driving change that will revolutionise everything about how we face the world – Thomas Frey for one, will be watching with interest.