​Back to the Future: Innovation Spawned by the Movie

It has been nearly thirty years since Marty McFly and Doc Brown were transported to the future, (now, ironically our past) to the year 2015 in Back to the Future II. Though time travel is nowhere near becoming a reality, and according to most quantum physicists, it will likely never become a reality, there are a number of other futuristic technologies mentioned in the movie, like the hoverboard, electric cars and 3D movies that have become real innovations.

Whether it was the movie that inspired the innovation, or just the natural course of technological improvement, a number of gadgets mentioned in the movie have become real and useful today. Brain controlled or wireless video games are now possible thanks to virtual reality technologies like OculusVR that put the user “inside” the video game using augmented reality goggles. Other innovations mentioned in the movie that we use today include: remote-controlled drones, mobile payment technologies, biometric devices, wearable technology, video phones, self-tying shoes biofuel and electric cars and “video glasses,” similar to Google Glass.

Interestingly, the movie future failed to predict the disruptive smartphone revolution —wherein most of us now walk around with our eyes glued to the small screen in our hand— and the rise of the internet, which pushed the fax machine into obsolescence, a fact painfully missed in a number of scenes in the movie.

We, as citizens of the year 2015, we can appreciate how a number of the above-mentioned technologies are already or are becoming integral parts of our everyday lives. However, due to the incredibly fast pace of human innovation, it is not certain that we would be able to predict what kind of technology we will be using in the next 30 years. When Robert Zemeckis directed the movie, innovation was not necessarily a driving force in the global economy. Now more than ever, technology is what drives economic growth.