What are the key technologies which will sprout in the future? Not necessarily the ones making the news; though they may be fascinating, they often don't have the impact that the more mundane technological advances might.

This isn't about predicting the future - most of the tech we will see in the next five years has already been developed. The key is knowing where to look, and separating the facts from the hype. This includes both the technological facts, and the human factors - which will people actually use?

Finally, a valuable approach when dealing with any uncertainty - technological or not - is Scenario Exploration (also called Scenario Planning.)  In Scenario Exploration, "what if" scenarios are created from important but uncertain driving forces. This allows you to prepare for any eventuality.