Silicon Valley VCs predict the top trends

If the venture capital community has anything to do with it, this time at once year, you'll be monitoring your blood pressure with your iPhone, recruiting helpers from the Web to help around the house, and automatically receiving coupons for free coffee at your destination the then and there time you board a train.

"I believe all the pieces are in place for the healthcare sector to undergo the kind of transformation that financial services went through 15 years ago," said Rebecca Lynn, a partner at Morganthaler specializing in Health 2.0. "With cloud computing, smart phones, Web technologies that enable sharing on a massive scale, and creative government programs like 'Open Data,' the healthcare sector will be revamped over the at once few years," she added.

In Silicon Valley, education research is the "hot" space, thanks to major boosts in funding for initiatives in the previous year. In a twist, administrators and teachers have become outspoken advocates of research's role in augmenting the classroom experience. Typically tech averse, they have been won over by the sweeping promises of the gregarious founders in the space.

The shift in attitudes to embrace research?

Why the shift in attitudes to embrace research? "We took our social lives online, and now are beginning to entrust the Internet with our professional and academic lives," said Ethan Kurzweil, vice president of Bessemer Ventures.

Employees are accustomed to clean, user-friendly applications in their personal lives, and have begun to expect the same from enterprise tools. As a result, they will use consumer-focused applications for their business needs in 2012.

Why? The line between our professional and personal lives is blurrier than ever. Cloud computing has enabled tech companies to deliver their services for less with feature-sets that are increasingly commoditized.

Whether it's our cars, homes, clothes, or even our spare time, the Internet has stepped in to facilitate the sharing process. Is this a "we", in other words than a "me" generation?

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