The 2014 TrendsWatch report has highlighted a number of predicted museum trends for the coming year, including robots, big data, the rise of social entrepreneurs and the economy of collaborative consumption.

The report – an annual overview of developments compiled from a variety of mainstream news sources, blogs, research reports, pop culture and writers – summarises six worldwide trends in the museum sector and offers observations on what each means for managers working in this industry.

Written by Elizabeth Merritt of the American Alliance of Museums’ Centre for the Future of Museums, the report first highlights “the rise of the social entrepreneurs” – for-profit businesses tackling traditionally non-profit targets. The report calls social entrepreneurship “the growing realm of mission-driven business enterprises” that view financial success as a way to "produce more good”, with some of them "doing a better job than the independent sector at solving the world’s problems.”

Multi-sensory experiences are also a growing trend, with emerging technologies providing the ability to record a scent or get hands on with anything which is rendered as digital data. The implication for museums is that they may be pressured to routinely use more multi-sensory technology in exhibits and programmes.

“Tapping the big data boom” has also been recognised as a trend, with the vast amount of data recorded since 2011 equalling the total amount collected for the rest of time before that date. Digitised versions of various works, in addition to social media output, have created a network of data so large it's expected to double by 2.8 zettabytes (one zetta being 2 to the power of 70) by 2015. The refinement and analysis of this data gives museums a tool that enables them to hone their business practices and become more efficient in various areas – from food service to exhibit design.

The report highlights the issue of privacy, stating that emerging surveillance technology holds promise for evaluating and fine-tuning what museums do, as well as meeting the demand for a personal experience, although it says museums must balance the benefits with potential backlashes if the limits of privacy are overstepped.

The fifth trend identified by the report is “the economy of collaborative consumption”, meaning Peer to Peer (P2P) transactions, or the sharing economy. 2014 TrendsWatch says museums have the opportunity to monetise the sharing economy by renting out under-utilised resources such as tools, equipment and even office space, to create sources of additional revenue.

The report’s final trend is robotics and how it fits into the bigger picture for museums. It suggests museums may want to consider using robots as field trip avatars, virtual tour guides and security guards, for example.

To read the full report click here.