Last night, a bunch of EML Wildthings were lucky enough to spend an evening with Rory Cellan-Jones (@BBCRoryCJ), technology correspondent for the BBC.  The event was part of a series of events organised by myself and my co-Chair (@shurmster) of the PRCA Technology Group for the benefit of the tech PR community in the UK.

This event was designed to coincide with Children in Need week – a fantastic annual fundraising event backed by the BBC, which has raised over £600m to help sick and disadvantaged children in the UK since its launch in 1980.

As well as hearing from Rory about what he sees as the main technology trends in play over the last few years, we were able to raise over £2,300 through ticket donations, and a lively auction that saw audience members bid for some of Rory’s gadgets. You can still donate here if you wish to support Rory’s fundraising efforts for CiN.

Rory was also kind enough to share with us some of his predictions for key tech trends in 2013:

• Connected home – while no one has completely cracked this yet, Rory believes 2013 will see the merger between TV and the internet pick up pace.
• 4G – bit of a no brainer this one – it’s been a huge theme for this year and with the details of the 4G spectrum auction process announced yesterday, 4G is likely to dominate the tech news agenda for months to come. And the prices for fast wireless internet access will be interesting to watch as more competitors launch their services.
• Fast internet – the launch of BT Infinity and continued efforts of Virgin Media mean a growing proportion of the UK population will have access to fast internet. However, Rory believes this will also re-introduce the digital divide with growing tension from people who can’t get access to these services.
• The tech industry bubble – following the excitement around its IPO earlier this year, the market will continue to watch Facebook’s stock market performance closely and speculate on what impact this will have for the rest of the technology market.

Do you agree?  Is there anything you would add to this list?