Your AI-driven personal assistant checks your vital signs as you admire the view through your home's solar panel windows. The morning news bulletin announces that 3D bio-printed organs will be available in public hospitals as of next year. As your automated car drives you to work, your virtual reality headset transports you to the Galapagos.

If it all sounds extremely optimistic, that's because it's meant to.

These technological innovations are among a series of big ideas (see box below) which a group of leading futurologists believe are within arm's reach between now and 2037, and they represent the sunny flip side to the apocalyptic predictions which often result from crystal ball gazing.

Futerra, which compiled the report on behalf of Vodafone, asked a group of leading futurologists which technological opportunities could prove most beneficial to humanity. 

By the late 2030s, they concluded, we could be living in 3D-printed, carbon-neutral homes and harnessing the roughly 100 terawatts of clean solar energy that hit the earth's surface. Intelligent sensor technology could supercharge agricultural productivity, while personalised medicine will cut healthcare costs and help us lead longer, healthier lives.

Superfast mass transit systems will bring major metropolitan centres closer together, while automated vehicles could cut individual car ownership to just one-fifth of its current rate.

Personalised medicine will cut healthcare costs and help us lead longer, healthier lives.

'The future is exciting'

The optimistic slant dovetails neatly with Vodafone's new self-image, which it unveils today. It's no more 'Power to You'. The future, the telecoms behemoth believes, is exciting. Ready? 

Vodafone's brand repositioning underlines the company's belief that technology will play a positive role in transforming society - and research conducted by YouGov suggests many consumers feel the same way.

The survey of almost 13,000 people across 14 different countries found that people of all ages believe technology to be societal sector most likely to bring about positive change in their lives.

Consumers see the potential benefits [of technology], but the pace of change can be overwhelming.- Vodafone CCO Serpil Timuray

Young people aged 18-24 are especially optimistic about the future, with almost two out of every three eager to find out what the future has in store.

Armed with this data, Vodafone is digging deep into its pockets to ensure its 500 million global customers see their own optimism reflected whenever they catch a glimpse of the company's iconic speechmark logo.

Just how deep the company won't say, though it says the coordinated advertising campaign it is rolling out today across 19 markets is the "largest and most global" in its history.

"This is a major evolution for our brand," Vodafone's chief commercial officer Serpil Timuray told a group of journalists given a sneak peek of company's direction earlier this week. "Consumers see the potential benefits [of technology], but the pace of change can be overwhelming. They need a partner to help them along the journey, and we see our role as being that partner."

Optimism, misguided?

With more than half a billion people using its mobile services in 26 different countries and a brand valued at an eye-watering US$22 billion, Vodafone is better positioned than most to achieve that goal. Still, success is not a given.

Vodafone may find it tricky to develop the sort of relationship with customers that Ms Timuray alluded to - much like road infrastructure, water and electricity services, a phone and internet connection is the sort of thing you take for granted until something goes wrong.

The company's upbeat message - 'The future is exciting. Ready?' - also banks on consumers staying positive in the years to come, and Vodafone will be acutely aware that a single major incident, be it a cyberattack, security breach or public relations crisis, could stain that positive message and with it, their brand.

You can hardly blame Vodafone executives for thinking positively, though. The Futerra report is littered with examples of technological leaps already happening.

Masdar City, touted as the world's first zero-carbon city, is in the process of being built.  A solar road in France is already operational. A plant-based burger that tastes - and bleeds - like real meat is already available in US markets, and foodies say the flavour is astounding.  

Of course, the report does not mention that Masdar City is already 15 years behind schedule and risks becoming, as the Guardian touted it, the world's first "green ghost town". Or that building 1km of solar road cost France almost €5 million. Or even that it will take more than the availability of plant-based meat alternatives to get BBQ lovers to make the switch. 

"Optimism makes us happier and extends our lives," Futerra's Ms Townsend said as she unveiled her company's futurology research. "It has a tangible, neurological benefit." No surprise, then, that researchers - and Vodafone - prefer to see the glass as half full. Time will tell whether that call is on the money. 

10 positive trends for the next 20 years

1. Future cities will be greener, cleaner and with many 3D-printed buildings.

2. Solar windows, highways and walls will allow us to turn our energy scarcity into abundance while powering communities in the remotest parts of the globe.

3. Smart online technology will sharply increase production efficiency and enable us to increase food production by 70 per cent

4. Artificial Intelligence will become the ultimate personal assistant, monitoring our safety, time and health and taking over monotonous tasks, freeing us up for creative endeavours

5. Medicine will become personalised and 3D bio-printing will allow us to 'create' organs rather than relying on transplants. 'Living drugs' will be designed to turn our own immune systems against disease.

6. A shift in work patterns towards more sharing economy transactions and opportunities for shared ownership of things such as cars. More ethical consumers will push businesses to seeking purpose befyond profit.

7. Technology will make it easier to source water from the sea and air, and allow farmers to create desert farms which run on sun and saltwater.

8. Super-fast mass public transport systems will make urban life easier than ever and compress distances, affording people more choice in deciding where they want to live.

9. Vegetable-based meat substitutes which taste like the real thing will reduce the world's reliance on livestock farming and help reduce carbon emissions as well as cardiovascular disease.

10. Virtual and augmented reality technologies will create hyper-realistic experiences which allow you to see, touch and even smell your way into events, locations and even moments in history - from the World Cup final to World War II.