1. Human-machine interaction and the internet. Technology will continue to enable the connection between people, enhancing their digital presence by enabling them to interact with objects and one another in new ways. Emerging technologies that enhance the human-machine interaction will allow for an unprecedented immersion into the virtual atomistic world that is otherwise inaccessible to the human senses. Already today, we see haptic and tracking devices, virtual realities, and caves adding a new level of intuition to the virtual experience of the molecular world that goes far beyond its archaic and fractured perception through computer mouse and keyboard . A perfect and seamless immersion of the scientist into the mesoscopic environment of her/his object of study is key to an accelerated understanding and manipulation of (molecular) matter in a virtual laboratory. For instance, immersion is about literally feeling the softness of a functional group in a molecule and about experiencing how it feels to push a hydrogen atom into a metal surface. By enhanced immersion and real-time data flow, one can cope with the immense data provided by computations finishing in real-time (See Fig. ) 2. Computing, communication and storage everywhere. Everybody will have access to a supercomputer in their pocket (currently already a reality as a link of the already powerful existing smartphones to cloud services), with nearly unlimited storage capacity. This driver will grant the research community access to cheap computational power and ability to store and share chemical information. It will also allow amateur scientists to access important research problems much more easily, which will strengthen the general acceptance of the field in society and increase the pace of discovery (cf., recent web-based online platforms, serious gaming, and gamification are existing examples) . Considering that the chemical space is huge and much information for a given problem may not be available, such restricted, unavailable, or nonexistent information will be computed on the spot as needed.