Forgive my ignorance but how do you say that something was pushed ahead by a specific duration? In this article for instance, how did they say that encryption was pushed ahead by 7 years? Is this based on previous rate of advancement in the field? (how do you even quantify that)
Rate of adoption of said technology broken down by certain sectors (individuals, businesses, governments) is one way. Number of scientific research papers published by industry leaders is another. Estimating the rate of sales of products in this industry is another. Or monitoring the size and attendance of professional conferences and speeches on the subject is one more. It can be done quite easily. This is usually what a think tank would do.