IN the latest Top 10 Emerging Technologies Report, now in its 12th edition, the World Economic Forum (WEF) features technologies with the greatest potential to make a positive impact in the world in the next three to five years. The World Economic Forum is the international organization for public-private cooperation to improve the state of the world.
Potential technologies for the 2024 list were identified through a survey, which received over 300 valid technology nominations from 29 countries. The ensuing selection process by a steering group was based on the following criteria:
– Novelty. The emerging technology is at an early stage of development but is not yet widely used.
– Applicability. The technology has potentially significant benefits to societies and economies.
– Depth. The technology is being developed by more than one company, with the focus of increasing investment interest and excitement.
– Power. The technology is potentially game-changing to established ways and industries.
The WEF’s top 10 emerging technologies of 2024 are:
1. AI for scientific discovery. The progressive leaps in deep learning, generative AI and foundation models will enable researchers to make unprecedented connections and advancements in understanding diseases, proposing new materials, and enhancing knowledge of the human body and mind.
2. Privacy-enhancing technologies. As data becomes increasingly integral to new discoveries and business, “synthetic data,” artificially generated based on algorithms, will facilitate new opportunities for global data sharing and collaboration, protect personal privacy, and drive significant advances in fields requiring sensitive information, such as data medical research.
3. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces. These innovative surfaces turn ordinary walls and surfaces into intelligent components for wireless communication while enhancing energy efficiency with promise for numerous applications, from smart factories to vehicular networks.
4. High-altitude platform stations. Using aircraft, blimps and balloons, HAPS systems can extend mobile network access to remote regions, helping bridge the digital divide for over 2.6 billion people worldwide.
5. Integrated sensing and communication. The advent of 6G networks facilitates simultaneous data collection (sensing) and transmission (communication) enabling environmental monitoring systems that help in smart agriculture, environmental conservation and urban planning, as well as reducing energy and silicon consumption.
6. Immersive technology for the built world. Combined with enhanced computing power, virtual and augmented reality allows designers and construction professionals to ensure that physical and digital models correspond with each other, assuring accuracy and safety and advancing sustainability.
7. Elastocalorics. As global temperatures rise, elastocalorics represents a sustainable alternative to traditional cooling technologies, releasing and absorbing heat under mechanical stress but at higher efficiency and lower energy use.
8. Carbon-capturing microbes. Engineered organisms convert emissions into valuable products like biofuels, which will reduce greenhouse gas levels, helping mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change.
9. Alternative livestock feeds. Sourced from single-cell proteins, algae and food waste, alternative livestock feeds could offer a sustainable solution for the agricultural industry while ensuring food security and minimizing ecological footprints.
10. Genomics for transplants. The successful implantation of genetically engineered organs into a human can potentially increase the availability of viable organs and can be tailored to reduce the risk of rejection and improve compatibility, offering hope to millions awaiting transplants.
The technologies featured in the report, produced in collaboration with Frontiers, were assessed through a rigorous selection process involving over 300 world-leading academics and experts and a network comprising over 2,000 chief editors worldwide from top institutions.
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