A diverse range of breakthrough technologies could soon be playing a role in tackling the world’s most pressing challenges, according to the Top 10 Emerging Technologies 2016 list published last week by the World Economic Forum.
The list highlights technological advances its members believe have the power to improve lives, transform industries and safeguard the planet. It also provides an opportunity to debate any human, societal, economic or environmental risks and concerns that the technologies may pose prior to widespread adoption.
The top 10 technologies in the list are: Nanosensors and the Internet of Nanothings, Next Generation Batteries, The Blockchain, 2D Materials, Autonomous Vehicles, Organs-on-chips, Perovskite Solar Cells, Open AI (Artificial Intelligence) Ecosystem, Optogenetics, and Systems Metabolic Engineering.
With the Internet of Things expected to comprise 30bn connected devices by 2020, one of the most exciting areas of focus is now on nanosensors capable of circulating in the human body or being embedded in construction materials. Once connected, this Internet of Nanothings could have a huge impact on the future of medicine, architecture, agriculture and drug manufacture.
One of the greatest obstacles holding renewable energy back is matching supply with demand, but recent advances in energy storage using sodium, aluminium and zinc based batteries makes mini-grids feasible that can provide clean, reliable, round the clock energy sources to entire villages.
With related venture investment exceeding $1bn in 2015 alone, the economic and social impact of blockchain, or the distributed electronic ledger behind the online currency Bitcoin, to fundamentally change the way markets and governments work is now emerging.
Plummeting production costs mean that 2D materials such as graphene are emerging in a wide range of applications, from air and water filters to new generations of wearables and batteries.
Self-driving cars, with potential for saving lives, cutting pollution, boosting economies and improving quality of life for the elderly and other segments of society, have led to rapid deployment of key technology forerunners along the way to full autonomy.
Organs-on-chips or miniature models of human organs – the size of a memory stick – could revolutionise medical research and drug discovery by allowing researchers to see biological mechanism behaviours in ways never before possible.
Perovskite Solar Cells, a new photovoltaic material that offers three improvements over the classic silicon solar cell, are easier to make, can be used virtually anywhere and, to date, keeps on generating power more efficiently.
Shared advances in natural language processing and social awareness algorithms, coupled with an unprecedented availability of data, will soon allow smart digital assistants help with a vast range of tasks, from keeping track of one’s finances and health to advising on wardrobe choice.
Lastly, advances in synthetic biology, systems biology and evolutionary engineering mean that the list - of building block chemicals that can be manufactured better and more cheaply by using plants rather than fossil fuels - is growing every year.
