This is a pretty good list, and Irving Wladawsky-Berger adds commentary to each of the ten items listed in this World Economic Forum (WEF) report (website, 18 page PDF). Here's the list (quoted):
- Nanosensors and the Internet of Nanothings - could have a huge impact on the future of medicine, architecture, agriculture and drug manufacture.
- Next Generation Batteries - make mini-grids feasible that can provide clean, reliable, round the clock energy sources to entire villages.
- The Blockchain - potential to fundamentally change the way markets and governments work is only now emerging.
- 2D Materials - applications, from air and water filters to new generations of wearables and batteries.
- Autonomous Vehicles - potential for saving lives, cutting pollution, boosting economies, and improving quality of life for the elderly.
- Organs-on-chips - allowing researchers to see biological mechanism behaviours in ways never before possible.
- Perovskite Solar Cells - it is easier to make, can be used virtually anywhere and, to date, keeps on generating power more efficiently.
- Open AI Ecosystem - help with a vast range of tasks, from keeping track of one's finances and health to advising on wardrobe choice.
- Optogenetics - light can now be delivered deeper into brain tissue, something that could lead to better treatment for people with brain disorders.
- Systems Metabolic Engineering - list of building block chemicals that can be manufactured better and more cheaply by using plants rather than fossil fuels.
If you want to predict the future, here's my slogan: carbon, carbon, and carbon. New building materials such as carbon fibre will the products we use stronger and lighter. Graphine and similar compounds will revolutionize electronics and power storage. And biotechnology will revolutionize medicine and help us build advanced organic-based processors.
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