(23 Jun 2026) The World Economic Forum and Frontiers have jointly published the Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026 report, highlighting innovations expected to influence industry, policy, and society over the next five years. The findings suggest a shift from software-focused artificial intelligence toward technologies that act directly on physical systems such as energy infrastructure, healthcare, food production, and materials.
The top ten emerging technologies highlighted in the 2026 report:
• Everything-to-grid energy – enabling electric vehicles and buildings to store and return energy to the grid.
• Direct lithium extraction – engineered systems that produce battery-grade lithium more efficiently than evaporation ponds.
• Passive radiative cooling materials – materials that reflect sunlight back into space, cooling buildings without energy use.
• PFAS destruction – methods to break down “forever chemicals” into harmless substances.
• Precision fermentation – using microbes to produce food ingredients and medicines.
• Exosome drug delivery – cellular packages used to deliver targeted therapies.
• Personalized mRNA cancer vaccines – vaccines tailored to individual tumors.
• Quantum simulation for drug discovery – simulating drug behavior to accelerate research.
• World models – AI systems predicting physical world outcomes from multimodal data.
• Lattice-based cryptography – mathematical codes designed to secure data against quantum computing threats.
Eight of the ten technologies directly affect physical systems, signaling a competitive advantage in controlling infrastructure, materials, and biological processes. Several also reduce dependence on geography, enabling production in regions previously limited by climate or geology.
The report was developed using an AI-based nomination workflow created by Frontiers, which screened more than 1,200 candidate technologies from academic and industry sources. Expert review and Advisory Council input refined the list based on novelty and potential impact.
To support strategic planning, Frontiers’ editors co-developed interactive Transformation Maps hosted on the World Economic Forum’s Strategic Intelligence Platform. These maps provide real-time insights into how each technology is evolving across sectors.
The press release in full is here.
