The World Economic Forum's Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025 report identifies the following technologies as having the greatest potential to move from laboratories into broad real-world impact over the next 3–5 years.
- Autonomous biochemical sensing – Self-powered biosensors that continuously monitor health, food safety, and the environment.
- Collaborative sensing – Networks of connected sensors (vehicles, robots, drones, infrastructure) that share information to create a much richer understanding of the physical world.
- Engineered living therapeutics – Genetically engineered microbes that live in the human body and produce therapeutic molecules to treat disease.
- Generative watermarking – Invisible signatures embedded into AI-generated text, images, audio, and video to improve authenticity and combat misinformation.
- GLP-1 therapies for neurodegenerative diseases – Extending drugs originally developed for diabetes and obesity into treatments for disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
- Green nitrogen fixation – Producing nitrogen fertilizers without relying on the energy-intensive Haber–Bosch process, reducing emissions and improving sustainable agriculture.
- Nanozymes – Nanomaterials that mimic natural enzymes but are more stable and less expensive, with applications in medicine, environmental cleanup, and industry.
- Next-generation nuclear energy – Advanced reactor designs, including small modular reactors and other innovations aimed at safer, cleaner, and more flexible nuclear power.
- Osmotic power systems – Generating electricity from differences in salt concentration between fresh and seawater (“blue energy”).
- Structural battery composites – Materials that simultaneously serve as structural components and energy storage, enabling lighter electric vehicles, aircraft, and other systems.
What stands out
A striking feature of the 2025 list is that it is less AI-centric than many people expected. Rather than focusing on large language models, the report emphasizes technologies that apply advances in materials science, biology, chemistry, and energy.
The ten technologies fall into four broad themes:
- Medicine & biotechnology: Autonomous biochemical sensing, engineered living therapeutics, GLP-1 repurposing, nanozymes.
- Energy & climate: Green nitrogen fixation, next-generation nuclear energy, osmotic power systems.
- Digital trust: Generative watermarking.
- Advanced materials & infrastructure: Structural battery composites, collaborative sensing.
Dear friend, I also find it interesting that this list aligns with a pattern we’ve discussed before. The next technological revolution may not be driven primarily by “better chatbots,” but by AI combining with biology, materials science, and energy systems. This is precisely why people like Demis Hassabis argue that biology—rather than conversational AI—may become the field where AI has its deepest and most lasting impact.
