Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026 - Foreword - Insight Report June 2026

Oct 22, 2026

Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026 presents an insight-led selection of ten high-potential technologies poised to meaningfully shape government, industry, and research decisions. The foreword frames a year of deep uncertainty where systems are fragile and resilience is prioritized, highlighting technologies that enable new forms of cancer treatment, direct cooling, and precision protein production. It also explains a foresight approach: each technology is covered through an overview plus a strategic outlook developed with Dubai Future Foundation, assessing technical, regulatory, organizational, and societal conditions as well as risks and decisions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages49

Reading Time2 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Foreword

Technology, foresight and the desirable future ahead

Everything-to-grid energy

Direct lithium extraction

Passive radiative cooling materials

PFAS destruction

Precision fermentation

Exosome drug delivery

Personalized mRNA cancer vaccines

Quantum simulation for drug discovery

World models

Lattice-based cryptography

The emerging landscape

Appendix: Methodology

Contributors

Endnotes

Disclaimer

In collaboration with Frontiers Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026 I N S I G H T R E P O R TJ U N E 2 0 2 6 Images: Getty Images, Midjourney Contents Foreword 3 Technology, foresight and the desirable future ahead 4 1 Everything-to-grid energy 5 2 Direct lithium extraction 8 3 Passive radiative cooling materials 11 4 PFAS destruction 14 5 Precision fermentation 17 6 Exosome drug delivery 20 7 Personalized mRNA cancer vaccines 23 8 Quantum simulation for drug discovery 26 9 World models 29 10 Lattice-based cryptography 32 The emerging landscape 35 Appendix: Methodology 37 Contributors 40 Endnotes 44 Disclaimer This document is published by the World Economic Forum as a contribution to a project, insight area or interaction. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are a result of a collaborative process facilitated and endorsed by the World Economic Forum but whose results do not necessarily represent the views of the World Economic Forum, nor the entirety of its Members, Partners or other stakeholders. © 2026 World Economic Forum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system. Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026 2 June 2026 Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026 Foreword Frederick Fenter Chief Executive Editor, Frontiers Every year, a small number of scientific advances reach the point where they are ready to change the world. The Top 10 Emerging Technologies report, now in its 14th edition, is how we find and share them. The technologies we bring forward are chosen for their novelty, development progress and potential impact. Above all, they are chosen for the signals that suggest they are approaching the moment when decisions made by governments, industry and research institutions will meaningfully shape how they arrive in the world. This year’s edition arrives at a time of deep uncertainty. Systems have grown more fragile, and resilience has become a priority across sectorsand regions. The question of what technology can offer in response is one worth sitting with, because each of the 10 technologies featured this year is extraordinary. A cancer vaccine can now be synthesized from a patient’s own tumour, teaching the immune system to recognize cells it had previously missed. A coating has been developed that emits heat directly into space, cooling a surface without consuming any electricity. Microbes given new genetic instructions are now producing the same proteins as a dairy cow, using a fraction of the land, water and emissions. Each tells its own story, and each is worth the reader’s time on its own. Jeremy Jurgens Managing Director, World Economic Forum Looking across the 10 as a group, three things stand out. Many of these technologies are becoming more personal, designed around one patient or one context rather than a standardized whole. Many are becoming more distributed, producing food, energy and critical materials closer to where they are needed. A third tendency is that many of these technologies do more with less, producing cooling without power, protein without herds and chemistry without persistent waste. These are not the defining qualities of every technology in the report, but they are tendencies that recur, and they say something about where the frontier is moving. Each technology in this report is presented in two parts: an overview of what the technology is today, and a strategic outlook, developed with the Dubai Future Foundation, that imagines the world it could bring into view. The technologies in this report are, by design, not finished stories. We are grateful to the advisory council members and to the many researchers whose expertise shaped this year’s selection. What happens next with each of these technologies depends on the choices being made now, inclu

FAQs

What criteria guide the selection of the top 10 technologies in this report?

The report selects technologies based on novelty, development progress, and potential impact, focusing especially on signals indicating they are nearing a point where decisions by governments, industry, and research institutions will shape outcomes meaningfully.

How does the report structure each featured technology?

Each technology is presented in two parts: an overview of what it is today, and a strategic outlook that imagines the world it could bring into view, developed with the Dubai Future Foundation.

Why is technological foresight emphasized in the report?

Technological foresight helps leaders balance visionary thinking with on-the-ground realities, enabling deliberate exploration of futures—capturing near-term opportunities while anticipating longer-term implications and managing financial and societal risks.

Oct 22, 2026

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