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Sci-Tech

Next Wave of Emerging Technologies Could Bring Energy, Healthcare & Infrastructure Development Closer to People

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  • The World Economic Forum’s Top 10 Emerging Technologies Report 2026 identifies breakthrough innovations in energy, medicine and infrastructure.
  • The report highlights 10 emerging technologies expected to achieve real-world impact within the next three to five years.
  • These technologies could help broaden access to energy, healthcare and critical resources, making access to them less dependent on geography or existing resource availability.
  • Learn more about the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026 here. Follow on social media using #amnc26, #2026夏季达沃斯# and #InnovateScaleImpact. Read the report here.

Dalian, People’s Republic of China, 23 June 2026 – Our friends at The World Economic Forum released its annual Top 10 Emerging Technologies Report 2026 today, identifying breakthroughs poised to reshape economies and societies within the next three to five years.

Produced in collaboration with Frontiers, a leading scientific publisher, the report examines technologies approaching a critical inflection point where advances in research are beginning to translate into large-scale, real-world applications.

The report identifies 10 emerging technologies approaching commercial and societal scale:

1. Everything-to-grid energy: Buildings, vehicles, factories and data centres can increasingly act as both energy consumers and suppliers, sending stored electricity back to electricity grids when needed. This could improve energy resilience while making better use of local renewable power.

2. Direct lithium extraction: Removes lithium from brine in hours rather than months, while using less land and water than conventional methods. It could unlock new sources of a critical battery material and strengthen supply chains.

3. Passive radiative cooling materials: These materials cool buildings and equipment without electricity by reflecting sunlight and releasing heat into the atmosphere. They could reduce energy demand and improve resilience in hotter climates.

4. PFAS destruction: New technologies can break down per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals”, that have long resisted conventional treatment. This could help remove persistent pollutants from water supplies and the environment.

5. Precision fermentation: Uses microorganisms to produce specific ingredients and materials more efficiently. It could enable new ways to manufacture food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals with fewer resources.

6. Exosome drug delivery: Exosomes are natural particles produced by cells that can be engineered to deliver therapies precisely within the body. They may enable treatments to reach previously inaccessible targets, including the brain.

7. Personalized mRNA cancer vaccines: Trains a patient’s immune system to recognize the unique mutations in their tumour. They could improve the ability to prevent cancer recurrence following treatment.

8. Quantum simulation for drug discovery: Models molecular interactions with unprecedented accuracy, helping researchers identify promising drug candidates faster and more efficiently.

9. World models: Enable AI systems to build a shared understanding of physical environments using multiple forms of data. They could improve how machines predict, plan and interact with the real world.

10. Lattice-based cryptography: Designed to protect data from decryption by both today’s computers and future quantum machines. It could help secure digital infrastructure as quantum computing advances.

Many of the technologies highlighted in the report point towards systems that may become more distributed, personalized and resource-efficient over time.

“While each of these technologies has the potential to make a meaningful impact on its own, together they tell a broader story about where innovation is heading,” said Stephan Mergenthaler, Managing Director, World Economic Forum. “They reveal new patterns across energy, medicine and manufacturing that could challenge long-held assumptions about how we use technology to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as food insecurity, climate change and untreatable diseases.”

Technologies such as everything-to-grid energy systems, direct lithium extraction and precision fermentation suggest how production systems could become less dependent on centralized infrastructure and traditional geographic constraints. Passive radiative cooling materials similarly point to new ways of managing energy demand and environmental pressures in regions where cooling has traditionally relied on energy-intensive systems.

Several of the technologies also suggest that value creation could increasingly depend on the ability to produce, adapt or optimize systems closer to the point of use. Personalized mRNA cancer vaccines, exosome drug delivery and quantum simulation for drug discovery all point to more individualized approaches to treatment and molecular design, enabled by advances in computation, modelling and targeted delivery systems.

Infrastructure, technical capability and deployment capacity could become increasingly important alongside traditional resource endowments, particularly in sectors where production, energy systems and advanced manufacturing are becoming more distributed and adaptive.

The report also highlights how technologies such as PFAS destruction, passive radiative cooling materials and lattice-based cryptography could reshape how industries and governments address long-standing environmental, infrastructure and security challenges. Several of these technologies raise the possibility of overcoming constraints previously viewed as difficult, persistent, or economically impractical to solve. Whether these patterns translate into real-world success, however, will depend on factors such as infrastructure readiness, regulatory adaptation, manufacturing capacity, public trust and long-term investment.

“Understanding which technologies are approaching a true inflection point requires access to the best available evidence and expertise,” said Frederick Fenter, Chief Executive Editor, Frontiers. “Open science enables researchers around the world to build on one another’s work, accelerating discovery while improving transparency and trust. That shared foundation is critical for identifying and developing innovations that can deliver lasting societal benefit.”

Developed with the Dubai Future Foundation, the report also explores the conditions that will shape how these technologies evolve and scale through 2031, including infrastructure readiness, governance, investment and public adoption. Together, these factors will play a critical role in determining whether today’s emerging technologies deliver broad societal impact tomorrow.

For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

About the Top 10 Emerging Technologies Report
Now in its 14th edition, the Top 10 Emerging Technologies report provides trusted foresight to help leaders navigate scientific and technological change. Drawing on the expertise of scientists, researchers and futurists, the report identifies ten innovations expected to scale within five years and deliver wide societal benefits. Technologies are selected through a rigorous process combining AI-enabled analysis of scientific literature, investment and ecosystem trends, and expert evaluation.

About the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026
The 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions will take place from 23 to 25 June 2026 in Dalian, People’s Republic of China, under the theme “Innovating at Scale”. The meeting will bring together over 1,700 participants cross-sector leaders to explore how innovation and emerging technologies can unlock new growth models and drive positive economic momentum in a fast-shifting global landscape.

Finance

Trade and Financial Fragmentation Spreads Beyond Rivals as Costs Mount

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  • Fragmentation is already costing the global economy $213–$307 billion annually, while adding 0.2–0.3 percentage points to global inflation.
  • Fragmentation is spreading beyond geopolitical rivals to traditionally allied economies, including the EU, Canada, Japan and South Korea.
  • Emerging markets are likely to be hit the hardest by these shocks as countries outside the major geopolitical blocs face an estimated 10.7% hit to GDP growth versus 6.4% globally, even as regional initiatives offer new solutions.
  • Read the full report and learn about the initiative. Learn more about the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026 here. Follow on social media using #amnc26, #2026夏季达沃斯#.

New York, USA, June 2026 – Geoeconomic fragmentation imposing an annual cost of $213–$307 billion usd/ $296- $426 billion cad on the global economy, according to a new World Economic Forum report release today. Driven by geopolitical tensions, economic security concerns and shifting trade relationships across major economies, fragmentation accelerated through 2025 and 2026 and is increasingly affecting trade, finance and investment systems.

Deepening Divides: The Cost of a More Fragmented Financial System — published in collaboration with Oliver Wyman, a Marsh business, and the second in the Forum’s fragmentation series — finds that these pressures are playing out through escalating tariffs, investment restrictions and retaliatory measures.


The report finds  that the growing use of economic statecraft in 2025 and 2026  marked a turning point for global trade and finance. While the first report focused primarily on fragmentation risks between geopolitical rivals, the latest findings suggest a broader structural shift is underway. Tariffs and investment restrictions are increasingly affecting traditionally aligned economies, including the US, the EU, Canada, Japan and South Korea, raising costs for businesses and increasing uncertainty for cross-border trade and investment.

“The global financial system has faced increasing pressures from geopolitical and economic fragmentation,” says Matthew Blake, Managing Director and Head of the Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems World Economic Forum. “Despite these pressures, the financial system has remained resilient. Markets have continued to provide real-time feedback on evolving policies while policy-makers have generally avoided actions that could erode confidence in the international financial system. As fragmentation persists, preserving the trust and stability that underpin global finance will be critical to supporting long-term growth and prosperity.” 

The economic costs are rising
As fragmentation becomes more embedded across markets and financial systems and barriers rise even among allies, the risks of escalation and long-term economic disruption increase. If current trends accelerate into more severe fragmentation scenarios, global losses could reach as much as $6.9 trillion usd, or 6.4% of global GDP, according to the report’s modelling, an economic impact larger than every economy in the world except the US and China.

Ultimately, fragmentation impacts both businesses and households. Current fragmentation policies are estimated to add 0.2–0.3 percentage points to global inflation, eroding purchasing power across most economies. The sharpest real wage impacts are seen in the United States, where real wages are estimated to be 0.33% lower for low-skilled workers, 0.49% lower for medium-skilled workers and 0.66% lower for high-skilled workers, with similar purchasing-power pressures visible in other major economies.

“In conversations with business leaders around the world, the message is remarkably consistent: What businesses need most right now is predictability, and they are not getting it,” says Daniel Tannebaum, Partner and Global Leader, Anti-Financial Crime Practice, Oliver Wyman, a Marsh business. “Without clearer guardrails around tariffs, sanctions and other economic measures, the risks to investment, growth and financial stability will continue to mount.”

Emerging markets face the sharpest exposure
Emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) are likely to be the hardest hit by the impacts of growing financial fragmentation. In the most extreme fragmentation scenario, countries outside the major geopolitical blocs, most of which are EMDEs, could face output losses of 10.7%, compared to a global decline of 6.4%.

Structural factors like shallower capital markets make EMDEs more dependent on international capital flows and more vulnerable to the negative impacts of a less integrated financial system.

Africa exemplifies both the risks and potential resilience pathways. The continent’s exposure to external capital flows means a more fragmented system would make development financing more expensive and less predictable. At the same time, regional integration – through initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and payment systems such as Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) – offers pathways to build resilience in Africa, which also stands to benefit from such secular trends as population growth and an abundance of critical raw materials.

While fragmentation is unlikely to reverse in the near term, it can be managed. The report identifies five actions policy-makers can take to mitigate fragmentation:

Policymakers can limit the damage

  • Establish shared guardrails to protect the financial system from fragmentation, emphasizing principles like safeguarding the rule of law and independent monetary policy, limiting the seizure of sovereign assets, and protecting the integrity of government data.
  • Align on rules to guide the use of economic statecraft policies that advance national security and resilience objectives without undermining global growth.
  • Ensure policy predictability to sustain investment flows and allow for the continued functioning of cross-border capital and financial markets.
  • Maintain interoperability across payment and digital currency systems and prepare businesses for a more fragmented geoeconomic operating environment.
  • Advance regional integration initiatives such as the AfCFTA and PAPSSP, as well as support the development of domestic and regional capital markets, including the European Savings and Investments Union. 

Together, these measures can help preserve financial stability and resilience even as the global economy becomes more fragmented.

Report methodology


The report updates the Forum’s 2025 fragmentation analysis to reflect policy and market developments across 2025 and early 2026. Its quantitative modelling estimates the economic impact of current trade and financial policies and examines multiple escalation scenarios across output, inflation, trade flows and wages.

The analysis also incorporates updated assumptions on tariffs, countermeasures, pass-through rates and restrictions on services trade, alongside qualitative insights from business leaders, policy-makers and financial-sector experts, including regional perspectives from Africa.

About the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026


The 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions will take place from 23 to 25 June 2026 in Dalian, People’s Republic of China, under the theme “Innovating at Scale”. The meeting will bring together 1,500 cross-sector leaders to explore how innovation and emerging technologies can unlock new growth models and drive positive economic momentum in a fast-shifting global landscape.

For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.