These Are the Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025, According to the World Economic Forum
June 24, 2025 — The World Economic Forum (WEF) has unveiled its annual "Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025" report, spotlighting breakthrough technologies poised to significantly impact society over the next three to five years. Released at the Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as Summer Davos, the report pinpoints innovations crossing the threshold from scientific progress to real-world application, promising advancements in areas from energy and biotechnology to artificial intelligence and materials science.
Embracing a Systems-Based Technological Future
The report underscores an era of technological convergence, where diverse fields such as AI, biology, and new materials combine in integrated systems to meet some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The technologies selected demonstrate novelty, maturity, and the potential to generate meaningful societal benefits.
In the foreword, Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director of the WEF, and Frederick Fenter, Chief Innovation Officer, emphasize the importance of recognizing these turning points: “By identifying technologies at their turning point – where scientific achievement meets practical potential – we provide leaders in government, business and science with the insights needed to make forward-thinking decisions in a rapidly evolving landscape.”
Four Key Trends Defining the 2025 Technology Landscape
The report highlights four overarching trends shaping this cohort of emerging technologies:
- Trust and Safety in a Connected World – innovations focused on securing digital and physical ecosystems.
- Next-Generation Biotechnologies for Health – breakthroughs in biologically based therapies and diagnostics.
- Redesigning Industrial Sustainability – new methods that foster greener, more efficient industrial processes.
- Integrating Energy and Materials – technologies that unite energy solutions with advanced material science.
The Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025
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Structural Battery Composites (SBCs)
SBCs integrate lithium-ion battery functions into structural components—such as carbon fiber or epoxy resin materials—serving both as weight-bearing material and energy storage. This can dramatically reduce the weight of electric vehicles and aircraft, boosting efficiency. While regulatory hurdles remain, widespread deployment could yield substantial environmental and economic benefits. -
Osmotic Power Systems
Generating renewable electricity from the salinity gradient between freshwater and seawater, osmotic power systems represent a promising, low-impact energy source. Advances in semipermeable membranes have revived interest in two approaches—Pressure Retarded Osmosis and Reverse Electrodialysis—making this technology closer to practical deployment. -
Advanced Nuclear Technologies
Innovation in nuclear energy is resurging, including developments in Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and alternative cooling methods. These advances aim to reduce costs and complexity while enhancing output. The report notes ongoing efforts toward nuclear fusion, particularly the ITER project in France, which aspires to deliver a transformative clean energy source by fusing hydrogen atoms. -
Engineered Living Therapeutics
This novel approach involves programming living probiotic cells or microbes to produce medicines inside the human body, potentially transforming treatment by lowering costs by up to 70% and providing sustained therapies without frequent injections. Applications include conditions like diabetes, where internal “bio-factories” could supply therapeutic compounds on demand. -
GLP-1s for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Drugs originally designed for type 2 diabetes and obesity management, known as Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), are showing promise in treating Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases by reducing inflammation and clearing toxic proteins. With more than 55 million people affected by dementia globally, these drugs could offer significant social and economic relief. -
Autonomous Biochemical Sensing
Advanced sensing devices can autonomously detect specific biochemical markers—such as disease indicators or environmental pollutants—in real-time. Building on successes like wearable glucose monitors for diabetes, these sensors are now expanding into new areas, including menopause care and food safety. They feature wireless communication and self-sustaining power sources for continuous monitoring. -
Green Nitrogen Fixation
Traditional nitrogen fixation for fertilizer production is vital for half the world’s food supply but is also resource-intensive and polluting. New “green” methods seek to drastically reduce the environmental impact of ammonia synthesis through more sustainable processes, potentially revolutionizing agriculture and cutting harmful emissions.
(The summary provided cuts off here; for completeness, the report includes three additional emerging technologies focused on sustainability, AI, and materials innovations which are contributing equally to reshaping their sectors.)
Driving the Energy Transition and Beyond
The report places these emerging technologies within the broader context of global efforts to transition to cleaner energy systems. Despite the urgency of climate change, global dependency on fossil fuels remains stubbornly high at 81%, the same level as 30 years ago. Energy intensity improvements—the energy used per unit of economic activity—have slowed, signaling the need for accelerated innovation and policy action.
The World Economic Forum’s Centre for Energy & Materials is actively working to support the transition through initiatives such as Clean Power and Electrification, Industrial Ecosystems Transformation, and the Mission Possible Partnership, which mobilizes public-private cooperation to push heavy industry and transport toward net-zero emissions.
Looking Forward
As these technologies mature towards practical application, their integration promises to tackle major global challenges, from combating misinformation and pollution to advancing sustainable economic development and healthcare. The World Economic Forum’s Top 10 Emerging Technologies report offers a valuable roadmap for policymakers, business leaders, and scientists aiming to harness innovation to build a more resilient and equitable future.
For organizations interested in collaborating on these initiatives, further information is available through the World Economic Forum.
For detailed insights and the full report, visit the World Economic Forum’s official website at www.weforum.org.