Potential technologies for the 2024 list were identified through a survey distributed across the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils Network and University and Research Network, the Frontiers network comprising over 2,000 chief editors worldwide from top institutions, and the Top 10 Emerging Technologies Steering Group members.

Respondents were asked to provide detailed information about the technology they put forward, including technology name and description, potential impact, as well as a compelling rationale for why the technology should be on the 2024 list.

The survey received over 300 valid technology nominations from 29 countries. To handle the increased volume of responses, an AI-assisted tool – the AI Trend Analyzer, built by Frontiers – was implemented to automate the initial screening of survey answers. This tool classified and clustered responses based on trending topics identified through an analysis of academic publications in recent years.

FIGURE 1: Top 10 selection process

These final 10 technologies underwent further evaluation, leveraging available data on patents, funding and geographic distribution, with data pulled from CB Insights. The report also used data on academic grant funding pulled from Dimensions.

This edition delves into the technologies’ ramifications across sectors, including industry, economy, society, environment, recent advancements and critical requirements essential for successful scaling. To meet the dynamism of these emerging technologies, Frontiers has co- curated transformation maps for each technology housed on the Forum’s Strategic Intelligence Platform. Readers can learn more about the key issues of each technology and how it connects to other topics on the global agenda as well as find the latest articles on the topic from trusted sources.

The descriptions were predominantly based on the articles in this report. Key issues were identified based on guidance from the steering group authors and input from Frontiers’ editors. These descriptions were researched and written by the editors at Frontiers. You are invited to continue to explore and monitor the technologies driving transformational change across economies, industries, and global issues. Explore more here.

FIGURE 2: Example Strategic Intelligence transformation map

BOX 1: Building Strategic Intelligence: a reader’s guide