11 Emerging Technologies That Could Dominate the Next 5 Years

The future of technology isn’t coming slowly.

Artificial intelligence is moving into the physical world. Robots are becoming more capable. Scientists are using advanced computing to accelerate drug discovery. New energy technologies are changing how electricity is produced and stored, while cybersecurity is preparing for a world where quantum computers could challenge today’s encryption.

The World Economic Forum’s 2026 technology report identifies breakthroughs across energy, materials, healthcare and computing that are approaching real-world scale. Many are already moving beyond laboratories and into commercial applications.

These 11 emerging technologies could therefore become some of the most important technologies to watch between now and 2030.

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1. World Models: AI That Understands the Physical World

Today’s AI can write, generate images and analyze information.

The next major step is giving AI a better understanding of the physical world.

World models are designed to learn how environments behave using information such as video, sensors and text. They can then create internal representations that help AI predict what could happen next.

This could transform:

• Humanoid robots
• Autonomous vehicles
• Industrial automation
• Climate modelling
• Physical AI

For example, NVIDIA’s Cosmos platform is being developed to help robots learn from physical-world data and adapt to unfamiliar environments.

If this technology works at scale, robots could become dramatically more useful.

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2. AI-Powered Robotics

Robotics is moving beyond repetitive factory machines.

The combination of advanced AI, computer vision, sensors and robotics is creating machines capable of perceiving their surroundings and making increasingly complex decisions.

This is sometimes called physical AI.

Instead of programming a robot for every possible situation, developers want robots that can understand instructions and adapt.

Potential applications include:

Factories → Warehouses → Hospitals → Agriculture → Construction → Homes

The investment is already significant. The World Economic Forum reports that physical AI and robotics attracted around $26 billion in venture capital in 2025, compared with $4.2 billion in 2019.

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3. Everything-to-Grid Energy

Imagine your electric vehicle becoming part of the electricity grid.

That’s the basic idea behind everything-to-grid energy.

Electric vehicles, home batteries, factories and data centres can store electricity and potentially return it to the grid when demand increases.

This could become particularly important as renewable energy grows.

Solar power, for example, produces less electricity after sunset, exactly when household demand can increase.

Distributed batteries could help fill that gap.

The WEF reports that a network of more than 16,000 solar-equipped homes in California returned 51 megawatts to the grid during an evening demand peak in 2024.

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4. Direct Lithium Extraction

Lithium is essential for modern batteries.

Electric vehicles, smartphones and energy-storage systems all depend heavily on battery technology.

Traditional lithium extraction from brine can take months or even years.

Direct lithium extraction uses engineered systems involving technologies such as sorbents, membranes and solvents to recover lithium much faster.

The WEF reports that some DLE systems can extract lithium from brine within hours, while also potentially reducing land and water requirements. Commercial plants are already operating in countries including Argentina, the United States and Australia.

If scaled successfully, this could become an important part of the global battery supply chain.

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5. Personalized mRNA Cancer Vaccines

One of the most exciting developments in medicine is the move toward personalized cancer treatments.

Instead of giving every patient exactly the same therapy, scientists can analyze a person’s tumor and identify specific mutations.

Researchers can then create a personalized mRNA vaccine designed to train the immune system to recognize those targets.

This represents a completely different approach to cancer treatment.

The WEF reports that clinical research involving personalized mRNA cancer vaccines has already produced promising results, including melanoma research where the combination of a personalized vaccine and immunotherapy reduced the risk of recurrence or death by around 40–50% compared with immunotherapy alone.

The technology is still developing, but its potential is enormous.

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6. Quantum Simulation

Quantum computing is often associated with abstract mathematics and futuristic computers.

But one of its most important potential applications could be medicine.

Quantum simulation could help scientists model molecules at an extremely detailed level.

That could make it easier to predict:

• How a drug interacts with a protein
• Whether a molecule could work
• Why a drug candidate might fail
• Which compounds deserve laboratory testing

The WEF notes that around 9 out of 10 drug candidates entering clinical trials fail, making better early-stage prediction extremely valuable.

In 2025, IBM and Moderna also conducted a major quantum simulation involving protein folding and mRNA interactions.

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7. Precision Fermentation

What if we could produce important food ingredients without relying on traditional livestock?

Precision fermentation attempts to do exactly that.

Microorganisms can be genetically programmed to produce specific proteins and other useful compounds.

Potential applications include:

• Alternative dairy
• Protein production
• Food ingredients
• Pharmaceuticals
• Industrial materials

The technology could allow companies to produce certain proteins using significantly less land and water than traditional animal-based production.

The WEF reports that fermentation-derived proteins are already moving into commercial food products, showing that this technology is progressing beyond the experimental stage.

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8. Passive Radiative Cooling

Air conditioning consumes enormous amounts of electricity.

But what if buildings could reject heat without continuously using electricity?

Passive radiative cooling materials are designed to release heat directly toward the sky.

The concept is particularly interesting for hot regions where cooling demand can put enormous pressure on electricity grids.

Instead of simply producing more electricity to run air conditioners, advanced materials could help reduce the amount of cooling required in the first place.

This is a perfect example of a technology attempting to do more with less.

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9. PFAS Destruction

PFAS chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because many of them are extremely persistent in the environment, and removing or destroying them is a major scientific challenge. New technologies are being developed to break these compounds down rather than simply relocating them. The WEF includes PFAS destruction among its 2026 technologies to watch, highlighting the growing importance of methods that can address persistent environmental contaminants at scale.

10. Exosome Drug Delivery

Modern medicine doesn’t only need better drugs.

It also needs better ways to deliver those drugs to the right location.

Exosomes are tiny biological structures naturally involved in communication between cells.

Scientists are exploring whether they can be used as delivery vehicles for therapeutic molecules.

The potential is significant because targeted delivery could help treatments reach specific molecular targets while potentially reducing unwanted effects elsewhere in the body.

The WEF includes exosome drug delivery among its 2026 emerging technologies because of its potential to reach targets that have historically been difficult for conventional medicines.

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11. Lattice-Based Cryptography

This technology may not be as exciting as humanoid robots, but it could be incredibly important.

Quantum computers could eventually threaten some encryption systems currently used to protect digital information.

Lattice-based cryptography is one approach designed to remain secure against both conventional and future quantum attacks.

The technology uses complex mathematical structures called lattices to make encryption extremely difficult to break.

The WEF notes that lattice-based cryptography is already being deployed in some consumer technologies and is becoming an important component of the transition toward post-quantum security.

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Why These 11 Technologies Matter

What makes these technologies especially interesting is that they don’t exist in isolation.

They can work together.

AI can accelerate scientific discovery.

Quantum computing can help with molecular simulation.

Robotics can use world models.

New batteries can support smarter electricity grids.

Advanced biotechnology can create personalized treatments.

Better cryptography can protect increasingly connected digital systems.

The World Economic Forum’s 2026 analysis describes this broader trend as technology convergence, where AI, robotics, advanced materials, quantum technology, engineering biology and next-generation energy increasingly combine to create capabilities that individual technologies couldn’t achieve alone.

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Which Technology Will Win?

That’s impossible to know with certainty.

Some technologies will become mainstream.

Some will remain specialized.

Others may fail completely.

But there are several areas worth watching particularly closely:

AI + Robotics

Could create machines capable of operating in the real world.

AI + Biology

Could accelerate drug discovery and personalized medicine.

Quantum + Healthcare

Could improve molecular simulation.

Batteries + Smart Grids

Could transform energy management.

AI + Cybersecurity

Could reshape how digital systems defend themselves.

The biggest breakthroughs may happen where these technologies intersect.

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What Could Technology Look Like in 2030?

By 2030, some technologies that seem futuristic today could become ordinary.

You could potentially see:

• AI assistants performing complex tasks
• Humanoid robots working in warehouses
• Electric vehicles helping stabilize power grids
• Personalized cancer treatments
• AI-assisted drug discovery
• Advanced battery materials
• Quantum technologies entering specialized industries
• Stronger post-quantum encryption

Not every prediction will come true.

But the direction is clear: technology is becoming more intelligent, more personalized and increasingly integrated into the physical world.

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Final Thoughts

The 11 emerging technologies discussed here represent something bigger than a list of futuristic inventions.

They demonstrate how quickly the boundaries between AI, biology, robotics, energy and computing are disappearing.

Some of these technologies could improve healthcare.

Others could reduce energy consumption.

Some could transform manufacturing.

Others could protect the internet from future quantum threats.

And several could completely change industries that currently seem stable.

The next five years could therefore be far more technologically important than many people realize.

The future isn’t one invention. It’s the convergence of thousands of breakthroughs happening at the same time.

And the 11 emerging technologies highlighted above offer a powerful glimpse of what that future could look like.