Generative artificial intelligence, Metaverse for mental health, Sustainable computing. World Economic Forum published a flagship report “Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2023”.
For more than a decade, the Forum has been surveying academics, industry leaders and futurists on the emerging technologies set to transform economies and societies. In doing so, the Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2023 report seeks to help professionals across sectors and industries anticipate exponential technologies, interpret their implications and champion industry-shaping and society-serving applications, — Jeremy Jurgens, the Managing Director of World Economic Forum comments.
Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2023
1. Flexible batteries
A new generation of flexible batteries may allow for the seamless integration of technology into fabrics and clothes. The flexible battery market is expected to expand rapidly in the coming years. One study forecasts that the global flexible battery market will grow by $240.47 million from 2022-2027, accelerating at a compound annual growth rate of 22.79% during this period.
2. Generative artificial intelligence
Generative AI can synthesize what it has learnt from gigantic data sets to create and intuit new information in novel ways. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful type of AI that can create new and original content by learning patterns in data, using complex algorithms and methods of learning inspired by the human brain. While generative AI is still currently focused on producing text, computer programming, images and sound, this technology could be applied to a range of purposes, including drug design, architecture and engineering.
3. Sustainable aviation fuel
Sustainable aviation fuel, created from biomass and combined with other decarbonization strategies, plot a reliable course to net- zero aviation. Aviation accounts for 2-3% of global CO2 emissions annually, with concerning “business-as-usual” projected emissions of 39 gigatonnes between 2022-2050.11,12 While the use of electric vehicles for ground transport is rapidly increasing, the aviation sector has struggled with decarbonization because energy-dense fuels are required for long-distance flights. Additionally, the high price of replacing aircraft means that the current fleet will remain in operation for decades, and electric or hydrogen-fuelled planes may not be viable for long-distance flight in any case.
4. Designer phages
Engineered viruses could allow for hyper- targeted therapies that can selectively affect specific bacteria. The number of microbes living on and within the human body matches, and may even exceed, the number of human cells. The community of microbes an organism harbours is called its microbiome, and the microbiomes of humans, animals and plants play important roles in the health of these organisms.
5. Metaverse for mental health
The metaverse may be used to provide a shared virtual space for people to connect and access therapy. The Surgeon General of the United States recently declared war on what he calls “one of the country’s most pressing public health issues of our time”. Excess screen time and social media can decrease psychological well-being,25 but they can also enhance well-being when used responsibly.26 Screen time spent building connections in shared virtual spaces might help combat the growing mental health crisis as opposed to contributing to it.
6. Wearable plant sensors
Individual plant monitoring would allow for the harvesting of extremely high-resolution data on
a farmer’s crop. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization states that world food production will need to increase by 70% to feed the world’s population in 2050.32 Technological innovations in agriculture will be a key step towards meeting this dramatic escalation and improving the world’s food security.
7. Spatial omics
New imaging techniques may allow for unprecedented access to the previously unobservable. The human body is composed of approximately 37.2 trillion cells. How do they all work together
to keep us alive and healthy? Spatial omics may provide researchers with an answer. By combining advanced imaging techniques with the specificity and resolution of DNA sequencing, this emerging method enables the mapping of the what, where and when of biological processes at the molecular level. Starting with an organ of interest (such as a mouse brain), scientists slice tissue into sections only one cell thick. Innovative techniques are then used to visualize the locations of specific biomolecules in each slice.36,37,38 Spatial omics allows previously unobservable cell architecture and biological events to be viewed in unprecedented detail.
8. Flexible neural electronics
Breakthroughs in flexible electronics may pave the way for neurological treatments. In recent years, brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) have gained visibility, igniting collective imaginations regarding the power and potential of one day controlling machines with thoughts. BMIs allow electrical signals the brain produces to be captured by sensor hardware. Algorithms then decode these electrical signals into instructions that a computer can understand and execute. BMI-like systems are already used to treat patients with epilepsy, and in neuroprosthetics – prosthetic limbs use electrodes to interface with the nervous system.
9. Sustainable computing
Innovations in heat management and energy optimization can help data centres switch to
a more environmentally friendly future. While the Earth is indisputably facing a worsening environmental crisis, increasing reliance on data may not seem to play much of a role. Yet data centres, which facilitate Google searches, email, the metaverse, AI and myriad other aspects of
an increasingly data-based society, consume an estimated 1% of the electricity produced globally,57 and this amount will only increase with growing demand for data services. While there is no single “green data” magic bullet, it is expected that the coming decade will boast substantial strides toward net-zero-energy data centres as emerging technologies are combined and integrated in innovative ways – rapidly making the dream of net-zero-energy data centres an achievable reality.
10. AI-facilitated healthcare
One of the most effective ways emerging AI systems may impact healthcare is through the treatment of data and analytics. The shortcomings of healthcare systems all over the world became abundantly and horrifyingly clear during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when the sustainable workloads of many hospitals were rapidly exceeded. In response, government-based and academic teams have been created to integrate AI and machine learning (ML) into healthcare – both to anticipate impending pandemics and to aid in effectively addressing them (AI4PEP).64,65 These emergent efforts to enhance the efficacy of national and global healthcare systems in the face of major health crises, and to democratize access to care, are in their initial stages but will rapidly scale up by integrating quality data into the AI and ML models.
The whole report is available here
