The World Economic Forum’s Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026 report highlights a clear shift in the technology landscape: the most consequential advances are moving out of software-only use cases and into physical systems that affect energy, medicine, materials, food production and infrastructure.
WEF says the 2026 edition identifies scientific advances that are approaching actual deployment. The selection is based on novelty, development progress and prospective impact, using a process that draws on world-leading scientists, technologists and innovation leaders. The report is published with Frontiers, and it adds a strategic outlook developed with the Dubai Future Foundation to show what conditions are needed to bring the technologies to scale responsibly.
The 10 Emerging technologies WEF highlights for 2026
The report says the 10 emerging technologies most likely to shape industry, policy and society over the next three-to five years are:
- Everything-to-grid energy
- Direct lithium extraction
- Passive radiative cooling materials
- PFAS destruction
- Precision fermentation
- Exosome drug delivery
- Personalized mRNA cancer vaccines
- Quantum simulation for drug discovery
- World models
- Lattice-based cryptography
WEF describes everything-to-grid energy as a two-way system in which electric vehicles and buildings can store and return energy to the grid on demand. Direct lithium extraction is framed as a faster substitute for evaporation ponds. Passive radiative cooling materials are meant to cool buildings without power use. PFAS destruction targets persistent “forever chemicals.”
On the health and life sciences side, the report points to precision fermentation, exosome drug delivery, personalized mRNA cancer vaccines and quantum simulation for drug discovery. On the digital side, world models and lattice-based cryptography are included as the computing technologies most likely to matter over the next cycle.
[ALSO READ:Leadership in Emerging Markets: Exclusive Interview with Jagat Shah, Chairman & CEO of MITSUMI Distribution ]
What it means
The main message of the 2026 report is that the next phase of technological competition is increasingly tied to the ability to control infrastructure, materials, biological processes and industrial data. Eight of the ten technologies act directly on physical systems, which is a considerable break from the software-first AI story that dominated recent years.
In the last few years, the debate around emerging tech was often about models, apps and digital frameworks. This report shifts the focus to power grids, cooling, mining, drug development and manufacturing. In plain terms, the value is moving closer to the real economy.
For decision makers, the report points to a familiar problem: many of these technologies will depend on regulation, standards, power systems, supply chains and societal trust before they can scale. For companies, the report suggests that advantage may come less from owning a software layer and more from controlling the operational systems underneath it.
[ALSO READ: AI Is Growing Faster Than the World’s Data Centers Can Handle ]
Comparison with the 2025 report
The comparison with last year is useful; WEF’s 2025 emerging technologies report emphasized climate, healthcare and digital trust, and included technologies such as autonomous biochemical sensing, engineered living therapeutics, generative watermarking and osmotic power systems. The 2026 report keeps some of that continuity but moves further into physical infrastructure and industrial deployment.
That change is visible in the language of the reports themselves. In 2025, the framing was about technologies with the capacity to reshape industries and societies. In 2026, the wording is more direct: technologies are “moving off screens and into the physical systems which underpin modern economies.”
WEF says its purpose is to highlight technologies that are approaching the stage where they can affect people and the planet within the next three to five years. That makes it relevant for investors, industrial planners, regulators and corporate strategy teams looking beyond the current quarter.
The strongest reading of the 2026 edition is that the next technology cycle is becoming more physical, more infrastructure-heavy and more tied to operational deployment. Energy storage, clean materials, drug delivery, food production and cybersecurity constitute not separate themes here. The report treats them as one connected transition.
The World Economic Forum’s 2026 emerging technologies report is about identifying the systems that might reshape industry from the ground up. 10 emerging technologies, 8 of them directly tied to physical systems, more than 1,200 candidates screened, and a five-year horizon for adoption.
Download or View the Full Report of World Economic Forum’s Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026.
