List of emerging technologies

This is a list of emerging technologies. Emerging technologies are new and potentially disruptive technologies, which may marginalize an existing dominant technology.

Only new and potentially disruptive technologies should be included in the list. Information technology is an example of a technology which has already proven disruptive, whereas artificial intelligence is a subset information technology with the potential of becoming disruptive in its own right.

Controversy exists over the degree of impact and economic viability of some instances of emerging technology. There is on going public policy debate over emerging technologies and their implications for society.

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-! Emerging Technology! Status! Marginalized Technologies! Applications! Related Articles
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Artificial intelligence
Theory and experiments
Human Brain
Creation of intelligent devices
Optical character recognition
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LED lamp
Diffusion
Incandescent and Flourescent Lighting
illumination

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Genetic engineering / Synthetic biology
Diffusion; ongoing research & development
Evolution
Creation and modification of species
BioBrick, Igem
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Nootropics
Available Now

Drugs that improve memory or cognition in healthy or aged populations.
Piracetam, Aniracetam, Pregnenolone
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Bio fuels
Diffusion
Fossil fuels
Energy source, particularly for transportation

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Electric cars
Small scale production, infrastructure investment
Internal combustion engine
Greener transportation
Tesla Motors, Better Place
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Anti-aging drugs: resveratrol
Animal testing
Existing treatments for age-related diseases
Life extension

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Virtual retinal display
Working prototypes
VR headsets, displays
Augmented reality, virtual reality

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Personal rapid transit
Working prototypes (and models)
Conventional rail/bus public transport; would reduce need for everyone to own their own car
Greener transportation

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Solid-state drive
Diffusion; development of larger capacity
Hard disk drive
Smaller, faster, quieter, lower power consuming storage

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Memristor
Working prototype
Some current integrated circuits, many other electronics devices
Smaller, faster, lower power consuming storage, analogue electronics, Artificial intelligence

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Optical computing
Theory and experiments - some components of integrated circuits have been developed
Many integrated circuits and other electronics devices
Smaller, faster, lower power consuming computing

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Nanomaterials: carbon nanotubes
Diffusion and theory and experiments
Structural steel and aluminium
Stronger, lighter, and more intelligent materials, space elevator

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Molecular nanotechnology
Theory and experiments
Small products and parts production & retail
Desktop devices that can make anything given the materials

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Scramjet
Working Mach 10 Prototype
Jet engines, Rocket engines
Very fast air travel

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Wireless communication
Diffusion
Wired communication
Ubiquitous network connectivity

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3D printing
In commercial production
Manual creation of prototypes and also some mass production methods that lack the ability for customization
Rapid prototyping and production of not only plastic objects but multi-material items, with the potential to significantly customize products for individual consumers

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Semantic Web or "Answers Machine"|
Search engines
Making the web machine-readable by linking data on the web based on its meaning

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OLED
Diffusion; R&D on extending lifetime
LCD and plasma displays
Displays; lighting

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Machine translation|
Human translation of natural languages, in areas where misunderstanding is non-critical and language is formalized
Easier cross-cultural communication

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Machine augmented cognition/exocortices
Diffusion of primitive amplifications; working prototypes of more; theory and experiments on more substantial amplification



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Nuclear fusion power
Theory and experiments
Fossil fuels, renewable energy, nuclear fission power
Electric power generation

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3D optical data storage or Holographic data storage
Prototyping and research
All other optical data storage solutions, magnetic tape data storage, and other mass storage devices.
Storage and archiving of data that was previously erased for economic reasons

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Spintronics
Working prototypes
Mechanical magnetic hard disk drives
Data storage

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Metamaterials
Diffusion
Classical optics
Microscopes, cameras, cloaking devices

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High-temperature superconductivity
Working prototypes in dry ice; theory and experiments for higher temperatures
Copper wire
No loss conductors, frictionless bearings, magnetic levitation, lossless high-capacity accumulators

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3D displays
Theory and experiments
CRT, LCD, and other display technologies
Television, Computer interfaces, cinemas

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Personal Aircraft
Commercial production||

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Quantum computing
Theory and experiments
Electronic computing, optical computing
Much faster computing, for certain kinds of problems, chemical modeling, new materials with programmed properties

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Hydrogen economy
Diffusion (of hydrogen fuel cells); Theory and experiments for less expensive production of hydrogen
Other technologies for storing energy (conventional batteries, fossil fuels)
Green storage of energy

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Nanowire battery
Working prototypes
Other technologies for storing energy (hydrogen, conventional batteries and in some cases fossil fuels)
Laptops, cell phones and long-range electric cars. Storing power for electric grid

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Reliable Global Navigation Satellite System
System currently being produced
Various custom built systems
Mission critical navigation

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Powered exoskeleton
Prototyping and Diffusion
Legs and muscles
Heavy lifting, paralysis, muscle related diseases,

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WiTricity
Working prototypes
Electrical cables
Wireless energy transfer

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Optical CPUs
Theory and experiments
Electricity-powered processors and CPU coolers.
Faster, smaller, less power consuming than normal CPU.

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Vitrification or Cryoprotectant
Theory and some experiments
Ischemic Damages
Organ transplant

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Non-rocket spacelaunch
Theory and some experiments
Rocket

* Launch loop
* launch track
* Space gun
* Space elevator

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Holography
Diffusion
Display Technologies


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Thermal copper pillar bump
Working prototypes in discrete devices
Conventional thermal solutions, heat sinks, bulk thermoelectrics
Electric circuit cooling; micro-fluidic actuators; small-device thermoelectric power generation

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Phased array optics
Theory
Conventional displays (e.g., Television)
Mass production of 3 Dimensional imagery |
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Ultracapacitor
Diffusion and continued development
conventional batteries
Regenerative braking; generally faster-charging, longer lasting, more flexible, and/or greener energy storage|
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