List of emerging technologies

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.

Emerging technology	Status	Marginalized Technologies	Applications	Potential drawbacks
Artificial intelligence	Theory and experiments	Human Brain	Creation of intelligent devices	Economic dislocation
Genetic engineering / Synthetic biology	Diffusion	Evolution	Creation and modification of species	Human-made disease
Bio fuels	Diffusion	Fossil fuels	Energy source, particularly for transportation	Raises food prices when utilizing food crop feedstock
Electric cars	Small scale production and prototypes	Internal combustion engine automobiles	Greener transportation
Anti-aging drugs: resveratrol	Animal testing; Theory	Existing treatments for age-related diseases	Life extension	Overpopulation
Nootropics: Piracetam, Pregnenolone	Human trials	Drugs that improve memory or cognition in healthy or aged populations.	Nootropics
Virtual retinal display	Working prototypes	VR headsets, displays	Augmented reality, virtual reality
Personal rapid transit	Working prototypes (and models)	Conventional rail/bus public transport	Greener transportation
Solid-state drive	Diffusion	Hard disk drive	Smaller, faster, quieter, lower power consuming storage
Memristor	Working prototype	Some current integrated circuits, many other electronics devices	Smaller, faster, lower power consuming storage, analogue electronics, Artificial intelligence
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
Nanomaterials: carbon nanotubes	Diffusion and Theory and experiments	Structural steel and aluminium	Stronger, lighter, and more intelligent materials	Nanoparticles' health risks
Molecular nanotechnology	Theory and experiments	Small products and parts production & retail	Desktop devices that can make anything given the materials	Economic dislocation
CVD production of diamonds		Kevlar, Glass, Metal heatsinks	Hardest and most thermally conductive material known
Scramjet	Working Mach 10 Prototype	Jet engines, Rocket engines	Very fast air travel	Noise pollution, greenhouse gases
Wireless communication	Diffusion	Wired communication	Ubiquitous network connectivity
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
Semantic Web or Answers Machine	Search engines	Making the web machine-readable by linking data on the web based on its meaning
OLED	Diffusion	LCD and plasma displays	Displays and screens of various kinds
Machine translation	Human translation of natural languages, in areas where misunderstanding is non-critical and language is formalized	Easier cross-cultural communication	Loss of translation jobs for humans [Cn]
Machine augmented cognition	Diffusion of primitive amplifications; working prototypes of more; theory and experiments on more substantial amplification
Nuclear fusion power	Theory and experiments	Fossil fuels, hydroelectricity, nuclear fission power	Electric power generation
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
Spintronics	Working prototypes	Mechanical magnetic hard disk drives	Data storage
Metamaterials	Diffusion	Classical optics	Microscopes, cameras, cloaking devices
High-temperature superconductivity	Working prototypes in dry ice; theory and experiments for higher temperatures	Copper wire	No loss conductors, frictionless bearings, magnetic levitation
3D displays	Theory and experiments	CRT, LCD, and other display technologies	Television, Computer interfaces, cinemas
PAVs	Commercial production	High fuel costs
Quantum computing	Theory and experiments	Electronic computing, optical computing	Much faster computing, for certain kinds of problems
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
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
Reliable Global Navigation Satellite System	System currently being produced	Various custom built systems	Mission critical navigation
WiTricity	Working prototypes	Electrical cables	Wireless energy transfer
Vitrification or Cryoprotectant	Theory and some experiments	Ischemic Damages	Organ transplant
Non-rocket spacelaunch	Theory and some experiments	Rocket	Launch loop launch track Space gun Space elevator
Holography
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 hi:??????? ??????? ?? ????