Top 10 Emerging Technologies Poised to Revolutionize Our Lives

From electric airplanes to quantum sensors that can "see" around corners, these emerging technologies hold immense potential to drive social and economic progress in the future.

These technologies must surpass current capabilities and be expected to make a profound impact within the next three to five years. They must also be sufficiently innovative, meaning they are not yet widely adopted but have the potential to achieve breakthrough advancements shortly.

These technologies will serve as key drivers for economic growth and societal well-being. These innovations include solar chemical processes, green hydrogen, virtual patients, digital medicine, painless injection microneedles, spatial computing, electric aviation, whole genome synthesis, low-carbon cement, and quantum sensing.

Medical field: Opening new doors

　 When it comes to the field of medicine, new technologies make us look forward to the future of medicine. For example: Microneedle technology can achieve painless injection and blood drawing. These tiny needles do not exceed the thickness of a piece of paper and the width of a hair but can help us achieve painless injections and blood draws. Microneedles can penetrate the skin without touching nerve endings, be attached to syringes or patches, and even be mixed into creams. From then on, people can complete blood draws at home without leaving home, and then blood samples can be sent to the laboratory or analyzed on the spot. In addition, microneedle technology can also save equipment and labor costs, making it easier for people in areas with insufficient medical services to obtain medical services.

　　Some virtual patients replace real clinical trials. If the goal of replacing real people with virtual people to make clinical trials faster and safer sounds easy, the scientific principle behind it is by no means simple: the data obtained from high-resolution images of human organs is input into a complex mathematical model that controls the mechanism of organ function, and then a computer algorithm analyzes the equation to generate a virtual organ that behaves like a real organ. This virtual organ or body system can replace real people in the initial drug and treatment evaluation, making the evaluation process faster, safer, and cheaper.

　　Digital medicine may not replace doctors soon, but applications for monitoring conditions or managing therapies can improve their care level and support patients with limited access to medical services. Many smartwatches can already detect whether the wearer's heart rhythm is irregular, and scientists are studying similar tools that can help relieve patients with breathing disorders, depression, Alzheimer's disease, and other conditions. Pills containing sensors are also under development. These pills send data to applications to help detect body temperature, gastric bleeding, and cancerous DNA.

　　Genome-wide synthesis technology may change cell engineering. Improvements in the technology required to design gene sequences have made it possible to print more and more genetic material and change the genome more widely. This can give people an in-depth understanding of how the virus spreads, or help produce vaccines and other treatments. In the future, it can help sustainably produce chemicals, fuels, or building materials from biomass or waste gas. It even allows scientists to design plants that are resistant to pathogens, or let us write our genomes. This has opened a new door for the treatment of genetic diseases.

Environmental protection field: Emission reduction is of concern

　　Among the top ten emerging technologies, four involve the field of environmental protection, and these four technologies are related to reducing carbon emissions. For example: solar chemical technology can turn carbon dioxide into waste and turn it into treasure. Fossil fuels are required for the production of many chemicals, but a new method is expected to reduce fossil fuel emissions by using sunlight to convert waste carbon dioxide into useful chemicals. In recent years, researchers have developed photocatalysts that can break the resistant double bond between carbon and oxygen in carbon dioxide. This means that we have taken a key first step in the direction of establishing a “solar” refinery. The refinery can produce useful compounds from the exhaust gas, including “platform" molecules, which can be used as raw materials for the synthesis of various products (such as medicines, detergents, fertilizers, and textiles).

In the field of environmental protection, emission reduction has attracted attention, especially in the crane industry, electric cranes and intelligent lifting equipment have gradually become an important direction to reduce carbon emissions. Compared with traditional diesel-powered or fuel-powered equipment, electric cranes can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and have lower noise levels, which meet environmental protection requirements. For example, in recent years, many overhead cranes and gantry cranes have begun to adopt electric drive systems. This equipment not only has significant advantages in improving operational efficiency but also can help construction sites reduce their environmental impact. In addition, the energy recovery system and intelligent control technology of the electric crane can dynamically adjust the power output according to the load demand, thereby further reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions.

　　In addition, electric aviation will decarbonize air travel. Electric propulsion will enable air travel to reduce carbon emissions, significantly reduce fuel costs, and reduce noise. From Airbus to NASA, many organizations are studying technology in this field. Although long-distance electric flights may still be far away, and there are cost and regulatory obstacles, there is still a lot of investment in this field. There are about 170 electric aircraft projects under development, mainly for private, corporate, and commuter travel.

　　There are also low-carbon cement that can help humans cope with climate change. Today, the world produces about 4 billion tons of cement every year, and the emissions from burning fossil fuels in this process account for about 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions. With the acceleration of urbanization in the next 30 years, this number will increase to 5 billion tons. Researchers and start-ups are studying low-carbon methods, including adjusting the balance of ingredients used in the production of cement, adopting carbon capture and storage technologies to eliminate emissions, and removing all cement from concrete.

　　Of course, green hydrogen technology has also attracted much attention. In the future, this technology can fill the huge gap in renewable energy. When hydrogen is burned, the only by-product is water, and when hydrogen is produced by electrolysis from renewable energy sources, hydrogen becomes “green” and pollution-free.Earlier this year, it was predicted that by 2050, the potential market size of the green hydrogen energy industry may be close to 12 trillion U.S. dollars. Why? It can play a key role in the energy transition by helping to reduce the carbon content of sectors such as transportation and manufacturing, which are difficult to electrify due to the need for high-energy fuels.

The field of spatial computing and quantum sensing: Pioneering new uses

　　Among the top ten emerging technologies, two more involve the fields of spatial computing and quantum sensing. The new technologies will open up new uses for people's future lives. For example: Spatial computing technology, known as the next-generation “big event”.Spatial computing is the next step in the physical and digital world that integrates virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications. Like VR and AR, it can digitize objects connected through the cloud, make sensors and motors react with each other, and create real-world digital representations. Now it has added a spatial mapping function, allowing the computer "coordinator" to track and control the movement and interaction of objects when people move in the digital or physical world. This technology will bring new development directions to human-computer interaction in industry, medical care, transportation, and the home.

In the crane industry, spatial computing technology has also shown great potential. For example, overhead cranes and gantry cranes can achieve more accurate load management and path planning through spatial computing technology, greatly improving operational efficiency and safety. Through spatial mapping, operators can view the relative position of the crane and the surrounding environment in real-time, thereby avoiding collisions and optimizing lifting operations.

　　There is also quantum sensing technology that allows cars to “see” corners. Imagine a self-driving car that can “see” objects around the corner, or a portable scanner that can monitor human brain activity. Quantum sensing can make these imaginations a reality. Quantum sensors operate with extremely high accuracy by using the quantum properties of matter. For example, the difference between electrons in different energy states is used as the basic unit. Most of these systems are complex and expensive, but scientists are developing smaller and more affordable devices that may open up new uses.