Thanks for opening this discussion Hilary – especially as it is so difficult to pin down what anyone means when they use the term “emerging technologies”.

In the WEF definition – which is still a work in progress – we started by focusing on characteristics ofThanks for opening this discussion Hilary – especially as it is so difficult to pin down what anyone means when they use the term “emerging technologies”.

In the WEF definition – which is still a work in progress – we started by focusing on characteristics of emerging technologies, rather than technology-labels. This was in part because the technologies themselves are so slippery, and prone to evolving into something else as soon as you think you have them contained. The characteristics we highlighted were innovation and invention, rapid change, significant impact, new capabilities to do stuff, and potential for disruption (my synthesis, not that of my colleagues!).

In trying to pin down specific emerging technologies, I constantly wrestle with the difference between convenient labels – which often end up constraining conversations – and technology innovation – which tends to resist being pidgeon-holed. In a forthcoming WEF report (which might one day see the light of day) we try and look at things in terms of technology platforms, technology innovations, and solutions to pressing issues (which might also include economic growth). The platforms are the big technology ideas – nanotechnology, synthetic biology etc – which represent loose collections of areas of advancement. The technology innovations themselves arise both from within these platforms, and at the intersections between them, and represent the products and processes that hit the street – the stuff that people can make practical use of, but also need to understand how to use safely and effectively. These “products” are almost always a combination of multiple technologies.

Within this framework, where are the emerging technologies? I’m not so sure. I think it is probably a combination of the technology platforms – which encompass your emerging technologies above – and the ways in which they come together to spawn technology innovation – which would include a multitude of converging technologies.

When you then start to think about emerging or emerged, things get even more complex – especially as technology is evolutionary in the main, and the issues thrown up by technology don’t necessarily follow the same timeline as the technologies themselves (if we cannot govern an “emerged” technology well, is it fully emerged, or still emerging?)

The list of technology platforms we came up with for the WEF report by the way included the following, but it wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination inclusive:

Nanotechnology
Geoengineering
Cognitive Technology
Synthetic Biology
Robotics (still emerging I think)
Computational Chemistry
Information Technology
Biotechnology (again, still emerging)
Artificial Intelligence
Bio-interfaces
Web 2.0 (maybe that should be 3.0)
Data interfaces

Swarm robotics wasn’t on the list, but should have been either here or in the Tech Innovations list I think. We had smart grids in the tech innovation list. emerging technologies, rather than technology-labels. This was in part because the technologies themselves are so slippery, and prone to evolving into something else as soon as you think you have them contained. The characteristics we highlighted were innovation and invention, rapid change, significant impact, new capabilities to do stuff, and potential for disruption (my synthesis, not that of my colleagues!).

In trying to pin down specific emerging technologies, I constantly wrestle with the difference between convenient labels – which often end up constraining conversations – and technology innovation – which tends to resist being pidgeon-holed. In a forthcoming WEF report (which might one day see the light of day) we try and look at things in terms of technology platforms, technology innovations, and solutions to pressing issues (which might also include economic growth). The platforms are the big technology ideas – nanotechnology, synthetic biology etc – which represent loose collections of areas of advancement. The technology innovations themselves arise both from within these platforms, and at the intersections between them, and represent the products and processes that hit the street – the stuff that people can make practical use of, but also need to understand how to use safely and effectively. These “products” are almost always a combination of multiple technologies.

Within this framework, where are the emerging technologies? I’m not so sure. I think it is probably a combination of the technology platforms – which encompass your emerging technologies above – and the ways in which they come together to spawn technology innovation – which would include a multitude of converging technologies.

When you then start to think about emerging or emerged, things get even more complex – especially as technology is evolutionary in the main, and the issues thrown up by technology don’t necessarily follow the same timeline as the technologies themselves (if we cannot govern an “emerged” technology well, is it fully emerged, or still emerging?)

The list of technology platforms we came up with for the WEF report by the way included the following, but it wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination inclusive:

Nanotechnology
Geoengineering
Cognitive Technology
Synthetic Biology
Robotics (still emerging I think)
Computational Chemistry
Information Technology
Biotechnology (again, still emerging)
Artificial Intelligence
Bio-interfaces
Web 2.0 (maybe that should be 3.0)
Data interfaces

Swarm robotics wasn’t on the list, but should have been either here or in the Tech Innovations list I think. We had smart grids in the tech innovation list.