What are the WEF’s Top Emerging Technologies for 2025?

The WEF, along with Frontiers and the Dubai Future Foundation, has outlined 10 breakthrough technologies that are making an impact this year in its Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025 report.

“What makes this report valuable is that we look beyond what these technologies are to envision what they could create,” says Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director of the WEF.

“The technologies in this edition reveal exciting patterns: combining energy systems with advanced materials, using biological approaches to improve human health, reimagining industrial processes for sustainability and creating new foundations for trust in connected systems. 

“Each represents not just a technical advance, but a path towards more resilient and sustainable societies.”

Emerging energy innovations

Emerging technologies outlined in the WEF’s report include several that could reshape energy systems:

• Structural battery composites: Materials that integrate energy storage with load-bearing structures, enabling lighter and more efficient transport and infrastructure
• Osmotic power systems: Renewable energy generated from salinity differences in water, offering steady and low-impact electricity
• Advanced nuclear technologies: Including small modular reactors (SMRs) and alternative cooling systems, positioned as safer, scalable sources of zero carbon energy
• Green nitrogen fixation: Low-carbon methods to produce ammonia for fertiliser and fuels, reducing the footprint of a process vital to food production
• Collaborative sensing: Networks of interconnected sensors paired with AI and 5G to enhance decision-making for mobility, logistics and urban environments

“In exploring these technologies, we invite readers to look beyond technical specifications,” says H.E. Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation.

“Each innovation represents more than an isolated advancement – it is a signal of broader transformations taking shape across our global systems. 

“These are not just technologies, but potential catalysts for reimagining how we address complex global challenges.”

A strategic energy transition

Underpinned by ecosystem readiness maps and foresight frameworks, the WEF argues that the next decade will demand collaboration to scale these technologies responsibly and effectively.

Success, it says, will depend on combining innovation with new regulation, resilient supply chains and public trust.

Past reports have identified technologies like CRISPR and mRNA vaccines before their widespread impact.

Similarly, this year’s innovations have the potential to act as change agents, particularly in achieving energy sustainability.

From enabling net zero agriculture to redefining mobility through energy-storing materials, these innovations collectively point towards a future where science and strategy converge in pursuit of sustainable societies.

Reshaping energy landscapes

With the risk of misinformation cited among the top global challenges by 2025, governance of technology is crucial.

The WEF highlights generative watermarking, embedding invisible identifiers in AI-generated content, as a foundational approach to digital trust, with efforts by major tech firms and regulatory bodies towards establishing universal standards.

Meanwhile, collaborative sensing integrates distributed sensors with AI and 5G to dynamically manage urban environments, illustrating the shift towards intelligent infrastructures.

Energy system re-invention

From structural battery composites to next-generation nuclear deployment, energy systems hold a significant place in the WEF’s 2025 list.

SBCs integrate energy storage and load-bearing structures, enhancing electric vehicle and aircraft efficiency.

Osmotic power systems, advancing with new membrane materials, harness renewable energy from water salinity differences.

Advanced nuclear approaches, particularly small modular reactors, are being fast-tracked globally to complement renewables.

Green nitrogen fixation technologies promise to reduce carbon footprints in agriculture by replacing conventional processes with low-carbon ammonia production methods.

Collectively, these innovations herald a transformation of energy networks into systems that are more adaptable and sustainable.

“The integration of energy systems and materials… provides dramatic improvements in functionality and efficiency as seen in this year’s list,” Mariette DiChristina, Dean and Professor of Journalism at Boston University College of Communication and Bernard S. Meyerson, Chief Innovation Officer Emeritus at IBM, Co-Chairs of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies Steering Group, say in the introduction of the report.

“In structural battery composites, transport gets an upgrade with ‘massless’ energy systems that blend into the load-bearing elements. 

“Turning to other sources of energy, advances in materials for semipermeable membranes enable ‘salt power’ in osmotic power systems. 

“Finally, in the search for non-carbon energy sources, new designs for next-generation nuclear power plants are coming online.”