10 Emerging Technologies in 2026: Top Innovations Reshaping Industries

US enterprise adoption of generative AI surged from 11% to 65% by late 2024, with productivity gains of up to 34%. This signals that AI agents are becoming operational infrastructure. At the same time, advanced computing is attracting long-term capital – quantum technologies are projected to reach USD 97 billion by 2035, with startup funding rising sharply in 2024.

Automation and intelligent interfaces are also accelerating. Factories installed 542 000 industrial robots in 2024, XR usage surpassed 215 million consumers, and AI smart glasses shipments grew 247% year-over-year. In biotech, CRISPR therapies report up to 96.6% clinical success, while 90 active BCI trials indicate neural interfaces are entering translational phases.

Meanwhile, climate urgency – with 1.55°C warming recorded in 2024 and net-zero commitments covering 74% of global emissions – is driving systemic innovation, even as 72% of organizations report rising cyber risks.

Collectively, emerging technologies are defined by convergence: AI, compute, automation, biology, and climate tech are scaling simultaneously. The strategic challenge for leaders is prioritization – deciding which platforms to embed deeply now versus monitor at the edge.

Therefore, the 10 critical emerging technologies to watch in 2026 are:

1. Generative AI & Agents
2. Advanced Computing
3. Next-Gen Connectivity
4. Robotics & Autonomous Systems
5. Extended Reality (XR) Expansion
6. Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs)
7. Synthetic Biology & Bio-Engineering
8. Climate Tech
9. Nanotechnology
10. Digital Trust & Cybersecurity

10 Critical Emerging Technologies to Watch in 2026

1. Generative AI & Agents: Gen AI Increases Productivity by 17%

In 2024, 88% of organizations reported using AI in at least one business function.

Similarly, US enterprises found generative AI usage climbing from 11% at the beginning of 2023 to 65% by late 2024, an increase of more than 50 percentage points in under two years.

At the individual level, 75% of knowledge workers were already using generative AI tools in 2024.

Likewise, 39.4% of employees had used generative AI, while 28% of them were using it for their job, and 10.6% used it every workday in the previous week.

The share of work hours spent using generative AI in the US workforce rose from 4.1% in November 2024 to 5.7% by August 2025.

Approximately 18% of financial services complaint texts in late 2024 were large language model (LLM)-assisted, and up to 24% of corporate press releases also contained LLM-generated content.

Beyond adoption, a large-scale field experiment with customer support agents found that access to a generative AI assistant increased productivity by nearly 14%, with gains reaching about 34% for novice and low-skilled workers.

Likewise, generative AI tools increased worker productivity by around 17% on average across sectors and task types. At an organizational level where generative AI had been piloted or deployed, companies reported a 6.7% improvement in customer engagement and satisfaction.

Meanwhile, 62% respondents reported that their organizations are at least experimenting with AI agents. Further, AI agent use at scale is most advanced in technology, media, and telecom, where up to 24% of software engineering teams and 22% of IT functions report fully scaling agentic systems.

Spotlighting an Innovator – Nexacast

UK-based startup Nexacast offers an AI-powered process-optimization platform that utilizes reinforcement learning, generative AI, and intelligent agent systems to streamline and enhance operational workflows.

It processes real-time operational data through a unified process-intelligence dashboard that provides end-to-end visibility, continuous performance monitoring, AI-driven analytics, and automated bottleneck detection.

2. Advanced Computing: Quantum, Neuromorphic & More

Quantum computing, communication, and sensing together are expected to generate up to USD 97 billion globally by 2035. Moreover, public investment in quantum technology startups jumped from 15% of total funding in 2023 to 34% in 2024, a 19 percentage-point increase in a single year.

On the innovation front, researchers at Caltech demonstrated a neutral-atom quantum system with 6100 qubits operating at room temperature, while achieving coherence times of about 12.6 seconds and 99.98% accuracy. This represents a tenfold increase in array size over previous efforts.

At the same time, IBM’s Heron family of superconducting processors offers 133 or 156 qubits with a two-qubit error rate of 3.7 E-3 and a performance of 250 000 circuit layer operations per second (CLOPS). </p>

Likewise, IBM targets a 1386-qubit Kookaburra processor that links into a 4158-qubit system. Its Starling fault-tolerant quantum supercomputer executes 100 million quantum operations using 200 logical qubits.

In neuromorphic computing, Intel’s Hala Point system integrates 1152 Loihi-class chips. It is capable of processing more than 380 trillion 8-bit synaptic operations and over 240 trillion neuron operations per second.

Intel’s second-generation Loihi 2 processor delivers up to 10x faster processing than the original Loihi chip. It maintains a 128-core architecture with around 130 000 neurons per chip that has already been used by more than 100 research groups worldwide.

Meanwhile, integrated neuromorphic photonic hardware achieves about 160 tera-operations per second per watt (TOPS/W). Another architecture, CHORD, reports performance density of 4327 TOPS/W and more than 1000 TOPS per square millimeter, with simulations indicating 74x faster inference and 194x lower energy use.

Spotlighting an Innovator – OptQC

Japanese startup OptQC develops an optical quantum computer that uses quantum teleportation, time-domain multiplexing, and measurement-based quantum computation to perform large-scale, high-speed quantum information processing.

It builds large time-domain cluster states using sequential light pulses and processes them through rapid measurement-basis switching.

3. Next-Gen Connectivity: 3B Active 5G Subscriptions

About 6 billion people are online, roughly 74% of the world’s population. This marks a rise from 60% in 2020, with an estimated 1.3 billion people coming online in that period.

Moreover, around 3 billion 5G subscriptions are already active, and the coverage reaches 55% of the global population. However, coverage averages 84% high-income countries, whereas 4% in low-income countries.

Meanwhile, the global mobile data traffic will grow by a factor of 2.5x between 2024 and 2030.

At the same time, the IMT-2030 framework for 6G aims for peak data rates of 50-200 Gbps per device, user-experienced rates of 300-500 Mbps, latencies in the range of 0.1-1 ms, and connection densities up to 1E6-1E8 devices per sq km.

6G networks are designed to be AI-native. These networks embed AI across all network functions, including model management, configuration, analytics, and intent-based interaction. They progress from AI-assisted operations to fully self-evolving systems in which the network functions as an intelligent, autonomous agent.

Further, the installed base of connected internet of things (IoT) devices reached 21.1 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach 39 billion by 2030. Moreover, Wi-Fi (32%), Bluetooth (24%) and cellular IoT (22%) together account for nearly 80% of all IoT connections in 2025.

Lastly, Wi-Fi 7 introduces 320 MHz-wide channels, 4096-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and multi-link operation across the 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands. These enhancements push peak data rates to roughly 40-46 Gbps, which is about 4-5x faster than Wi-Fi 6/6E.

Spotlighting an Innovator – Anedya

Indian startup Anedya provides a cloud-based infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platform for IoT applications. It manages the complete device lifecycle, including onboarding, data storage, real-time alerts, updates, and data aggregation.

The platform connects IoT hardware to the cloud through a unified interface that handles secure device authentication, rapid deployment, and scalable data processing.

4. Robotics & Autonomous Systems: 10% Productivity Increase

542 000 industrial robots were installed in factories in 2024, more than double the number a decade earlier, and annual installations have exceeded 500 000 units for 4 consecutive years.

Asia accounted for 74% of new robot installations in 2024, while Europe represented 16% and the Americas 9%.

Also, the adoption of industrial robots is associated with an approximately 10% increase in total factor productivity for adopting firms, with results significant at the 1% level.

At the same time, cobots accounted for 10.5% of all industrial robots installed worldwide in 2023. China has increased its industrial robot density to 470 robots per 10 000 manufacturing workers, more than doubling its level since 2019 and surpassing Germany’s 429 robots per 10 000 workers. Meanwhile, South Korea remains the global leader with 1012 robots per 10 000 employees.

Moreover, global sales of professional service robots reached almost 200 000 units in 2024, with a 9% increase. This was driven largely by 102 900 transport and logistics robots sold, up 14%.

At the same time, the robot-as-a-service (RaaS) fleet expanded 31%, while cleaning robots grew 34% and medical robots surged 91% in 2024.

36% of companies cited cost-effectiveness as the leading factor in warehouse automation decisions, followed by long-term ROI and order-pick accuracy improvement, each at 31%. Meanwhile, 28% highlight increased facility throughput, and 25% prioritize flexibility and scalability when selecting automation solutions.

Complementing this, the installed base of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in warehouses will surpass 500 000 units by 2030. At the firm level, Amazon reports using more than 750 000 robots in its fulfilment centres as of early 2025, with over 16 000 employees working on its robotics technologies.

Spotlighting an Innovator – Magnendo

US-based startup Magnendo builds a robotic neurovascular navigation system. It leverages magnetically steerable soft-robotic guidewires to access complex and tortuous brain vasculature.

The system directs flexible robotic instruments through magnetic steering to reach difficult or previously inaccessible neurovascular targets while minimizing vessel trauma and procedural risk.

5. Extended Reality Expansion: 70 M Active VR Users

As of 2024, more than 215 million consumers worldwide had engaged with immersive technologies. With this, about 70 million active VR users and 145 million AR users, and nearly 48% of VR headset owners access immersive content at least weekly.

The combined shipments of AR/VR headsets and display-less smart glasses will rise 39.2% in 2025 to 14.3 million units. Additionally, AI-enabled smart glasses alone grow 247.5% year over year, while Meta holds 60.6% of the total market in the second quarter of 2025.

On the other hand, the University School of Medicine in Atlanta reports that VR-trained surgeons make 40% fewer mistakes than those trained conventionally. Walmart’s VR program cuts retail-manager training time by 80%, while United Rentals reduces outside-sales training time by 40% using immersive instruction.

Enterprise adoption of immersive learning

Similarly, the US Army plans to procure up to 120 000 Microsoft HoloLens headsets in a program valued at nearly USD 21.88 billion to enhance soldier training and situational awareness.

In automotive manufacturing, BMW has documented that augmented reality saves up to one year in vehicle module validation. The AR solution allows engineers to verify assembly processes on virtual models before any physical tooling is built.

Additionally, Microsoft’s Mesh, which includes avatars and immersive spaces built into Teams, is bundled with certain Microsoft 365 plans so that users can join 3D meetings from standard PCs or headsets.

Spotlighting an Innovator – NeuraSim

Indian startup NeuraSim builds BeeVee, a VR therapy platform that treats vision disorders through immersive, gamified rehabilitation. It applies monocular anti-suppression therapy, biocular and binocular training, and stereopsis development to strengthen visual acuity, restore balance between both eyes, and improve depth perception.

6. Brain-Computer Interfaces: 263 000 DBS Devices Implanted

Deep brain stimulation adds a mature BCI-adjacent category, with about 263 000 DBS devices implanted worldwide for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Moreover, US clinical sources treated more than 200 000 patients, and approximately 12 000 DBS surgeries are performed each year.

Around 90 BCI trials were active across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia by mid-2025. Use cases span from communication and mobility to stroke rehabilitation and spinal-cord injury.

Additionally, the UK’s National Health Service launched a GBP 6.5 million trial of an ultrasound-based BCI for mood disorders. China registered a total of 2276 invention and utility model patents as of 2024. In the same year, non-invasive BCIs in China made up about 82% of the market by totalling RMB 2.63 billion.

Neuralink’s N1 implant utilizes 64 ultra-fine threads carrying 1024 electrodes and transmits compressed neural data wirelessly. By mid-2024, the device had been implanted in 3 human participants, with plans to expand to 20-30 participants.

Simultaneously, a 2025 Nature Communications study tested an electroencephalography (EEG)-based motor imagery BCI for robotic hand control in 21 experienced users and achieved 80.56% accuracy on two-finger tasks. It also reached 60.61% accuracy on three-finger tasks.

Speech neuroprostheses decode attempted speech at 62 words per minute. This is about 3.4 times faster than the previous record, with a 9.1% word-error rate on a 50-word vocabulary and 23.8% on a 125 000-word vocabulary.

A separate 2024 implant study on a man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) reported that a text-to-speech BCI enabled him to communicate at 32 words per minute. He achieved this with only 2.5% of attempted words misclassified after 16 cumulative hours of use.

Spotlighting an Innovator – ABILITY Neurotech

Swiss startup ABILITY Neurotech offers a BCI system that captures and decodes full-spectrum neural signals using an advanced optical broadband platform. It integrates a minimally invasive, battery-free implant with induction power and a proprietary invisible form factor for continuous use.

7. Synthetic Biology & Bio-Engineering: 97% Success for Sickle Cell

In December 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Casgevy as the first clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9)-based therapy for sickle cell disease. 29 of 31 treated patients were free of severe pain crises for at least 12 months after their infusion.

Simultaneously, the UK’s National Health Service has approved a separate exa-cel-based gene therapy for sickle cell disease with a 96.6% success rate in preventing painful crises in trial participants.

GenBank reported about 34 trillion base pairs from more than 4.7 billion sequences, while representing roughly 581 000 described species.

Also, current benchtop DNA printers produce fragments up to 200 bases, but new models are expected to generate 5000-7000 base-pair double-stranded DNA within 2-5 years. These devices are expected to reach 10 000 base pairs within 5-10 years.

Meanwhile, Ginkgo Bioworks’ foundry infrastructure synthesizes around 109 million base pairs of DNA for automated organism-engineering campaigns.

At the level of genome design, recent experimental work on recoded organisms demonstrates 62 007 synonymous codon swaps and over 11 000 additional genomic edits within a single synthetic genome.

Further, the cost to sequence a human genome reduced from about USD 1 million in 2007 to roughly USD 600 by 2023. The synthesis costs of short sequences under 100 bases have decreased to approximately USD 0.05-0.15 per nucleotide, with the error rate dropping to roughly one mutation per 200 base pairs or lower.

Moreover, 79 synthetic biology materials companies have collectively attracted nearly USD 8 billion in private investment based on a 2023 analysis.

Meanwhile, 158 companies are focused on fermentation-based alternative proteins for meat, seafood, dairy, egg, and enabling ingredients, up 16% from 2022, with seven new facilities opening that year.

Spotlighting an Innovator – Bioinsumos Brasil

Brazilian startup Bioinsumos Brasil develops BioElicit, a recombinant DNA-based bio-input. It strengthens soybean crop resistance to phytopathogens while reducing chemical pesticide use.

BioElicit combines beneficial bacillus strains with recombinant elicitor proteins that activate the plant’s natural defense pathways to function like a biological vaccine. This prevents future infection and supports healthier growth.

8. Climate Tech: 1.55°C Above Baseline Temp in 2024

The global mean near-surface temperature reached 1.55°C above the 1850-1900 baseline in 2024.

Over 2014-2023, the 10-year average temperature remained around 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels. Meanwhile, atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached about 420 parts per million (ppm) in 2023 compared with roughly 280 ppm before industrialization.

137 of 198 national governments have net-zero targets, with 67% of these targets embedded in law or formal policy. The global net-zero commitments cover 74% of emissions, 77% of gross domestic product (GDP) purchasing power parity (PPP), and 79% of the world’s population.

At the same time, clean power sources, including renewables and nuclear, generated 40.9% of global electricity in 2024.

Global renewable power capacity expanded by 585 GW in 2024, a 15.1% year-on-year increase, to reach 4448 GW. Solar and wind accounted for 96.6% of net additions, and China alone contributed around 64% of new capacity.

Moreover, the installed grid-scale battery storage capacity in the net zero scenario expands 35-fold between 2022 and 2030 to nearly 970 GW.

In parallel, nearly 14 million electric cars were sold in 2023, representing 18% of all new car sales and increasing the global stock of electric cars on the road to about 40 million.

Global electric car stock, 2013-2023

Beyond electrification, the total hydrogen production reached almost 100 Mt in 2024, yet less than 1% of this volume was produced using low-emissions routes such as electrolysis powered by renewables or fossil-based production with carbon capture.

27 direct air capture (DAC) plants have been commissioned worldwide to date, together capturing only about 0.01 Mt of CO2 per year.

Spotlighting an Innovator – sequestra

Austrian startup sequestra offers a carbonation technology that permanently stores CO2 in industrial residues and converts them into sustainable construction materials. It determines material-specific CO2-uptake potential through automated sequestration analysis and builds a sequestration database by testing samples under varied processing conditions.

9. Nanotechnology: 2.5 M Articles Indexed between 2000-2022

The cumulative federal funding for nanotechnology R&D exceeded USD 45 billion between 2001 and the 2025 budget request. The 2025 request alone amounted to more than USD 2.2 billion.

Additionally, around 2.5 million nanotechnology-related articles were indexed worldwide between 2000 and 2022. About 230 000 such articles were published in 2022, and an average annual growth rate of roughly 12.6% over the period.

Between 2009 and November 2024, 764 279 experimental studies involving nanomaterials were published.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved more than 60 nanomedicines for clinical use. They span liposomal formulations, polymer-drug conjugates, and nanoparticle-based imaging agents.

Moreover, at least 15 cancer nanomedicines are already approved, and more than 80 additional candidates are being tested in over 200 active clinical trials. Approximately 250 drugs on the market or in clinical trials rely on nanotechnology platforms.

On the innovation front, Indian startup Theranautilus developed magnetic nanobots that are guided into dentinal tubules and self-assemble into cement-like plugs to offer a treatment for tooth sensitivity.

Beyond medicine, aquatic exposure to engineered nanomaterials is significant, with an estimated global production of 10 000-15 000 tonnes per year for nano-titanium dioxide. Moreover, production estimates include 1 000-36 000 tonnes per year for nano-zinc oxide, 420 tonnes per year for nano-silver, and around 1 400 000 tonnes per year for nano-silica.

Likewise, graphene and graphene quantum-dot supercapacitors reach specific capacitances as high as 566 farads per gram with capacity retention of up to 95% after 2000 charge-discharge cycles.

For instance, graphene quantum dots used for water treatment show a Langmuir adsorption capacity of 226.51 mg of dye per gram. They also achieve more than 99.6% pollutant removal within 30 minutes.

Spotlighting an Innovator – ANT Systems

Turkish startup ANT Systems develops agricultural nanotechnology solutions that improve crop performance and sustainability. The company’s products include Nanotern for controlled water and nutrient release, Insease for sustained insect control through nano-embedded greenhouse films, and Antimic Agro for long-lasting antimicrobial preservation.

10. Digital Trust & Cybersecurity: 92% Companies Report Data Breaches

72% of organizations say their cyber risks have grown in the past year, and 63% identify the rapidly changing threat landscape as their biggest barrier to improving cyber resilience.

Simultaneously, 98% of enterprises report experiencing outages or brownouts, 92% report data breaches, and 74% experienced compliance issues related to digital-trust practices.

In 2025, almost 63% of companies around the world were impacted by ransomware attacks. Additionally, over half of the surveyed organizations each year since 2018 have reported falling victim to ransomware.

Further, the USA accounted for 51.53% of all observed ransomware attacks in 2024. Groups like RansomHub and LockBit were impacted the most in terms of victim volume.

The money collected by ransomware actors worldwide declined slightly between 2023 and 2024, dropping from USD 1.2 billion to nearly USD 814 million.

Additionally, the global average cost of a data breach dropped to USD 4.4 million. While 97% of organizations experiencing AI-related incidents lacked proper access controls, 63% had no AI governance. Also, companies using AI in security saw an average savings of USD 1.9 million compared to those that did not.

Moreover, automated malicious scanning rose by 16.71% year over year, while reaching about 36 000 scans per second worldwide. Meanwhile, logs from compromised systems surged 500% and led to over 1.7 billion stolen credentials on the dark web and a 42% increase in credential-based targeted attacks.

Similarly, IoT devices remain prime targets for automated exploitation, with over 20% of recorded attacks focusing on routers and cameras. For instance, Netcore Netis routers alone account for 18.4% of all attempts.

Spotlighting an Innovator – Cybervergent

US-based startup Cybervergent builds an AI-native cybersecurity platform that provides real-time visibility, automated governance, and continuous compliance in cloud, on-premise, and hybrid infrastructures.

It monitors security posture, detects threats, and monitors incident response using machine learning-driven analysis, automated remediation workflows, and unified control over risk, data security, and policy enforcement.

Key Upcoming Technology Trends [2026-2030]

1. AI Everywhere: Autonomous Agents & AI-First Workflows

AI adoption is moving from assistance-based functions to full decision-making, execution, and autonomous optimization across industries. Autonomous agents are taking over workflow planning, task execution, and adaptive responses without human prompts.

These agents operate across customer service, logistics, operations, and decision-support functions. They leverage advanced language models, multi-agent systems, and feedback loops to improve performance over time.

Organizations are also restructuring workflows to be AI-first, so that processes are designed around AI capabilities rather than adding AI onto existing systems. This shift introduces new governance, accountability, and trust considerations.

2. Convergence of Tech Stacks

Technologies that once operated separately, like AI, robotics, high-speed connectivity, IoT, and advanced computing, are merging into unified hybrid systems. This convergence enables autonomous factories, self-optimizing supply chains, and distributed real-time decision ecosystems.

This is driven by the need for lower latency, improved efficiency, and operational resilience.

3. Human-Machine Symbiosis

Human-machine symbiosis will move toward cognitive integration between humans and intelligent systems. BCIs are expected to progress from prototypes to early commercial use for hands-free control, adaptive interfaces, and high-precision operations.

XR will evolve into persistent mixed reality workspaces that combine real-time spatial data, digital overlays, and AI-driven guidance. AI copilots will shift from assisting tasks to managing workflows, monitoring cognitive load, and dynamically delegating activities between humans and machines.

4. The Energy Transition Accelerates

Green hydrogen will move toward commercial competitiveness, driven by falling electrolyzer costs, expanded hydrogen hubs, and international hydrogen-trade corridors. Small modular reactors (SMRs) are projected to enter early grid integration phases to support stable, low-carbon baseload power.

Long-duration energy storage (LDES) will become essential for grid balancing, with multi-day systems deployed to stabilize renewables-heavy regions. Power grids will undergo digitalization to incorporate AI-driven forecasting, autonomous grid management, and large-scale bidirectional flow support.

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