Dubai is not only keeping pace with rapid technological advancements but is also focused on the future with a confident outlook on its ability to thrive in the evolving landscape. The Dubai Future Foundation has taken on the responsibility of tracking major technological progress and capitalizing on emerging opportunities to enhance economic sectors and empower governments to adapt to transformations for the benefit of communities.
This year, the Dubai Future Foundation participated for the first time in the preparation of the annual report of the World Economic Forum titled “Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2025,” engaging over 300 experts, scientists, researchers, and futurists from around the globe. The report highlights significant technologies and innovations that will shape the world over the coming years and decades.
The report aims to inform government leaders, business executives, policymakers, investors, entrepreneurs, and innovators worldwide about the most important technological and scientific advancements expected to proliferate in the upcoming years.
The research team at the Dubai Future Foundation focused on underscoring the long-term future impact of these technologies, exploring the anticipated transformations if these innovations reach their full potential, and supporting experts and decision-makers in understanding the promising capabilities of modern technologies, inspiring them to think of the best ways to utilize and implement these technologies practically.
Strategic Foresight
Khalfan Belhoul, the CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, emphasizes in the report that the foundation views strategic foresight as a crucial tool for making confident decisions in a rapidly changing world. Each innovation serves as an indicator of broader shifts in global systems and an opportunity to re-evaluate how to address significant challenges.
He adds, “By linking these technologies with major global trends, we aim to construct comprehensive future visions that merge technological potentials with human aspirations. We are not charting a single roadmap but rather opening the door to imagine multiple scenarios that inspire governments and societies to craft a better future for all.”
Indicators of Major Shifts
The “Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2025” report distinguishes itself by focusing on technologies capable of driving systemic changes rather than offering isolated solutions. The most impactful technologies often emerge at the intersection of diverse disciplines, such as the convergence of artificial intelligence with synthetic biology or material sciences with energy systems. Each technology listed in the report signifies a broader transition, with green nitrogen fixation redefining agricultural supply chains, structural batteries enhancing energy efficiency, and self-sensing biochemical systems opening new avenues for health monitoring. For these innovations to mature, it requires not only technical excellence but also integration of social acceptance, economic viability, regulation, and sustainability.
Innovative Developments in the Coming Years
- Structural batteries can increase vehicle range by 70% and reduce aviation emissions by 15%.
- Osmotic energy could fulfill 20% of global electricity needs.
- The UAE is investing $163 billion to achieve 50% clean energy by 2050.
- GLP-1 drugs offer hope for 55 million Alzheimer’s patients, with their market projected to reach $55.7 billion by 2031.
- 30% of shipping fuel is expected to come from green ammonia by 2050.
- Smart microbes will produce medicine within the body, reducing costs by 70%.
- Self-powered biosensors will revolutionize infrastructure.
- The nano-enzymes market for diagnostics and treatment is anticipated to reach $58 billion by 2034.
- Smart cities will make autonomous decisions through cooperative sensing systems.
- AI content authentication will become a legal obligation, with fines reaching up to $38 million.
1. Structural Composite Batteries
This innovation combines two components into one— a rechargeable battery and a structural element that carries loads within vehicles, aircraft, or buildings. This leads to reduced manufacturing costs by decreasing the need for separate structural materials while streamlining production processes and cutting weight. Furthermore, it enhances energy and fuel efficiency, improving fuel efficiency by 6-8% and extending electric vehicle ranges by up to 70%. In aviation, a 15% improvement in fuel efficiency is expected for medium-haul flights.
This technology holds potential for new economic opportunities, such as the establishment of factories specializing in the production of structural battery composites (SBCs), which could drive a new market combining battery manufacturing with advanced composite materials. Additionally, it could pave the way for a completely new sector focused on smart design in vehicles, devices, and buildings that store energy internally, minimizing reliance on traditional lithium batteries, while reducing emissions through lightweight materials, allowing for reuse and recycling if developed intelligently.
2. Osmotic Energy
Osmotic energy systems harness water salinity to generate power by leveraging the concentration gradient between saline and freshwater sources to produce renewable electricity. This method is stable and less environmentally impactful compared to solar or wind energy, which can be weather-dependent.
This technology presents immense production potential, with a theoretical output capacity of up to 5,177 terawatt-hours annually, equivalent to around 20% of the world’s electricity needs. It can also be integrated with existing infrastructures, such as desalination plants, converting saline wastewater into an energy source while extracting valuable resources like lithium and nitrogen during energy production.
Strategically, it can provide local energy to coastal and riverine cities, enhancing energy security while reducing dependence on centralized sources. It is also compatible with other energy sources like solar and wind, forming more flexible and sustainable hybrid systems.
3. Advanced Nuclear Technologies
This next generation of nuclear power represents a breakthrough in energy provision, increasingly vital given the surging global energy demand driven by the proliferation of electric transportation, artificial intelligence, and objectives to reduce carbon emissions. Advanced nuclear technologies are emerging as a reliable solution for clean, safe, and stable electricity generation, economically reducing costs through modular construction and standardization, with small modular reactors built in factories and transported to sites, significantly cutting construction and operating expenses.
These reactors substitute massive bespoke designs and shorten construction times from years to mere months, enabling energy supply for remote areas and industrial sites without complex infrastructures. They also support high-emission industries, where high-temperature gas reactors can provide heat up to 950°C, facilitating decarbonization in sectors that are difficult to mitigate, such as green hydrogen production and heavy industries. Furthermore, this technology offers significant investment opportunities, with the UAE committing $163 billion by 2050 to reach a 50% clean energy objective.
4. Engineered Biological Therapies
This innovative technique employs genetically modified microorganisms to release treatment on demand, representing the future of internal medicine. It utilizes engineered bacteria, yeasts, or cells implanted within the human body to self-produce therapeutic substances tailored to the body’s needs, revolutionizing treatment delivery and significantly lowering manufacturing costs since traditional biologics are produced in complex labs with costly purification processes that account for around 70% of production costs. Live therapies produced within the body eliminate the need for final manufacturing steps, especially for expensive treatments like those for cancer and diabetes.
This approach also enhances distribution efficiency and compliance, offering treatments in the form of capsules or functional food products, bypassing logistical barriers linked to traditional supply chains, while reducing the necessity for repeated dosages, thereby improving treatment adherence and minimizing medical expenses related to misuse or interruptions.
It is projected to create new markets and industrial alliances, enticing pharmaceutical companies and universities, even probiotic producers (like dairy companies) to venture into this field, fostering unconventional partnerships and market expansions while drastically reducing production costs, potentially transforming centralized drug manufacturing into decentralized production systems and stimulating therapeutic innovation.
5. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Treatments
The GLP-1 receptor agonists were originally developed to treat diabetes and obesity but now show promising signs for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s due to their anti-inflammatory properties and brain function stimulation capabilities, assisting in the elimination of toxic proteins.
This medication could open a lucrative market, as over 55 million individuals worldwide are affected by Alzheimer’s, with the GLP-1 drug market projected to reach $55.7 billion by 2031. These medications are expected to slow disease progression, reducing the necessity for costly and long-term care.
Additionally, this technique represents a shift in healthcare models from symptom management to disease-modifying interventions, resulting in a complete economic transformation in care costs and reallocating health spending from advanced and intensive care to prevention and early intervention, thereby alleviating the burden on caregivers – the majority of whom are women – improving household economic stability and enhancing workforce participation.
6. Self-Sensing Biochemical Systems
These bio-sensors provide real-time insights without human intervention; they are analytical devices capable of automatically and continuously monitoring biochemical changes. This includes tracking vital indicators in the human body, such as inflammation and hormones, assessing soil and water quality in natural environments, and early detection of pollutants and toxins in food and the environment.
The technology employs sensors that rely on enzymes and antibodies or engineered microorganisms, powered autonomously through biofuel cells, and wirelessly linked to monitoring and control systems. Economically, they enhance food security through instantaneous food monitoring, while environmentally, they serve as self-operating monitoring systems improving responses to environmental emergencies and minimizing contamination losses.
In healthcare, they lessen reliance on centralized medical facilities and reduce costs associated with early diagnosis and preventive intervention, opening new markets and representing transformations in infrastructure, whether in cities, factories, or homes. With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, organizations that invest early in this technology could achieve leadership in smart essential infrastructures.
7. Green Nitrogen Fixation
This revolutionary method for ammonia production aims for a low-carbon future. Traditional ammonia production is crucial for global agriculture, producing over 150 million tons annually, which supports half of the world’s food supply while accounting for 2% of global energy consumption and being one of the highest carbon-emitting industrial sources. The green nitrogen fixation technology aims to generate ammonia using renewable energy sources and alternative processes like engineered bacteria and lithium-based electrochemical methods to mitigate environmental impact and reduce reliance on natural gas, transforming the fertilizer production chain as about 80% of synthetic ammonia is used in fertilizer manufacturing. Shifting to local, environmentally friendly nitrogen fixation technologies could enable the establishment of small-scale production facilities, reduce transportation and storage costs, stabilize fertilizer prices, and enhance food security, especially for importing nations. Furthermore, this provides new energy opportunities as green ammonia is increasingly used in ships as a diesel alternative, expected to represent 30% of global shipping fuel by 2050. Compared to liquid hydrogen, ammonia storage costs are 30 times lower, making it a competitive source of clean energy.
8. Industrial Catalyst Enzymes Mimicking Nature
These synthetic catalysts imitate natural processes at lower costs and higher efficiencies. They are engineered from nanoscale materials capable of performing chemical reactions under extreme conditions that biological enzymes cannot withstand, thereby creating a rapidly growing global market valued at $5.13 billion in 2024 and anticipated to rise to $57.95 billion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 27%. They are utilized for early medical diagnostics, environmental purification, targeted therapies, and industrial processes.
This innovation can reduce healthcare costs for conditions like cancer and neurological diseases, allowing for precise drug delivery and minimizing side effects while offering effective solutions for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, thereby decreasing treatment-related complications costs. Additionally, they can be integrated with smartphones to expand diagnostic accessibility in resource-poor areas.
9. Smart Monitoring Systems
When smart cities begin making autonomous decisions, the next generation of smart monitoring systems enables distributed sensors across homes, vehicles, and infrastructure to communicate with one another, supported by AI and communication technologies like 5G and V2X. The goal is to develop systems that respond to the environment in real-time, making decisions based on a shared understanding of context. This could lead to significant cost savings, as traffic signals interact automatically with cameras and sensors to reduce congestion and emissions, ultimately cutting fuel costs and enhancing urban productivity. V2X technologies could reduce accidents by up to 78%, which in turn minimizes insurance, healthcare, and emergency service costs.
Moreover, this technology optimizes fuel in transportation, as intelligent truck platooning reduces fuel consumption by 5-10%. Smart cities can reallocate resources and effectively coordinate emergency responses, minimizing economic losses during disasters. This represents a digital infrastructure transformation, as the expansion of 5G networks and ultra-precise connectivity (0.1-meter accuracy at 99.9%) will drive massive investments in the telecommunications sector, paving the way for fully interconnected urban systems.
10. Intellectual Property Rights
This technology involves incorporating invisible markers into AI-generated content—such as texts, images, audio, and videos—to verify sources, combat misinformation, protect intellectual property rights, and enhance transparency in the digital realm. This heralds the emergence of a new global market for content verification, as the surge in synthetic content prompts governments and businesses to adopt tagging as a reliable method for identifying content sources.
This innovation is set to significantly impact creative and media industries. Creators owning tagged content will be in a prime position to market their work confidently and at higher prices, particularly amid the rise of synthetic alternatives. Additionally, it opens pathways for insurance and legal firms to reassess pricing based on the level of “content verification.” Initiatives in China, the European Union, and California are already underway to enact regulations requiring tagging, with penalties reaching up to 7% of annual revenues or $38 million, compelling companies to comply or risk exclusion from markets.
Additional Insights:
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The World Economic Forum and the Dubai Future Foundation have launched the “Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2025” report.
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