Stanford Emerging Tech

The Stanford Emerging Technology Review helps America’s public and private sectors better understand transformational technologies so that the United States can seize opportunities, mitigate risks, and ensure its innovation ecosystem continues to thrive. The product of a major new Stanford education initiative, its clear explanation of pivotal tech domains, recent developments within them, and what to look out for in the future makes it an indispensable guide to tomorrow’s world.

 

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2025 TECHNOLOGY FOCUS AREAS

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AI

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of computers to perform functions associated with the human brain, including perceiving, reasoning, learning, interacting, problem solving, and exercising creativity.

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Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology

Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology

Biotechnology partners with biology to create products and services, like engineering skin microbes to fight cancer or brewing medicines from yeast. This industry, already 5 percent of US GDP, is poised for significant growth.

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Cryptography

Cryptography

Cryptography refers to the mathematics of protecting data from being surreptitiously altered or accessed inappropriately. It is essential for most internet activity, including messaging, e-commerce, and banking.

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Lasers

A laser is a light source with three important characteristics. Laser light is monochromatic, meaning the light is highly concentrated around a central wavelength, with very little emitted at other wavelengths.

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Materials Science

Materials Science

From semiconductors in computer chips to plastics in everyday objects, materials are everywhere. Knowing how to synthesize and process them, as well as understanding their structure and properties, has helped to shape the world around us.

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Neuroscience

Neuroscience

A brain-machine interface is a device that maps neural impulses from the brain to a computer and vice versa.

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Robotics

Robotics

In general, robots are human-made physical entities with ways of sensing themselves or the world around them and the ability to create physical effects on that world—beyond this statement, there is no consensus on the defi ning characteristics of a robot.

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Semiconductors

Semiconductors

Semiconductors, often in the form of microchips, are crucial components in everything from smartphones and cars to advanced weapons and navigation systems used by the military.

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Space

Space

By definition, space technology is any technology developed for the purpose of conducting or supporting activities beyond the Kármán line (i.e., one hundred kilometers or sixty-two miles above the Earth’s surface).

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Sustainable Energy Technologies

Sustainable Energy Technologies

The transition to sustainable energy relies on improving every step of the energy supply chain, from generation to transmission to storage. However, the sheer scale of global energy has two major implications.

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Other Content

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Executive Summary

Executive Summary

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Foreword

Foreword

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Cross-Cutting Themes

Cross-Cutting Themes

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Technology Applications By Policy Area

Technology Applications By Policy Area

The Interconnect

The Interconnect

The Interconnect, a new podcast series from the Council on Foreign Relations and the Stanford Emerging Technology Review, brings together leading minds in cutting-edge technology and foreign policy to explore recent ground-breaking developments, what's coming over the horizon, and the implications for U.S. innovation leadership.

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