This report offers an easy-to-use reference tool that harnesses the expertise of Stanford University’s leading science and engineering faculty in ten major technological areas: artificial intelligence, biotechnology and synthetic biology, cryptography and computer security, energy technologies, materials science, neuroscience, quantum technologies, robotics, semiconductors, and space. These fields leverage areas of deep expertise at Stanford and cover many critical and emerging technologies identified by the White House and other US government departments.
Takeaways
- Each chapter seeks to strike a balance between covering recent developments in science and in the headlines, and providing essential knowledge about how a field works, what is important within it, and what challenges lie ahead.
- This report intentionally skews toward breadth, offering a 30,000-foot view of a vast technological landscape in one compendium. Readers should consider it as an introductory course.
- We start with the science but do not end with the science. Technological breakthroughs are necessary but not sufficient conditions for successful innovation. Economic, political, and societal factors play enormous and often hidden roles.