Last year, Dean Barry Shoop was selected as one of 25 International experts to the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) Meta-Council on Emerging Technologies. He will continue to serve on the steering committee for the 2021 WEF Meta-Council on Emerging Technologies.

This steering committee, convened annually by the WEF, identifies the top 10 emerging technologies that will become material, either socially or commercially within the coming few years. In addition to the WEF, Scientific American publishes the Top 10 Emerging Technologies and this will be the 10th-anniversary edition. This year’s Technologies, which were announced in Scientific American, are:

1.    Decarbonization Rises.
2.    Crops that Self-Fertillise.
3.    Breath Sensors Diagnose Diseases.
4.    On-Demand Drug Manufacturing.
5.    Energy from Wireless Signals.
6.    Engineering Better Ageing.
7.    Green Ammonia.
8.    Biomaker Devices Go Wireless.
9.    Houses Printed with Local Materials.
10.  Space Connects the Globe.

The 2021 Meta-Council on Emerging Technologies is co-chaired by Bernard S. Meyerson, Vice President of Innovation for IBM, and Mariette DiChristina, former Editor-in-Chief of Scientific American and Executive Vice-President, Magazines, Springer Nature. This year, this group reviewed more than 75 nominated technologies. To be included, the technologies must have the potential to spur progress in societies and economies by outperforming established ways of doing things. They should also not yet be in wide use, but likely have a major impact within the next three to five years. The steering group met several times virtually to evaluate the candidate technologies and then closely scrutinate the front-runners before making final decisions.

The World Economic Forum article can be found at:
    https://www.weforum.org/reports/top-10-emerging-technologies-of-2021 

The Scientific American article can be found at:
    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/top-10-emerging-technologies-for-2021/