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Top 10 emerging technologies for 2013 The World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on emerging technologies releases its top 10 emerging technologies for the year.
OnLine Electric Vehicles (OLEV)
“Already widely used to exchange digital information, wireless technology can now also deliver electric power to moving vehicles,” writes the council . “These vehicles require only a fifth the battery capacity of a standard electric car, and can achieve transmission efficiencies of over 80 percent.” In this image, an Azapa Co. AZP-LSEV electric vehicle (EV) is displayed behind a screen simulating a map during a demonstration at Automotive World 2013 in Tokyo on Jan. 18.
Noriko Hayashi
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Bloomberg News
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3-D printing and remote manufacturing
The council’s report cites 3-D printing and remote manufacturing as emerging technologies of 2013, though the technology was talked about heavily in 2012. In their report, members write that 3-D printing technology could bring about significant change, “potentially revolutionizing the economics of manufacturing.” In this photo, Bill Derry, assistant director of innovation and user experience at the Westport, Conn., public library, looks at the gears of a new 3-D printer on Jan. 29.
Erin Covey
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AP
Self-healing materials
“A growing trend in biomimicry is the creation of non-living structural materials that also have the capacity to heal themselves when cut, torn or cracked,” write the authors. “Self-healing materials which can repair damage without external human intervention could give manufactured goods longer lifetimes and reduce the demand for raw materials, as well as improving the inherent safety of structural materials used in construction or to form the bodies of aircraft. “ In this photograph, Indian nurses work at a hospital in New Delhi on Feb. 8.
Tsering Topgyal
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AP
Carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion and use
“New technologies that convert the unwanted CO2 into saleable goods can potentially address both the economic and energetic shortcomings of conventional CCS strategies,” the authors write. “One of the most promising approaches uses biologically-engineered photosynthetic bacteria to turn waste CO2 into liquid fuels or chemicals, in low-cost, modular solar converter systems.” In this photograph, a woman smells aromatic plants used to add flavor to recycled rain water, in the terrace of a house in Mexico City on Jan. 14.
Ronaldo Schemidt
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AFP/Getty Images
Energy-efficient water purification
“Where freshwater systems are over-used or exhausted, desalination from the sea offers near-unlimited water but at the expense of considerable use of energy — mostly from fossil fuels — to drive evaporation or reverse osmosis systems,” write the authors. The report cites forward osmosis or solar-thermal geothermal installations as potential emerging technologies that could lead to more efficient water purification. In this December 2012 photograph, a student walks past a sculpture made of empty water bottles in Burlington, Vt.
Toby Talbot
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AP
Enhanced nutrition to drive health at the molecular level
“Modern genomic techniques have been applied to determine at the gene sequence level the vast number of naturally consumed proteins which are important in the human diet,” write the authors. In this photo, bottles of Life brand vitamins produced by Shoppers Drug Mart are displayed for sale at a store in Toronto on Feb. 4.
Aaron Harris
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Bloomberg News
Remote sensing
In this photograph, a Nike+ FuelBand is demonstrated during a product release announcement in January 2012 in New York. These types of technologies “will continue to change the way we respond to the environment, particularly in the area of health,“ the authors write. Other types of sensors include those that could be placed in cars, allowing cars to detect one another and reduce, if not eliminate, vehicle collision accidents.
Bebeto Matthews
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AP
Precise drug delivery through nanoscale engineering
“Pharmaceuticals which can be precisely delivered at the molecular level within or around the cell offer unprecedented opportunities for more [effective] treatments while reducing unwanted side effects,” write the authors. In this image, Michael Deighan, who has been HIV positive since 1981 and is a co-owner of the print shop Nightsweats & T-cells, displays his midday pills that he takes daily to battle the virus.
Amy Sancetta
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AP
Organic electronics and photovoltaics
“In contrast to traditional (silicon-based) semiconductors that are fabricated with expensive photolithographic techniques, organic electronics can be printed using low-cost, scalable processes such as ink jet printing — making them extremely cheap compared with traditional electronics devices,” write the authors. In this August 2010 photo provided by NREL, workers install PV panels on the roof of the Research Support Facility building at NREL in Golden, Colo.
Dennis Schroeder
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AP
Fourth-generation reactors and nuclear waste recycling
“Spent-fuel recycling and breeding uranium-238 into new fissile material — known as ‘Nuclear 2.0’ — would extend already-mined uranium resources for centuries while dramatically reducing the volume and long-term toxicity of wastes,” write the authors. In this photo, a member of the media looks at a site map of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.'s Kori nuclear power site at the company's showroom in Busan, South Korea, on Feb. 5.
SeongJoon Cho
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Bloomberg News
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Section:/national/on-innovations
![“Pharmaceuticals which can be precisely delivered at the molecular level within or around the cell offer unprecedented opportunities for more [effective] treatments while reducing unwanted side effects,” write the authors. In this image, Michael Deighan, who has been HIV positive since 1981 and is a co-owner of the print shop Nightsweats & T-cells, displays his midday pills that he takes daily to battle the virus.](/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/07/13/Health-Environment-Science/Images/2001-N~1.JPG)
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