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KNOWLEDGE FOR POLICY

Competence Centre on Foresight

We foster a strategic, future-oriented and anticipatory culture in the EU policymaking process.

Page | Last updated: 18 Mar 2020

New frontiers sciences

  • Increasing synergies among synthetic biology, nanotechnology, 3D&4D printing, robotics, and the advent of AI, quantum computing, collective intelligence and yet to emerge technologies will make the past 25 years seem slow compared to the next 25 years.
  • Most of the grand challenges we'll face by 2050 are technology-related, including: genetic modification of humans, safe car travel (self-driving or not), settling other worlds (space travel), boosted brainpower, and AI’s dominance in our lives. 
  • Convergence of knowledge and technology for the benefit of society (CKTS) is the next stage.
  • Per capita energy demand could peak before 2030, due to increased efficiency enabled by new technologies and stricter energy policies. | Related Megatrends: Natural resourcesConsumerism
  • Technological breakthroughs are needed for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Some technological solutions and initiatives are already either under development or even ready for the market --  raging from bio-enhancing materials that can merge with the
    natural environment, to energy distribution and transmission technologies and virtual power-plants.
  • Frontiers of sciences are expanding – understanding of time, multidimensions, multiverse, teleportation, and of life itself. (e.g. the reversal of "arrow of time"multiversewearable technologyteleportation, and the list is expanding by the day).
  • Teleportation, future-times camera and backwards time telegraph, which could be available in about 10 years, will transform our perception of time and space.

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