DYNA JOURNAL ENGINEERING

Every year, MIT Technology Review selects ten technologies with the potential to transform entire industries and tackle urgent global challenges; the 2026 edition marks the 25th anniversary of this list and highlights three major axes: the rising weight of AI, the acceleration of biotechnology, and the mounting energy pressure that underpins it all.

The list includes sodium-ion batteries, seen as a cheaper and safer alternative to lithium for large-scale renewable grids, and next-generation nuclear power, with smaller reactors, compact designs, and new materials aimed at cutting costs and improving safety. In the AI realm, it features hyperscale AI data centers, capable of powering gigantic models at the cost of enormous electricity demand, and generative programming tools that automate a significant share of software development.

Biotechnology is strongly represented through concepts such as the “base-edited baby,” genetic “de-extinction,” and embryo scoring, which open radical possibilities in genetic selection and modification while raising major ethical dilemmas. The list also includes technologies like AI companions, mechanistic interpretability of models, and commercial space stations, pointing to a more mature private space economy.

Taken together, the message is clear: AI is not a standalone vertical, but the layer permeating energy, biomedicine, and space, while energy constraints become the bottleneck for almost everything else. For engineers and R&D leaders, this list works as a “radar map” of where it makes sense to look—and to start investing—over the course of this decade.


Límite de vista previ