Trends Identified
Biotechnology
OECD defined Biotechnology as application of science and technology to living organisms as well as parts, products and models thereof, to alter living and non-living materials for the production of knowledge, goods and services (Van Beuzekom and Arundel, 2006). The crosscutting nature of biotechnology offers a distinct opportunity for economic growth while offering solutions to the myriad challenges globally encountered in food security, energy security and healthcare.
2017
Science & Technology Foresight Malaysia
Malaysia, Academy of Sciences Malaysia
Biotechnology
Biotechnology encompasses a wide range of issues entailing the biological modification of organisms and non-living materials to develop new properties, which have application in medicine, food science and agriculture, and industrial manufacturing. Developments in biotechnology are likely to be swift as indicated by the significant increase in global biotech revenues ($23 billion in 2000 to $50 billion in 2005) and the purchase by large pharmaceutical companies of ‘biotech’ firms in order to secure the most effective avenues for future drug development.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
Biotechnology and health tech
Advances in ICT have allowed an increasing integration of synthetic biology, systems biology and functional genomics into biotechnology. Through convergence of an ever-expanding range of “omics” technologies – genomics, proteomics (proteins), metabolomics (biochemical activity), etc. – computational biology explores the roles, relationships and actions of the various types of molecules that make up the cells of an organism (Emerging Technologies, 2014), allowing the functions of organisms to be better understood, from the molecular level to the system level, and advancing biotechnology applications. The cost of sequencing a complete human genome has fallen faster even than implied by Moore’s Law (section C.2) to around $1,000, and is expected to cost no more than a regular blood test by the early 2020s (Wadhwa with Salkever, 2017:123–124).
2018
Technology and Innovation Report 2018
UNCTAD
Biotechnology processes to obtain recombinant proteins of plant and animal origin
Biotechnological processes to produce recombinant proteins for industrial (enzymes, biopolymers, etc.) and medical (vaccines, antibodies, enzymes) use in plants and animals, or “biofactories”, are cheaper and more effective compared with traditional technologies based on using microbial cultures and animal cells. Thus, technologies to produce recombinant proteins in plants using viral systems, and in the milk of transgenic animals, are one of the key prospective developments in this field.
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Birth and death: the drivers of demography
The way in which individuals organise at a societal, community or household level – fragmented along dimensions of gender, age, ethnicity or citizenship – are likely to trigger an evolution in how policies are carried out in the future. Demographic change, which is both a cause and a consequence of these evolving organisations and structures, therefore forms a cross-cutting issue. It is thought to be driven by many actors, including medical progress, sanitation, pandemics or conflict and economic conditions, as well as policy levers (Bongaarts, 2009a; Bongaarts, 2009b).
2013
Europe's Societal Challenges: An analysis of global societal trends to 2030 and their impact on the EU
RAND Corporation
Blockchain
Distributed electronic ledger that uses software algorithms to record and confirm transactions with reliability and anonymity.
2017
Innovation for the Earth - Harnessing technological breakthroughs for people and the planet
PWC
Blockchain
Distributed electronic ledger that uses software algorithms to record and confirm transactions with reliability and anonymity. The record of events is shared between many parties and information once entered cannot be altered, as the downstream chain reinforces upstream transactions.
2016
Tech breaktroughs megatrend
PWC