Innovate UK – Horizon Scanning

About Horizon Scanning

We are at one of the most important and exciting times in the history of research and innovation in the UK. The rate of discovery and technological advance is astonishing, with unprecedented opportunities to create value for society and the economy.

The science fiction of just a few decades ago, from video calls to bionic limbs, is now part of everyday life. This is a new industrial revolution, driven by the pace of technological change.

Technology helps drive innovation. New technologies can hold enormous potential for businesses, creating new products and services, and enhancing productivity and competitiveness.

Innovate UK, as part of UKRI has a unique position to act as a connector between research, industry and government. We have the experience to collate, understand, and share the information needed to identify emerging technologies at an early stage.

About the report

Innovate UK’s 50 Emerging Technologies report takes a bite-size look at technologies likely to be important for the UK economy in 20 years’ time.

Created with growth in mind
Highlights emerging technologies that will help to address societal challenges and will present opportunities to develop high-growth businesses.

Planting seeds of new ideas
Our aim is to stimulate debate and discussion about how these early-stage technologies – or, more likely, combinations of them – could be developed into future commercial products, and how they might shape our society.

Applications are limitless
These technologies have many possible applications, most of which have not been thought of yet. Their impact will likely be felt across all industries.

Read more about the report in our press release.

Get Involved

“The best way to predict the future is to create it” – attributed to Abraham Lincoln and Peter Drucker

The very start of our process to identify emerging technologies begins with hearing from the people creating them.

Our Future Technologies Survey 2024 is now open until April 21. It is the third iteration of this survey, and we are actively seeking input from researchers, academics and business innovators across all industries to get involved.

Please complete the survey here.

We have also been holding interactive ‘Glimpse of the Future’ workshops, hosted by Innovate UK Business Connect and Innovate UK’s Horizon Scanning team. Further details of future workshops along with an expression of interest form to join will be made available when the dates of the next events are confirmed.

Please revisit this page soon to take part in uncovering our future innovation.

Feedback

Our primary aim for this work is to inspire discussion. Part of that discussion should be to challenge our thinking so that our work is increasingly robust and informed.

Feedback on the report or our events can be emailed to HorizonScanning@iuk.ukri.org. Please keep in mind that the Report and Deep Dive events are pilots and therefore will need tweaking for any future iterations, so we encourage the sharing of polite and constructive views.