From passive urban heat control to quantum drug simulation, the latest Summer Davos report highlights the ten innovations that have crossed the laboratory threshold to transform industry and cities

Technological progress is no longer measured solely by the fascination generated by discoveries in a test tube or on a blackboard, but by their ability to take hold in the real world. Against this backdrop, the World Economic Forum (WEF) presented at its annual meeting in Dalian, China — known as Summer Davos — its report on the ten emerging technologies set to shape the economic and social landscape in 2026. The report serves as a radar for innovations reaching a critical tipping point, where commercial viability meets global urgency.

“We are looking for clear signals that these technologies are approaching the point where decisions by governments, industry and research institutions can determine their direct impact on society,” say Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director of the Forum’s Centre for Frontier Technologies, and Fred Fenter, Editorial Director at Frontiers Media.

Three overarching trends emerge from the report: the hyper-personalisation of medicine, the decentralisation of essential resource production, and an urgent imperative to do more with less. It is in this latter area that some of the strongest efforts to decarbonise the economy converge, alongside the transformation of the architecture and infrastructure that underpin our cities.

The race to cool cities without consuming energy

Among this year’s selected solutions, passive radiative cooling materials stand out as one of the most disruptive approaches to addressing both the climate crisis and the energy challenge. These coatings, films and construction elements are designed to reflect up to 95% of solar radiation while releasing heat into outer space through what is known as the atmosphere’s infrared atmospheric window. The result is surfaces that remain several degrees cooler than the surrounding air without consuming a single kilowatt of electricity.

With regulations already requiring cool roofs in regions such as California and China, and energy savings of up to 20% reported in industrial and commercial facilities, advanced materials are no longer a speculative proposition but an increasingly clear market requirement.

This is the context in which developments such as PhotoKrete fit: a technology that applies the principles of surface physics to concrete and cement-based materials. In response to the “urban heat island effect” that places cities under intense thermal stress during the summer months, integrating photoactive and highly reflective properties into cement makes it possible to act passively on the surrounding environment:

• Urban thermal mitigation: Turns façades and pavements into thermal shields that reduce the accumulation of heat stored during the day.
• Passive sustainability: Reduces reliance on mechanical cooling systems and lowers the carbon footprint associated with the continuous maintenance of infrastructure.
• Active infrastructure: Enables construction elements — traditionally designed to absorb radiation — to operate instead as agents of decarbonisation at a local scale.

A global view of technological change

Alongside advances in materials science and passive cooling, the World Economic Forum report explores nine other areas of strategic innovation, ranging from everything-to-grid smart electricity networks and direct lithium extraction to quantum drug simulation, biotechnology and post-quantum cryptography.

For the full list and a detailed analysis of the report, you can consult the official publication on the World Economic Forum website: Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026.

From the laboratory to industrial scale

The 2026 selection highlights how the boundary between scientific progress and industrial application is becoming increasingly narrow. The real challenge of this decade lies not in isolated discoveries, but in the ability to scale them. Photoactive materials and passive cooling solutions such as PhotoKrete demonstrate how innovation in advanced materials can radically improve the energy efficiency of buildings and urban infrastructure, delivering tangible solutions through the very materials with which we build the future.

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