Decarbonization tech one of top new trends to watch in next 3 years

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Decarbonization technologies, self-fertilizing crops, on-demand drug manufacturing, breath-sensing diagnostics, and 3D-printed houses are among the new tech trends that are set to impact the world in the next three to five years.

A new report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) listed the top 10 emerging technologies to watch for in the months and years to come.

- Decarbonization technologies

"As nations race to deliver on their commitments to tackle climate change, a multitude of technologies that offer lower-carbon footprint solutions, or suck carbon dioxide out of the air, will need to scale up fast," said the report, which was prepared with Scientific American magazine.

These technologies will involve net-zero emissions air-conditioning, low-carbon cement, renewable energy sources, and meat-free protein, among others, it added.

- Self-fertilizing crops

The report also said that growing food for the world’s growing population relies heavily on such nitrogen-containing industrial fertilizers as ammonia – the production of which accounts for 1% to 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

"New engineering approaches enable crop plants to produce their own fertilizer by mimicking a symbiotic relationship between plant roots and soil bacteria that occurs in nature," it said.

Green ammonia, which is made from cleaner sources of hydrogen, could provide more environmentally friendly fertilizers for crops, it said.

Breath-sensing technologies are also considered as important to diagnose new diseases as well as tuberculosis and cancer in the coming days.

"Human breath contains more than 800 compounds. New breath-sensing technologies analyse these compounds and detect changes in concentrations of compounds associated with diseases."

Energy from wireless signals, engineering better ageing, wireless biomarker devices, houses printed from locally sourced materials, space internet of things are also identified with the greatest potential for impact.​​​​​​​