About the List
MIT Technology Review’s annual list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies aims to help our audience know which emerging technologies are really worth paying attention to right now. Our editors and reporters pitch advances that they think should make the list, and we discuss and debate the merits of each over the course of several months.
We look for breakthroughs that will have a broad impact and make meaningful differences in our lives and work. We give equal consideration to those that we think will have a positive effect or bring negative consequences. Every year, we have to pass on many worthy candidates. Here’s what didn’t make the list this year.
This is the 25th year we’ve produced this list. Predicting the future is tough and we don’t always get it right. Look back through our archives to see what’s worked out—and what hasn’t. Or read this special analysis by an MIT researcher about some of the flops.