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MIT Technology Review's 2026 list of young innovators highlights Laureen Meroueh, founder of Hertha Metals, who has developed a furnace that converts iron ore directly into refined liquid steel in one step using natural gas instead of coal. The list also spotlights biotech researchers working on vision-restoring gene therapies, brain electrodes, and AI-designed viruses.
MIT Technology Review has released its annual list of 35 young innovators, chosen from 550 nominations with help from 44 expert judges. Honorees span biotechnology, AI, computing and robotics, and climate and energy, each showing measurable progress toward their goals. A separate feature in the same issue explores how spiderwebs, rich in trapped environmental DNA, are becoming a valuable tool for tracking biodiversity.
Insilico Medicine's AI-designed drug rentosertib, originally developed to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, produced unexpected reductions in biological age markers during a phase 2a trial. Researchers reanalyzed blood samples from 42 of 71 Chinese trial participants using six computational aging clocks, finding treated patients showed younger predicted ages after 12 weeks compared to placebo recipients.
Eli Lilly has struck a cash deal worth as much as $2.875 billion to acquire Merida Biosciences, a biotechnology company. The acquisition is aimed at strengthening Lilly's immunology drug pipeline.
Chinese biotech firms and health-tech companies are increasingly partnering with low- and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, supplying vaccines, medical equipment financing and digital-health systems. Examples include equipment financing in Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire, pharmaceutical production in Zambia, and vaccine supply to Indonesia and Mexico during the pandemic. These bilateral deals are emerging as traditional multilateral aid budgets shrink worldwide.