Tomorrow’s technologies for today’s planning

This X-ray microscope offers important approaches for finding solutions in areas such as new materials, energy and health research. The study was conducted by the EFIS Centre, a European non-profit think tank for innovation and research policy.

• What are the major challenges facing society and the economy over the next 10 to 15 years?
• What are the needs of industrial companies that do their own research when it comes to making their products and services more sustainable, more efficient and more durable?
• And where exactly can the ultimate 3D X-ray microscope, PETRA IV, help to answer precisely these questions?

A meta-analysis conducted by the EFIS Centre on behalf of DESY has investigated these questions and analysed numerous technical articles, studies and policy documents in various fields of research, including energy (extraction, storage, transport), health, earth and the environment, and mobility, as well as quantum materials and information technology. It also identified cross-cutting issues such as artificial intelligence (AI), which are important for several of the relevant areas. With the study of important future trends that has now been published, DESY is also linking the results of the forecast with concrete plans for the research facility.

“In designing PETRA IV, we are starting with a future-oriented perspective right from the beginning. This means that we are considering the needs of both society and industry when it comes to technologies and research,” explains Harald Reichert, project manager for PETRA IV, “in order to solve the challenges of the next 10 to 15 years. We are now identifying how our planned experimental facilities can make important contributions to these issues, and putting these in concrete terms.”

PETRA IV is meant to create an ecosystem of solutions, one that will help in developing new methods of energy storage and generation, or allow research into customised medicines to be carried out more quickly.

The study links the technology trends it has identified to the challenges facing society and to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This gives an indication of the potential of such technologies to solve these major societal challenges. For example, shifting demographics are posing new challenges in many countries: the fight against cancer, genetic and infectious diseases, or diabetes, to name but a few. These problems in turn affect the development of new technologies and know-how in the life sciences, including gene and cell therapies, or biosensors.

In a further step, the individual technology trends were rated by external experts based on a range of questions, including the degree of maturity of the technology, the expected impact on the economy and society, as well as the disruptive potential. In selecting the respondents for this survey, great importance was attached to identifying representatives from the various fields of industry, applied research and scientific associations.

The Meta-analysis „Technology Trend Study for DESY (Petra IV) Final Report: Meta-analysis of societal & technological challenges" is published under  DOI 10.3204/PUBDB-2022- 03188.