Identifying, explaining, and assessing emerging technologies that
have potential to change the world is at the core of what we do
in the Technology
and Science Insights (TSI) team at the
Government Office for Science. We enable policy teams to keep up
to date with a rapidly evolving technology landscape and respond
to potential risks and opportunities. Our data and expert insight
support government departments to make better strategic decisions
on science and technology.
One of the ways we do this is through our Rapid Technology
Assessments (RTAs), which give
policymakers an accessible overview of a technology area:
- what is this technology and what are its most recent
developments?
- how could this technology be applied?
- what opportunities does this technology present for the UK
and what are the challenges to realise these?
- how is research and industry activity in this technology
changing? How does development in the UK compare to other
countries?
Each assessment involves a range of academic, industry, and
government experts from the UK and beyond. We combine their
insight with our own analysis of international research and
investment activity. Each RTA is thoroughly reviewed by these
experts and undergoes analytical quality assurance before they
are shared.
RTAs have
different uses depending on the topic. They can help us
understand the likely potential of a technology and how close to
being ready it is (for example, 4D Printing). Or they can
summarise the latest developments in a technology already known
to be important (such as Artificial Intelligence). The topics we
choose for an RTA are based on our horizon scanning and the
interests of other departments. We deliberately cover a wide
range of technologies at different readiness levels. Our topic
selection does not represent a policy view of priorities.
Our recent RTAs
cover topics including:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Novel Batteries
- Digital Twins
- 4D Printing
- Nucleic Acid Technologies
- Synthetic Genomics
Read the summary
reports.
These reports have been produced over the last 2 years so there
may now be more recent developments that these summaries do not
cover. By sharing these RTAs we hope to work with
experts to uncover new developments in these technologies and
ultimately inform government policy.
If you are a policymaker and think these emerging technologies
could be important in your area please get in touch via emtech@go-science.gov.uk. If
you are a researcher, industry expert, or investor and have ideas
about further technologies we should look at, please get in touch
too.
Thank you to colleagues and experts who have donated their time
and energy to this work over the last few years.
