Here is the 6-10 breakthrough technologies,If you want to know the 1-5 breakthrough technologies, click here!

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6. Cleaner Jet Fuel

Significance: Industrial waste and carbon dioxide are expected to be transformed into environmentally friendly aviation fuels, significantly reducing emissions.

Major Participants: Gevo, LanzaJet, Montana Renewables, Neste, World Energy

Maturity Stage: Now

In 2024, the global aviation industry consumed approximately 100 billion gallons of jet fuel, among which environmentally friendly fuels accounted for only 0.5%. However, this situation is going to change.

Data shows that the greenhouse gas emissions of the aviation industry account for about 4% of the global greenhouse gas emissions, and new alternative fuels are expected to significantly reduce aviation emissions. New fuels can be made from raw materials including waste oil from the catering industry, crop straws, industrial waste, and carbon dioxide captured from the air. Depending on different raw materials, they can reduce carbon emissions by half or almost completely eliminate them. More importantly, existing aircraft can use these fuels without modification, which means that the emission reduction effect can be manifested quickly.

More and more governments have also begun to attach importance to this field and have passed legislation requiring airlines to use alternative fuels, also known as sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). Starting from 2025, alternative fuels will account for at least 2% of the fuels used in airports in the European Union and the UK. This mandatory requirement will gradually increase in the next few decades, and the European Union requires it to reach 70% by 2050.

Currently, the available alternative fuels on the market mainly come from waste grease. Montana Renewables recently received a loan support of $1.44 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy for the expansion of its production facilities. However, the supply of waste grease is limited and it is difficult to meet future demand.

Fortunately, other technological routes are also developing rapidly. At the beginning of 2024, LanzaJet completed the construction of the first commercial ethanol-to-jet-fuel plant with an annual production capacity of 9 million gallons. Although synthetic fuels made from carbon dioxide have not yet reached a commercial scale, they are expected to provide new options for the aviation industry.

A key challenge currently faced by this field is the cost issue. At present, the average price of sustainable aviation fuels is nearly three times that of traditional fuels. As more enterprises enter this field, the price is expected to decline, but the cost of new fuels may still be higher.

7.Fast-learning Robots

Significance: Artificial intelligence has greatly improved the speed at which robots learn new skills.

Major Participants: Agility, Amazon, Covariant,Robust, Toyota Research Institute

Maturity Stage: Now

Generative artificial intelligence is completely transforming the way robots are trained, and it seems that the all-powerful robots in science fiction are getting closer and closer to us.

Robots have a long history with artificial intelligence. For many years, robots have been using artificial intelligence to detect obstacles. However, in recent years, the rapid development of large language models has opened up new possibilities for robot experts.

Large language models can "digest" vast amounts of textual materials - from textbooks to poems to instruction manuals, and then generate new content as needed. Applying this method to robots seems promising, but it is also quite challenging. After all, generating text is one thing, while guiding physical robots to complete complex actions is another.

Now, researchers have finally made a major breakthrough in this field. They have found a way to combine various data and transform it into information that robots can understand. Take dishwashing as an example: People can wear sensors to collect real dishwashing action data, use robotic arms to remotely operate and collect demonstration data, and also search for a large number of pictures and videos of humans washing dishes on the Internet. After appropriately processing these data and inputting them into the artificial intelligence model, a robot with more advantages than those trained by traditional methods can be trained. Having learned multiple ways to complete the same task, artificial intelligence can better adapt to changes and make appropriate judgments in the real environment.

This breakthrough will completely change the way robots learn. Some warehouse robots have already begun to adopt this advanced training method, and the experience accumulated from it will lay the foundation for building intelligent home robots in the future.

8.Effective Stem Cell Therapies

Significance: Stem cells may become the new hope for curing diseases.

Major Participants: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Neurona Therapeutics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Maturity Stage: In 5 years

Twenty-five years ago, scientists isolated powerful stem cells from embryos obtained through in vitro fertilization. These cells could theoretically transform into any tissue in the human body, and thus people saw the hope of a medical revolution. Just imagine: no matter where something goes wrong, you can always find "replacement parts".

However, the research on stem cells has not been smooth sailing. Although scientists quickly found ways to culture stem cells without using embryos, it has been far more difficult than expected to transform them into truly functional and mature tissues.

But now, the potential of stem cells is finally about to be realized. Take Justin Graves, an epilepsy patient, for example. He received a transplant of neurons cultured in the laboratory. These neurons were specially designed to suppress the abnormal electrical discharges in the brain that cause epileptic seizures.

Since he received treatment at the University of California, San Diego in 2023, the frequency of Graves' epileptic seizures has dropped from once a day to once a week. "It's an incredible change," he said. "I've almost become an advocate for stem cell therapies now."

This epilepsy trial conducted by Neurona Therapeutics is still in its early stages. Currently, only 15 patients have received treatment, but the preliminary results are encouraging.

In June 2024, another stem cell research also achieved a breakthrough. This time it was for type 1 diabetes - an autoimmune disease that was once called juvenile diabetes. The patient's immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas, resulting in the inability to control blood sugar levels, and they have to rely on daily blood sugar tests and insulin injections to stay alive.

In the ongoing research conducted by Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, some patients who received transplants of laboratory-cultured beta cells have been able to stop using exogenous insulin. The new cells in their bodies can secrete insulin on their own when needed.

No more epileptic seizures and no more need for insulin injections are the news that patients have been longing to hear. This means that stem cell research is getting very close to "functional cures", and patients' bodies will be able to regain their self-regulatory abilities and return to normal life.

9.Robotaxis

Significance:Driverless cars that can be hailed with just one click are being launched in more cities.

Major Participants: Baidu, Cruise, Pony.ai, Waymo, Wayve, Zoox

Maturity Stage: Now

If you live in certain cities in China or the United States, you may have already seen driverless cars picking up and dropping off passengers, and perhaps you have even experienced it yourself. This is a huge change compared to three years ago when these services were still figuring out traffic rules. And driverless taxis will soon be put into operation in more cities.

In many cities in China, passengers can choose driverless taxis operated by companies such as Baidu, AutoX, WeRide, and Pony.ai. These companies all plan to enter the markets in Singapore, the Middle East, and the United States.

Although driverless cars have been collecting training data on American roads for many years and have accumulated millions of miles of driving mileage, it was only recently that the public really started to take rides in these vehicles.

Waymo, under Google's parent company Alphabet, is the leader in the American industry. After launching driverless taxi services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, the company plans to expand to Austin and Atlanta in early 2025 through cooperation with Uber. Zoox, under Amazon, plans to launch driverless taxi services to the public in Las Vegas, the United States in 2025 and is currently conducting trial operations in San Francisco, Austin, and Miami as well. Wayve, a British start-up company, is adapting to driving on the right side and has started testing its technology in San Francisco.

However, there are still many problems to be solved to realize driverless taxis. In China, the low prices of driverless taxis have sparked opposition from about 10 million taxi drivers. In the United States, Cruise, under General Motors, suspended operations in October 2023 after one of its vehicles hit a pedestrian and has only recently resumed vehicle testing. Tesla needs to prove the reliability of its technology and obtain the necessary licenses before it can realize its plan to launch driverless ride-hailing services in California and Texas in 2025.

Nevertheless, this industry is still moving forward. More and more people are starting to experience driverless taxis and are becoming more and more accustomed to this technology. It is expected that the major participants will expand their businesses to new cities and start price competition.

10.Green Steel

Significance: The world's first industrial-scale steel plant with almost zero carbon emissions is under construction in Sweden.

Major Participants: Boston Metal, LKAB, Midrex, Stegra

Maturity Stage: In 1 year

A method of using hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources to make steel is expected to help "clean up" an industry that accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions.

Currently, most steel is still produced in coal-based blast furnaces, and approximately two tons or even more carbon dioxide are emitted for every ton of steel produced. A relatively new commercial technology called direct reduction uses natural gas to convert iron ore into iron (the key component of steel), which can reduce emissions by about 40%. However, this still generates a large amount of carbon pollution.

Therefore, several companies are developing methods to produce iron by reacting hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources with iron ore, which is the step with the highest energy consumption and the most serious pollution in the steel production process. Theoretically, these processes can achieve near-zero emissions.

The Swedish start-up company Stegra (renamed from H2 Green Steel in September 2024) has raised nearly $7 billion to build such a plant in Boden, northern Sweden. The plant will use clean electricity supplied by a mix of wind and hydro power to produce hydrogen through electrolysis of water. The plant is scheduled to start production in 2026 and is expected to become the first industrial-scale operating facility of its kind.

The Hybrit technology developed by steelmaker SSAB, mining company LKAB, and energy company Vattenfall uses a similar process to produce green steel. LKAB is building a plant in Gällivare near its iron ore mines. However, due to environmental permitting issues, these plans have been postponed.

There is another way to make green steel: by passing an electric current through a mixture of iron ore and an electrolyte to break the bonds of iron oxide and thus separate out the purified metal. If clean electricity is used, the carbon emissions from this process can be extremely low. Boston Metal plans to commercialize this technology it has developed in 2026.

Once the Stegra plant is fully operational, it is expected to produce 4.5 million metric tons of steel per year, which is just a drop in the ocean compared to the billions of metric tons of global annual production. However, it will prove that steel can be produced without generating large amounts of carbon emissions, and it is hoped that customers who want to use green products will be willing to pay a premium, which will be a good start for the green transformation of the entire industry.