Emerging technologies

Emerging technology tends to refer to knowledge, devices, medicine and medical procedures etc., but can also include new skills, systems and operational practices that improve patient care. Today, emerging technologies are developed and tested in the healthcare industry at a quick pace and have revolutionized many aspects of medicine. The quicker growth of emerging technology is linked to improvements in health economics and outcomes research, big data and digitization, larger healthcare research and development budgets and the significant growth of the research community over recent years.

Some recent well-known examples of emerging technologies include artificial intelligence, 3D printing, nanotechnology, gene therapy, robotics and stem cell therapy. Those familiar with these fields will appreciate the ongoing development and unrealized applications as described in the literature, per the definition of emerging technology.

The cutting-edge nature of emerging technologies often requires interdisciplinary and international collaboration; however, this is also accompanied by work from ethicists and policymakers, who comment, critique and judge the suitability of emerging technologies to give advice on their application. Emerging technologies will continue to revolutionize healthcare and medicine and their applications will continue to surprise.