The GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar is:
A new tool for multilateralism, informed discussion and concerted action.
A single point of entry to catch up with the unprecedented pace of progress in science and technology.
A factual basis for eye-opening reflections on the impacts of future scientific discoveries for people, society and the planet.
An interactive, evolving instrument.
The 2024 GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar® aims to identify emerging research and map major anticipated science advances at 5, 10 and 25 years from now. These advances will potentially have a significant impact on who we are as humans, how we are going to live together and how we can ensure the sustainability of our planet.
The trends and related breakthroughs are updated annually through sustained engagement with the global academic research community. They are distributed across five Scientific Platforms:
Each Scientific Platform contains four community-based Pulses:
The Pulse of Science provides a summary of insights from leading experts in the scientific community on how research in different fields may advance over the next 5, 10 and 25 years. It describes anticipated science trends across 40 emerging topics in science, covering a broad range of research areas in natural sciences, engineering sciences, social sciences and the humanities. These trends are not absolute predictions — they may develop in unforeseen ways — but noting their emergence makes an important contribution to debates about the future of humankind and the role that the international community can play within it.
The Pulse of Diplomacy provides perspectives from the global diplomatic community — heads of state and ministers, heads of international organisations, policy-makers and diplomats — on the implications of the anticipated science and technology advances described in the GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar®. Presented as selected proceedings from the annual GESDA Science and Diplomacy Anticipation Summit, the pulse of diplomacy describes the impact of future breakthroughs on global issues such as human rights, peace, security and prosperity.
The Pulse of Impact, a new addition to the GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar®, provides additional data about investments in the private sector on selected emerging topics. Whether science and technology breakthroughs are successfully deployed from the lab into the world depends to a certain extent on — and can be accelerated by — investments from the private sector. The pulse of impact describes the latest data about patent filing, start-up creation and private investments in topics covered by the GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar®.
The Pulse of Society, finally, provides an analysis of the public perception of, and the debates in mainstream media and social media on, the topics of the GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar®. Extending past analyses, the data presented in this year’s edition reflects an enhanced and standardised methodology which allows the description of the evolution of public sentiment over the years.
