Translated with DeepL
"The Technology Outlook is a travel guide through the technology landscape of tomorrow," says Claudia Schärer, project manager of the future study at the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences SATW. She presented the new edition of the Technology Outlook to selected guests from research, business and politics at the premises of Givaudan, the world's largest flavour and fragrance manufacturer, in Kemptthal. The independent study was commissioned by the Swiss government and is based on two years of work and the assessments of 158 experts from 62 institutions. As the name suggests, the Technology Outlook 2025 sheds light on technologies that will become relevant in the next three to five years.
The study traces a striking shift: While 35 per cent/more than a third of the technologies examined in 2023 came from the field of information and communication technology, this figure is now only 16 per cent. In contrast, energy, environmental and material technologies have almost doubled their share from 35 to 58 per cent While digital technologies such as artificial intelligence have long been ready for the market, the topic of sustainability will shape the coming years. It will become a decisive economic factor.
The presentation by ETH Professor Raffaele Mezzenga was particularly impressive. He showed how waste is transformed into valuable raw materials - for example, when whey, a by-product of cheese production, is used to extract high-purity gold from electronic waste. This is made possible by "magic sponges" made from whey, which filter and bind metals.
Carbon dioxide is the number one climate problem. Swiss companies are using it to produce plastics or synthetic fuels, with the aim of creating a CO₂ economy in which emissions are reused instead of being released into the atmosphere.
Regulatory requirements are also driving innovation: Peter Krummenacher from the start-up BloqSens presented the digital battery passport. Mandatory in the EU from 2027, it documents the origin, use and recycling of a battery. "Many Swiss companies are not yet prepared for this," warned Krummenacher. Transparency becomes a competitive advantage.
Kai Udert from Eawag got the audience thinking with a provocative thesis: "The circular economy starts in the toilet." Phosphorus is a critical raw material that Switzerland imports every year at a cost of millions - yet it is found in abundance in sewage treatment plants.
The digital world has not been completely forgotten. Photonic integrated circuits, or PICs for short, could reduce the power consumption of AI systems by up to 90 per cent. Electrons are replaced by photons - faster and more efficiently, as the EPFL spin-off Ligentec shows. This would be a decisive step in view of the hunger for energy in today's data centres.
However, the Technology Outlook 2025 also points to everyday business life in Swiss companies. There is a huge gap in the use of AI: only eight per cent of Swiss SMEs currently use AI applications. The figure for large companies is around 30 per cent. This could develop into a competitive disadvantage, with SMEs, which form the backbone of the Swiss economy, falling behind.
"Waste is a prosperity problem," says Claudia Schärer. With 60 tonnes of municipal waste per capita, Switzerland occupies a top position. "The throwaway economy was convenient, but it comes into conflict with finite resources and thus exacerbates climate change. Those who close cycles gain a clear advantage," says Peter Krummenacher.
Switzerland is positioning itself as a centre for sustainability technologies. As Mezzenga put it: "We need to see waste not as a problem, but as an opportunity. Residual materials can become the basis for technologies that secure our future."
The technologies presented are fascinating, but are still on a small scale. The gold nuggets made from whey are only a few millimetres in size. The challenge is to translate these approaches from the laboratory into marketable business models - whether through spin-offs or start-ups - and to find the right investors to develop them into viable industries.
The Technology Outlook identifies key technologies for Switzerland - as a basis for informed decisions in business, politics and research.
Click here for the full Technology Outlook 2025
