Executive Summary
Science & Technology Trends: 2023-2043 provides an updated assessment of Science & Technology (S&T) trends and their potential impact on NATO military operations, defence capabilities, enterprise functions, and political decision space. Such an assessment draws upon the collective insights and research activities of the NATO Science & Technology Organization (STO), its collaborative network of over five thousand active scientists, analysts, researchers, engineers, and associated research facilities. These insights have been combined with an extensive review of the open-source S&T literature, selected national research programs, NATO STO technology watch activities, (serious) research games, STO CPoW (Collaborative Programme of Work) activities, and NATO innovation endeavours. Given the volume of work undertaken, the report has been split into two volumes. The first summarises the analysis and discusses, in general terms, key geopolitical and social trends impacted by S&T developments or the impact of those developments themselves. The second provides a detailed discussion of the methodology, data, and analysis that underpins the recommendations and observations in Volume 1. This second volume also provides a deep dive into the individual emerging and disruptive technologies, their potential impact on military capabilities, and their impact on other EDTs. Extensive use is made of quantitative analyses of recent academic articles, scientometric assessments, and a survey of the STO network to assess the state, rate, and potential impact of these technologies. Extensive references are also provided to support the conclusions and facilitate an even deeper analysis by the reader.
Science-Technology-Trends-2023-2043-vol1 Science-Technology-Trends-2023-2043-vol2Source: NATO Chief Scientist’s Reports and Advice Documents​