How Frontier Technologies Are Redefining Leadership

Each year, our company Frontiers, together with the World Economic Forum, publishes the "Top 10 Emerging Technologies" report, identifying technologies that could be deployed at scale within the next five to ten years. The process of compiling this report and the discussions of its expert committee give us a clear view of how quickly we can respond to major global challenges, and they also highlight the urgency for global leadership to adapt.

Today, fusion energy, quantum computing, advanced AI models, new materials, and bioengineering are rapidly moving from theory to prototypes, pilots, and products. These are far more than simply "new tools"; they are true "frontier technologies." They have already begun to influence how countries think about power, citizen well-being, security, and prosperity; their development and deployment are becoming "diplomacy by other means."

Over the next decade, the most effective leaders will be those who can connect what is happening in fusion reactors, quantum laboratories, and biofoundries to their decisions about policy, investment, and governance. In many respects, frontier technologies are already redefining what good leadership looks like.

Rational Foresight Returns to the Core

Organizations and even state institutions may have to contend with an evolving geopolitical context in the short term, as well as shifts in supply chains and trade relations. Yet frontier technologies are reminding leaders of the value of grounding foresight in credible technical expertise.

For example, as noted in our report, nuclear fusion may take decades to achieve net energy gain, but plans for its deployment must be made now. The same applies to quantum computing: encryption standards, critical infrastructure, and industrial strategy must be established long before the most powerful machines come online.

As the report emphasizes, strategic foresight is essential. Leaders must not only ask, "What can these technologies do today?" They must ask, "What will happen when they mature, converge with other technologies, spread, and affect friends and adversaries alike?" It is worth conducting scenario exercises: What impact would abundant clean energy have on geopolitics? How might post-quantum security reshape finance? What would widespread gene editing mean for health systems and biosecurity?

The key is not to predict the future perfectly, but to use the best available expertise to aim at a moving target. Foresight means being able to act early, taking steps that only make sense when looking a decade ahead rather than just the next quarter.

Leadership Becomes a Collective Intelligence Exercise

The cascading effects of technology are not easy to see, especially when we tend to fall into linear thinking patterns. Ministries, companies, and research laboratories, if they operate in silos, cannot fully understand the impact of their work.

For example, the electricity demands of AI systems have implications for climate targets, grid planning, industrial productivity, and the business models of cloud service providers. Similarly, advances in synthetic biology and gene editing are converging with other technologies and spanning fields such as agriculture, medicine, security, and ethics.Exercising leadership in such a complex landscape requires integrating diverse priorities, risks, and potential outcomes. In this context, responsibility lies at the intersection of science, regulation, and public trust.

In essence, leadership becomes an exercise in collective intelligence. Those in charge need to create spaces where scientists, policymakers, executives, investors, and civil society can pool knowledge and test assumptions. They also need to actively listen to voices that are often on the margins, including communities that will bear the consequences but may not have a say.

Systems Leadership Is Crucial

In the context of frontier technologies, systems leadership means anticipating how a technology will affect multiple domains simultaneously, not just within a single organization or sector.

As technologies such as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, quantum computing, advanced materials, and fusion converge, the leader's role is to connect scientific progress with decisions on policy, investment, security, and social well-being in ways that strengthen global cooperation.

Effective systems leaders do not just ask, "Can we build this?" They ask, "If we deploy this, what systemic impacts will it produce—who wins, who loses?" They stand at the intersection of science, regulation, markets, and public trust, shaping the conditions under which frontier technologies are developed, governed, and shared.

Take fusion as an example. Public and private investment is accelerating, with multiple players targeting grid-connected fusion power in the 2030s. At the same time, governments are rolling out milestone-based fusion programs, while international cooperation continues to serve as an important testbed. Together, these efforts require system-level coordination across standards, regulation, supply chains, and talent development.

This is where systems leadership comes into play. The greatest benefits available to each of us can only be achieved through collective effort. This requires seeing the broader ecosystem—standards bodies, funding flows, education models, public communication, and international norms—and being willing to invest in these shared resources. Leaders who excel at this will help their countries and companies gain lasting influence.

Leading at the Frontier

Frontier technologies are central to defining power, well-being, prosperity, and security in the 21st century. For policymakers and executives to lead effectively, they need to bring rational long-term foresight back into everyday decision-making, treat leadership as a collective intelligence process, and invest in system-level governance—rather than chasing individual headlines about "breakthroughs."

Innovative leaders are leading at the frontier, in fields where technology will shape the next generation of governance models. Those willing to learn alongside scientists and society will lead by example, helping the world navigate what lies ahead. This is precisely the purpose of the Frontiers Science House, which we are establishing during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2026.