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Emerging Technologies

Emerging technology refers to new or rapidly developing technologies that have the potential to impact society, industry, or everyday life. As a creative technologist, you do not just use these technologies. You explore what they could become, how they behave in early forms, and how they might shape future interactions.

Working with emerging tech often means dealing with uncertainty, limited documentation, or incomplete tools. But it also gives you the chance to experiment, provoke new ideas, and ask critical questions before something becomes mainstream.

Starting Point

  • Start exploring the technologies by making, prototyping and testing.
  • Identify technologies that are still evolving, such as spatial computing, AI-generated media, wearables, or brain-computer interfaces.
  • Look for open labs, developer previews, or speculative design cases.
  • Ask yourself: What can this technology do today? What values or risks does it carry? What could it enable tomorrow?

Key Points

  • Stay curious, but be critical. New does not always mean better. Who benefits from this tech, and who might be excluded?
  • Combine technical exploration with storytelling, speculation, or prototyping. You are not just testing what it does, but what it could mean.
  • Reflect on feasibility. Can you actually work with this tool now, or do you need to simulate or fake it?
  • Document your exploration process clearly. Future teams (or your future self) might build on what you discovered.