We make our tools and our tools make us. Our seventh annual trends analysis for 2026 anticipates technology driving the year ahead. For many years—especially during COVID—social and demographic trends weighed heavily, and we identified virtually all of them, including political violence. We have repeatedly warned of the approaching “demographic winter” (trend 3), of loneliness and “death from despair” (trend 7), and of “political polarization and violence” (trend 11). The evidence now suggests that long-promised and emerging technologies will take center stage in 2026.
Emerging technologies have always featured prominently in our forecasts. Previous trend reports highlighted developments in biotechnology, GLP-1 therapies, and space technologies. For 2026 our research strongly suggests that AI and AI agents, blockchain, quantum computing, augmented reality, geoengineering, and—once again—satellite technology will make waves. And, in an exciting turn, several “retro-future” technologies are poised to emerge in 2026, including flying cars and fusion.
Our annual trends report synthesized 32 global forecasts and was complemented by our own horizon scanning work. Consistent with previous years, we identified 20 global trends for 2026. Here is a preview of three that may come as a surprise.
Trend 5 : Fusion and Flying Cars
Technologists, science fiction and Hollywood have promised us these technologies for decades, leading some observers to ask, “where’s my jetpack?” These technologies are now ready for launch.
Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft were approved by the US FAA in August 2024 and air taxi networks are planned for a number of cities, most notably Miami. By the end of 2026 motorists on I-4 between Orlando and Tampa could see flying cars overhead, and the LA 2028 Olympics is planning air taxis for spectators. Flying cars will be one solution to megacity gridlock.
Fusion power, once speculative, may finally be within reach. On February 12, 2025, the French CEA West Tokamak reactor set a new record for sustaining a fusion reaction for 22 minutes. This built on the 2022 net positive energy fusion reaction at Laurence Livermore Labs. Some $7 billion in investment has surged into fusion power, and commercial applications are estimated to come online in the 2030s. If history is a guide, we should expect to see significant fusion reaction records set in 2026.
Trend 9 : Privacy as Luxury
Surveillance, social media, and the digital contrail of modern life have created a panopticon that the elite, and then the masses, will want to escape. The Atlantic has already reported on consultants who help people digitally vanish. In Japan consumers will pay for jōhatsu, a complete escape from one’s life and resettlement elsewhere. We forecast that consumers will increasingly look for ways to avoid a surveilled existence: vacations off the digital grid, so-called “dumb phones,” and support for strong privacy laws.
Trend 20 : Private Military Security as a Service
Thirty-four percent of C-suite executives at Fortune 500 companies already have some form of physical protection. This trend will accelerate and spread to the upper and upper-middle class as concerns about violent crime increase amid governments constrained by the “omnicrisis” (trend 4). Humans created private security solutions long before the advent of public police forces, and they will continue to innovate in this space, finding commercial use for military-grade security. I explored this near-future trend in my novel Lincoln 2.0 through the fictitious security firm SafeCor.
Optimism versus Pessimism
Every year we are asked whether we are optimistic or pessimistic. The question presumes the future cares what we expect of it. A selective reading of this list offers a strong case for gloom: demographic winter (trend 3), the government “omnicrisis” (trend 4), deaths from despair, (trend 7), and advanced economy pessimism (trend 10). Yet others make a strong case for wonder. Consider trend 18, Super Human, which documents that technology is giving our species powers once confined to comic books. Like life, every year is a mix of terror and beauty, and 2026 will be no different. But we believe that technology, and the tools we create, will drive the plot in 2026.
Meet the authors
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Partner
Washington DC
Robert is a Partner, data-driven strategist, and futurist in Brunswick’s Washington office.
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