Top Emerging Industries in 2024 and Their Impacts

images of different industries from unsplash/the idealistic world

By The Idealistic World Team

2024 is poised to be a year of rapid evolution for several highly anticipated industries. Breakthroughs in these sectors could disrupt established businesses, create new opportunities and transform our everyday lives.

Here is an in-depth look at some of the top emerging industries expected to make strides in 2024 and their potential widespread impacts:

Quantum Computing

• quantum computing has made significant process in recent years, with tech giants like IBM, Google, Intel and others building and expanding quantum systems. In 2024, we may see quantum machines with over 1000 qubits of processing power. This could push quantum computers to achieve quantum advantage — solving problems that classical computers cannot in a reasonable timeframe.
• key areas quantum computing could revolutionize include artificial intelligence, drug development, financial modeling, weather prediction, cryptography and more. Industries like healthcare, banking, insurance, defense, oil/gas and aerospace may see major advancements from applied quantum computing.
• risks include potential cryptography breakthroughs rendering current encryption standards obsolete, requiring an upgrade of cybersecurity and encrypted systems across industries.

Commercial Space Travel

• private space companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic plan to offer more affordable, commercial spaceflights to private citizens in 2024. Some projections estimate over 1 million people could travel to space yearly by 2040.
• increased tourism may accelerate growth of associated industries like space infrastructure, satellite services, space medicine and off-planet supply chains. This includes spaceports, training facilities, hospitality and entertainment complexes in space.
• commercial space travel could make space more accessible to scientists, doctors, and average citizens — leading to new opportunities for research, business, resource mining and out-of-this-world experiences.

Autonomous Delivery

• autonomous vehicle technology is advancing rapidly, with leaders like TuSimple already operating driverless semi-trucks in 2023. Robot delivery companies like Nuro and Starship Technologies are also expanding self-driving local deliveries.
• wide availability of autonomous delivery in 2024 could significantly reduce last-mile delivery costs for retailers and restaurants. This may accelerate the growth of e-commerce, on-demand services and ghost kitchens relying on delivery.
• self-driving delivery fleets could also greatly reduce costs and improve efficiency in sectors like manufacturing, retail, logistics, grocery, pizza and postal/parcel delivery.

Alternative Protein

Illustrative image of a protein the idealistic world/Canva design

• alternative proteins like plant-based meat and lab-grown meat are predicted to make up a significant portion of the global protein market by 2040. Improvements in taste, price and scale may drive increased adoption of alt-meat products.
• if price parity is achieved, alternative proteins could cause major shifts away from traditional meat production. This may disrupt the beef, pork and poultry industries while decreasing costs across the food supply chain.
• cell-cultured meat production especially may transform the agriculture system by reducing the amount of land, water, and feed required for meat production.

Personalized Medicine

• advances in genomics, precision diagnostics and AI-assisted treatments are making medicine more tailored to each patient’s genes, environment and lifestyle.
• pharmaceutical companies are developing more targeted drugs to match specific genetic profiles. AI imaging and data analysis can also enable earlier disease detection.
• growth of personalized medicine may improve patient outcomes and lower treatment costs over time. It could significantly impact how diseases like cancer are researched and treated around the world.
• however, the collection of personal biological data also raises privacy concerns that governments will need to address with thoughtful regulation.

The expected rise of these potentially disruptive industries underscores the impacts technological innovation may have on business and society over the next decade. With thoughtful governance, the emerging technologies previewed in 2024 could ultimately improve our collective future.