xTech Futures: Trends in BioTechnology
Bringing new life to people, products, and the planet
Driven by breakthroughs across scientific disciplines, from biology to chemistry to IT, biotech is stepping out of the lab and into our lives, inspiring a nature-led revolution.
Key takeaways
The modern biotech landscape spans a wide swath of innovations, such as rapidly engineered lifesaving therapeutics, ecological replacements for traditional textiles, and biological enzymes that dissolve plastic waste, just to name a few.
People
A path to longer, better lives for everyone could forever elevate the status quo for health and humanity.
Products
Materials that were once shaped by the industrial revolution may now be transformed by the bio-industrial revolution.
Planet
Biotech is blooming in the environment, reactively restoring and proactively preventing ecological damage.
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"The two largest business opportunities on the planet today are AI and longevity."
Peter Diamandis, co-founder and executive chairman of Fountain Life
People
Elevating and extending human health
Today, we regard strep throat, a disease that killed around one-fifth of those infected prior to antibiotics, a minor inconvenience. In the future, we may look at cancer the same way. Biotechnology is enabling a deeper understanding of human health, a new set of tools to discover and deliver treatments, and a revolutionary ability for people to map and edit their own DNA. Ultimately, today’s breakthroughs could extend our tomorrows, empowering us to live longer and better.
Products
Starting and scaling a product revolution
The products of the bio-industrial revolution can be both engineered by humans and entirely natural in composition. We can mirror nature's efficiency and elegance even as we mobilize enormous business applications. To bring about this future, emerging innovations must overcome the most significant challenge of the growing biotech economy: achieving scale.
Planet
Bringing Earth back to basics
An infusion of life may be the best treatment for the planet's damaged ecosystems. Bioengineered systems can remove pollutants to heal the Earth, and looking forward, we can preserve the planet by remodeling the ways we fuel ourselves and our machines.
What will be your organization's role in Biotech?
There has never been a better time to leverage the power of biology to save our species, our organizations, and our planet.
If we proceed with care and preserve balance, biotechnology can take us toward a healthier, more resilient future, where profitability and well-being coexist.
Discover xTech Futures: Watch the event replays
Biotech advancements can impact the products we create and our environment. Explore the xTech Futures: BioTech report with Deloitte’s office of the CTO.
"Nature does things better and more efficiently than the machines we've made in the past. Look at the energy efficiency of the hummingbird. Biology is just better."
Ron Voglewede, group director of sustainable retail at Walmart
