Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) — The 2025 edition of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review (SETR) report is now available, offering American policymakers a comprehensive overview of how ten frontier technologies, from artificial intelligence to robotics, are transforming the world.
A collaboration between the Hoover Institution and the Stanford School of Engineering, the report – based on leading research from Stanford scientists, engineers, and policy experts –serves as a one-stop primer into state-of-the-art innovations in these key domains—and what to look out for in the future.
Beyond the report, the goal of the larger SETR partnership is ambitious: to transform technological education for decision makers in both the public and private sectors so that the United States can seize opportunities, mitigate risks, and ensure that the American innovation ecosystem continues to thrive.
The efforts of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review are guided by three observations:
- America’s global innovation leadership matters and is vital to maintaining a dynamic technology innovation ecosystem as well as in securing its benefits.
- Academia’s role in technological innovation is essential in providing fundamental research without regard for profit and foreseeable commercial application – and faces growing risks.
- Stanford University has a unique vantage point in discovering and analyzing technological trends and their implications due to its location at the heart of Silicon Valley and its well-established history of fueling the innovation ecosystem.
“The promise of emerging technology is boundless if we have the foresight to understand it and the fortitude to embrace the challenges,” said Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice, who co-chairs the SETR initiative along with Engineering School Dean Jennifer Widom, and Hoover senior fellows Amy Zegart and John Taylor.
“We have advantages at our universities and in the private sector where a lot of creative breakthroughs are taking place. The U.S. needs to run fast and hard to ensure that a democracy, not an authoritarian state, wins the race for these frontier technologies – there is too much at stake.”
SETR surveys ten frontier technologies: including AI, synthetic biology, robotics, neuroscience, lasers, cryptography, semiconductors, materials science, sustainable energy technologies, and space. These fields are widely regarded as pivotal to shaping societies, economics, and geopolitics today and into the future.
“The clock speed of technological change is being permanently dialed up,” said SETR co-chair and Hoover Senior Fellow Amy Zegart. “And the interactions between emerging technologies are becoming ever bigger and more consequential. We deliberately designed the Stanford Emerging Technology Review to help government and business leaders navigate this complex new reality and we’re thrilled to share with them this new edition of SETR.”
The report draws on the scholarship of almost one hundred Stanford and Hoover scholars across forty departments and research institutes at the university. It is written to be timely and accessible to nonexpert audiences.
“Faculty and collaborating researchers at Stanford Engineering and across the university have a unique vantage point and deep understanding of rapidly advancing technologies—how they’re developed, the range of their applications, and where they’re headed,” said Jennifer Widom, the Frederick Emmons Terman Dean of the School of Engineering and SETR co-chair. “The Stanford Emerging Technology Review is designed to share that vital knowledge and empower decision-makers in government, who can benefit from Stanford’s breadth of expertise and insights.”
Each chapter provides an easy-to-understand explanation of a frontier technology’s foundational concepts, important recent advancements in the field, key developments to look out for in the next few years, and an overview of technical, policy, legal, and regulatory issues.
Additionally, the report identifies key themes that impact all emerging technologies, including how policy needs to account for the fact that different domains impact one another and how social, economic and other factors can influence a technology’s adoption. It also analyzes the technologies’ implications for economic growth, national security, environmental and energy sustainability, human health, and civil society.
Available in print and online formats, the report is the flagship product of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review. In the past year, SETR experts have briefed senior officials across the White House, US Congress, federal departments and agencies, and the US Intelligence Community. They have also organized bootcamps for congressional staff, roundtables with national media and representatives from partner and allied countries, and workshops with leaders across tech sectors.
Additionally, the Hoover Institution has advanced SETR research in formats that are accessible and engaging to the attentive public, including podcasts, short videos, articles, and social media.
On Tuesday, February 25, the 2025 edition of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review will debut in Washington, DC, with events and briefings, including a public event at 5 p.m. Remarks will be given by Rice, Zegart, and Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO). Speakers will also include SETR director Herbert Lin and SETR contributors and faculty council members Fei-Fei Li, Allison Okamura, and Mark Horowitz.
Download the 2025 Stanford Emerging Technology Review here.
For coverage opportunities, contact Jeffrey Marschner, 202-760-3187, jmarsch@stanford.edu.
