Explore the 5 emerging industries expected to grow and transform in the next few years, their business potential, challenges, use cases and leaders

What are 5 Emerging Industries How to Thrive in these 5 Emerging Industries of 2024

The world is changing rapidly, and new technologies are creating new opportunities for businesses and society. Here are some of the emerging industries that are expected to grow and transform the world in the next few years, along with their business potential, challenges, use cases, and leading companies.

1. Driverless Cars

Driverless cars, also known as autonomous vehicles (AVs), are vehicles that can operate without human intervention, using sensors, cameras, artificial intelligence, and software to navigate the roads. AVs have the potential to improve safety, efficiency, mobility, and environmental sustainability of transportation systems.

  • Business potential: According to McKinsey & Company, AVs could create up to $1.9 trillion in annual economic value by 2030, by reducing accidents, congestion, emissions, and travel costs, as well as creating new revenue streams from mobility services, data, and entertainment.
  • Challenges: AVs face technical, regulatory, ethical, and social challenges, such as ensuring safety and reliability, complying with different laws and standards across regions, addressing liability and privacy issues, and gaining public trust and acceptance.
  • Use cases: AVs can be used for various purposes, such as personal transportation, ride-hailing, delivery, public transit, freight, agriculture, mining, and military.

2. Commercial Space Travel

Commercial space travel is the exploration and exploitation of outer space for commercial purposes. It involves launching satellites, rockets, spacecrafts, and humans into orbit or beyond, for various applications such as telecommunications, navigation, earth observation, scientific research, tourism, mining, and colonization.

  • Business potential: According to Morgan Stanley, the global space industry could generate revenues of more than $1 trillion by 2040, up from about $350 billion in 2020. The main drivers of this growth include increasing demand for broadband connectivity, lower launch costs, technological innovation, and public-private partnerships.
  • Leading companies: Some of the companies that are pioneering commercial space travel include SpaceX (founded by Elon Musk), Blue Origin (founded by Jeff Bezos), Virgin Galactic (founded by Richard Branson), Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Airbus, and Thales.
  • Challenges: Commercial space travel faces technical, regulatory, environmental, and ethical challenges, such as ensuring safety and reliability of launch vehicles and spacecrafts, complying with international treaties and national laws on space activities, mitigating the risks of orbital debris and planetary protection, and addressing the social and moral implications of human presence in space.
  • Use cases: Commercial space travel can be used for various purposes, such as providing broadband internet access to remote areas, enabling global positioning and navigation services, monitoring climate change and natural disasters, conducting scientific experiments in microgravity, offering suborbital flights and orbital hotels for tourists, extracting resources from asteroids and the moon, and establishing permanent settlements on Mars.

3. Cleantech

Cleantech is a term that encompasses technologies that aim to reduce or eliminate the negative environmental impacts of human activities. It includes renewable energy sources (such as solar, wind, hydrogen), energy efficiency solutions (such as smart grids, LED lighting), green transportation (such as electric vehicles, bicycles), waste management (such as recycling, biodegradation), water conservation (such as desalination, irrigation), and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

  • Leading companies: Some of the companies that are leading the cleantech industry include NextEra Energy (the world's largest producer of wind and solar power), Tesla (the world's most valuable carmaker by market capitalization), Enel (the world's largest utility by renewable capacity), Vestas (the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer), Sunrun (the largest residential solar installer in the US), and Orsted (the world's largest offshore wind developer).
  • Challenges: Cleantech faces technical, economic, and social challenges, such as improving performance and reliability of clean technologies, reducing costs and increasing profitability of green businesses, integrating variable and distributed energy sources into the grid, overcoming infrastructure and policy barriers to adoption and diffusion, and ensuring equity and justice in the transition to a low-carbon economy.
  • Use cases: Cleantech can be used for various purposes, such as providing clean and affordable energy to households and businesses, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution from transportation and industry, creating jobs and economic opportunities in the green sector, enhancing resilience and adaptation to climate change impacts, and preserving biodiversity and natural resources.

4. Lab Grown Meat

Lab grown meat, also known as cultured meat or cell-based meat, is meat that is produced by growing animal cells in a bioreactor, rather than slaughtering animals. Lab grown meat has the potential to address some of the ethical, environmental, and health issues associated with conventional animal agriculture.

  • Business potential: According to Markets and Markets, the global market for lab grown meat is expected to grow from $214 million in 2025 to $593 million by 2032, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7%. The main drivers of this growth include increasing consumer awareness of animal welfare and environmental sustainability, rising demand for alternative protein sources, and technological innovation and investment in cellular agriculture.
  • Leading companies: Some of the companies that are developing lab grown meat include Memphis Meats (which raised $161 million in Series B funding in 2020), Mosa Meat (which produced the world's first lab grown burger in 2013), Aleph Farms (which created the world's first lab grown steak in 2018), Eat Just (which received the world's first regulatory approval for lab grown chicken nuggets in Singapore in 2020), and Future Meat Technologies (which claims to have the lowest production cost for lab grown meat).
  • Challenges: Lab grown meat faces technical, regulatory, and consumer challenges, such as scaling up production and reducing costs, ensuring safety and quality standards, obtaining legal and ethical approval, and overcoming social and cultural barriers to acceptance and adoption.
  • Use cases: Lab grown meat can be used for various purposes, such as providing a more humane and sustainable source of animal protein, reducing the environmental footprint and public health risks of animal agriculture, enhancing food security and diversity, and creating new culinary experiences and innovations.

5. Esports

Esports is a form of competitive video gaming that involves organized tournaments, leagues, teams, players, sponsors, broadcasters, and fans. Esports has become a popular form of entertainment, education, and social interaction, especially among young people.

  • Business potential: According to Newzoo, the global esports market generated revenues of $1.1 billion in 2020, up 15.7% from 2019. The main drivers of this growth include increasing viewership and engagement, expanding sponsorship and media rights deals, growing merchandise and ticket sales, and diversifying revenue streams from online platforms and services.
  • Leading companies: Some of the companies that are dominating the esports industry include Tencent (the world's largest gaming company by revenue), Activision Blizzard (the publisher of popular esports titles such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Hearthstone), Riot Games (the developer of League of Legends, the most-watched esport in the world), Valve (the creator of Steam, the largest online gaming platform), and Epic Games (the maker of Fortnite, one of the most popular games in history).
  • Challenges: Esports faces technical, legal, and ethical challenges, such as ensuring fair and secure gameplay, complying with different laws and regulations across regions, addressing issues of violence and addiction, and promoting diversity and inclusion in the esports community.
  • Use cases: Esports can be used for various purposes, such as providing entertainment and socialization for gamers and spectators, creating educational and career opportunities for students and professionals, enhancing cognitive and physical skills for players and coaches, and fostering cultural and economic exchange among countries and regions.

Conclusion

These are some of the emerging industries that will start materializing in 2024. They offer exciting opportunities for businesses and society to create value, solve problems, and improve lives. However, they also pose significant challenges that require careful consideration and collaboration among stakeholders. By staying informed and prepared for these changes, we can harness their potential and mitigate their risks.