Disruptive Technologies

The McKinsey Global Institute is the business and economics research division of the McKinsey & Company consultancy. In May 2013, it issued "Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy." The executive summary and full report are available here.  

Disruptive technologies are described as those that are rapidly advancing or experiencing breakthroughs, have broad potential scope of impact, or have significant or disruptive economic impact.

What twelve disruptive technologies are listed? From the executive summary:

1. Mobile internet
2. Automation of knowledge work (e.g., call centers --"Advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural user interfaces (e.g., voice recognition) are making it possible to automate many knowledge worker tasks that have long been regarded as impossible or impractical for machines to perform. For instance, some computers can answer “unstructured” questions (i.e., those posed in ordinary language, rather than precisely written as software queries), so employees or customers without specialized training can get  information on their own.")
3. The Internet of Things (see tag) 
4. Cloud technology -- for applications and data
5. Advanced robotics 
6. Next-gen genomics 
7. Autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles 
8. Energy storage (including batteries) 
9. 3-D printing
10. Advanced materials (e.g. those that are self-healing or self cleaning) 
11. Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery 
12. Renewable energy

The report also lists five technologies that nearly made the final list (next-generation nuclear (fission), fusion power, carbon sequestration, advanced water purification, quantum computing) and other "interesting and often hyped" technologies that weren't close in the final running (private space flight, OLED/LED lighting, wireless charging, flexible displays, 3-D and volumetric displays).