The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released its updated list of critical and emerging technologies (CET) for 2024, marking the first update to the CETs in two years.
The list notes CETs that are “potentially significant to U.S. national security” and “outlines technologies that could chart new pathways in American innovation and strengthen the nation’s security,” OSTP said in a Feb. 12 press release.
“This list supports our ongoing efforts to grow and strengthen U.S. technological leadership,” OSTP Deputy Director for National Security Stephen Welby said in a statement. “It will also be a useful resource as we continue to engage allies and partners to ensure that CETs yield tangible benefits for society and are aligned with our democratic values.”
The 18 CET areas in the 2024 update are:
- Advanced Computing
• Advanced Engineering Materials
• Advanced Gas Turbine Engine Technologies
• Advanced and Networked Sensing and Signature Management
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Artificial Intelligence
• Biotechnologies
• Clean Energy Generation and Storage
• Data Privacy, Data Security, and Cybersecurity Technologies
• Directed Energy
• Highly Automated, Autonomous, and Uncrewed Systems, and Robotics
• Human-Machine Interfaces
• Hypersonics
• Integrated Communication and Networking Technologies
• Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Technologies
• Quantum Information and Enabling Technologies
• Semiconductors and Microelectronics; and
• Space Technologies and Systems.
Each CET area includes a set of subfields. For example, under the AI category, OSTP includes machine learning, generative AI, and AI tech for improving AI safety, trust, security, and responsible use, among other subfields.
This year’s update to the CET list builds upon earlier lists and may inform government-wide and agency-specific efforts supporting U.S. technological competitiveness and national security, OSTP said.
The most recent update includes some new CET categories, including clean energy generation and storage; data privacy, data security, and cybersecurity technologies; integrated communication and networking technologies; as well as positioning, navigation, and timing technologies.
OSTP highlighted that the Biden administration’s 2022 National Security Strategy notes that technology is central to today’s geopolitical competition and to the future of national security, economy, and democracy. United States and allied leadership in technology and innovation has long underpinned economic prosperity and military strength, OSTP said.
“In the next decade, critical and emerging technologies are poised to retool economies, transform militaries, and reshape the world,” OSTP wrote. “The United States is committed to a future where these technologies increase the security, prosperity, and values of the American people and like-minded democracies.”
