Clarivate, the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) , and the Higher Education Press of China have released the Engineering Fronts 2025 report, identifying key global engineering research and development trends. The report was launched in Beijing and represents the ninth annual collaboration among the three organizations.
The report identifies 189 global engineering fronts, including 94 engineering research fronts and 95 engineering development fronts, across nine major engineering fields. Engineering fronts are defined as forward-looking directions that influence the future of engineering science and technology and guide innovation.
The analysis combines large-scale data mining and expert evaluation, drawing on research from 12,840 academic journals and 65,558 international conferences in the Web of Science Core Collection, highly cited publications from 2019 to 2024, and patent data from the Derwent Innovation database. The study also includes contributions from nearly 1,000 experts and academicians.
Key areas highlighted include advanced manufacturing and materials, digital and intelligent technologies, energy transition and sustainability, health and life sciences, and infrastructure and urban systems. Developments span areas such as mechanical metamaterials, AI-enabled engineering systems, green hydrogen technologies, personalized mRNA vaccines, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
The report provides a data-driven and expert-validated overview of engineering innovation trends intended to support research development and policy direction.
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