Scientific output on cross-cutting strategic technologies by country, broad field and the five top sub-fields for output, 2011–2019
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Artificial intelligence and robotics dominate cross-cutting tech
Digital technologies are considered vital for future economic competitiveness. Among cross-cutting technologies, it is the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics that dominated scientific output in 2018–2019 in countries of all income levels. The rise in publishing on AI by lower-income countries since 2015 has mechanically shrunk the G20's share of output.
Publications on cross-cutting strategic technologies grew by 33% between 2015 and 2019.
These trends extend to lower-income and low-income countries, which recorded some of the fastest growth rates in both publication categories. Scientific output overall grew by 71% among low-income countries and surged by 170% for cross-cutting technologies.
Cross-cutting technologies accounted for 18% of global scientific output in 2019, led by AI and robotics. Between 2015 and 2019, the shares of China, the EU and USA in AI and robotics receded as developing countries boosted their own output in this field (see Figures 1.6 and 1.13 in chapter 1 of the UNESCO Science Report).
The second-most popular cross-cutting technologies relate to energy, followed by materials science. Energy is the top field for China, Egypt, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, for instance (see chapter 1). Materials science ranks first for both Indonesia and the Russian Federation.
The fourth-fastest-growing field is nanoscience and nanotechnology, thanks largely to China, which produced just under half of all publications in this field in 2019.
Open-access datasets of scientific publishing in the broad field of cross-cutting technologies and each of its ten subfields, by country and region, are freely available for download on the Data & resources webpage.
Note: Data are on a logarithmic scale. The broad field of cross-cutting strategic technologies encompasses artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, blockchain technology, energy, Internet of Things, materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology, opto-electronics and photonics and strategic, defence and security studies. No Scopus-indexed journal specialized in blockchain technology published papers prior to 2018. Data within each of these subfields are collected using a journal-based categorization; for details, see Annex 5.
Source: UNESCO Science Report: the Race Against Time for Smarter Development (2021); data sourced from Scopus (Elsevier), excluding Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, by Science-Metrix and animated by Values Associates
