Cambridge, Massachusetts
Harvard University
Harvard's Belfer Center converts research capability into geopolitics — the country-level view of who can actually build this technology.
Key findings
- 2023
Ranking national technology capability
Belfer Center
A composite index across five critical technologies showing the US leading overall while China leads or closes fast in specific layers.
Why it matters here · The context behind the China badge in our catalog: origin is a supply-chain and export-control fact, not a label.
- 2011
Soft robotics
George Whitesides, Rob Wood and the Wyss Institute
Pneumatic elastomer actuators — robots that are compliant by material rather than by control loop.
Why it matters here · The grasping approach used where rigid humanoid hands fail: produce, textiles, human contact.
- 2013
RoboBee
Rob Wood and team
An insect-scale flapping-wing robot weighing 80 milligrams achieving controlled flight.
Why it matters here · The extreme end of the micro-drone curve, and the source of much of the actuator work below it.
What to follow
Critical and Emerging Technology Index
Index / dataset · Periodic refresh
Country-level capability ranking across AI, biotech, quantum, semiconductors and space, built from talent, research, funding and infrastructure indicators.
Belfer Technology and Public Purpose
Program · Reports
Governance research on how emerging technology is deployed and regulated.