How do you know what’s coming next, especially with a topic as fast-moving as technology? One way is to focus on the technology itself, as we do every year with our 10 Breakthrough Technologies package. With our 35 Innovators Under 35, we come at the same problem from a different angle: Who are the people driving the next wave of innovation, and what does their work tell us about where technology will go in the near future? One of this year’s most groundbreaking technologies is artificial intelligence. This year we honored Sharon Li as our Innovator of the Year for her pioneering research in the critical field of AI safety. And Andrew Ng, a former honoree, penned an essay “How to be an innovator” on where he expects AI to advance from here and how today's young innovators can create something lasting and meaningful.
Andrew Ng: How to be an innovator
Tips for aspiring innovators on trying, failing, and the future of AI.
Innovator of the Year
Young Suk Jo
Climate and Energy
Young Suk Jo cofounded Amogy to decarbonize the transportation sector by engineering ways for trucks and ships to run on a common fertilizer ingredient. Read more
Yatish Turakhia
Computing
During the pandemic, Yatish Turakhia developed software tools to trace the evolution of new covid variants. Now he’s applying his techniques to other diseases. Read more
Lerrel Pinto
Robotics
Lerrel Pinto says the key to building useful home robots is helping them learn from their mistakes. Read more
Julia Joung
Biotechnology
Julia Joung created an “atlas” to help scientists see how specific proteins shape cells into muscle, neurons, and more. Read more
Meet this year's 35 Innovators Under 35
Subscribe now and save 17% to receive full access to our journalism, and meet the young innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs shaping the future of technology.
Judges
Pieter Abbeel
Professor, UC Berkeley; Cofounder, Covariant; Podcast host, The Robot Brains
Aadeel Akhtar
CEO and founder, Psyonics
Animashree Anandkumar
Bren Professor, Caltech; Director of AI Research, Nvidia
Tara Bansal
Investor at Breakthrough Energy Ventures
David Berry
CEO, Valo Health; General Partner, Flagship Pioneering
Ed Boyden
Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology, MIT/HHMI
Meredith Broussard
Associate Professor, NYU
Yet-Ming Chiang
Kyocera Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT
Vivian Chu
CTO, Diligent Robotics
James Collins
Termeer Professor, MIT
James Dahlman
Associate Professor, Georgia Tech and Emory School of Medicine
Shreya Dave
CEO, Via Separations
Cesar de la Fuente
Presidential Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Oren Etzioni
CEO, Allen Institute for AI; Professor Emeritus, Computer Science, University of Washington
David Fattal
Founder + CEO, Leia Inc.
Jane Flegal
Market Development & Policy Lead, Stripe Climate & Frontier
Javier Garcia Martinez
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Alicante, Spain; President, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Marzyeh Ghassemi
Assistant Professor, MIT EECS/IMES
Julia R. Greer
Mettler Professor of Materials, Mechanics, and Medical Engineering, Caltech
Zhen Gu
Qiushi Distinguished Chair, Professor, and Dean of School of Pharmacy, Zhejiang University
Grace Gu
Assistant professor, University of Berkeley, California
Guosong Hong
Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Marc Lajoie
CEO, Outpace Bio
Hao Li
CEO and Cofounder, Pinscreen; Distinguished Fellow, UC Berkeley
Zlatko Minev
Quantum Physicist, IBM Quantum; Founder, Open Labs
Margaret Mitchell
Chief ethics scientist, Hugging Face
Emma Pierson
Assistant professor of computer science, Cornell Tech
Mariana Popescu
Assistant Professor, TU Delft
John Rogers
Simpson/Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University
Mona Sloane
Sociologist, New York University, University of Tübingen
Fyodor Urnov
Professor of Molecular Therapeutics, UC Berkeley
Venkat Veswanathan
Associate professor, Carnegie Mellon University; cofounder, Aionics Inc.
Cyrus Wadia
Head of WW Product Sustainability, Amazon
Jackie Y. Ying
Director, NanoBio Lab; A*STAR Senior Fellow
Ben Zhao
Neubauer Professor of Computer Science, University of Chicago
Credits
Editing: Allison Arieff, Tim Maher, Amy Nordrum
Art direction: Stephanie Arnett, Eric Mongeon, Vichhika Tep
Copy editing: Linda Lowenthal
Engagement: Juliet Beauchamp, Abby Ivory-Ganja
Illustration: Nico Ortega
Photography: Damon Casarez, Alex Gagne, Peter Garritano, Sara Stathas