2025 promises to be a pivotal year for tech thought leaders as several significant industry shifts unfold.
Those who excel at demystifying new technologies, analysing market trends, and championing best practices, will no doubt outperform their competitors. While those that don't, will struggle to stay relevant.
In this article, we explore five trends tech thought leaders must follow to give them the best chance at hijacking media narratives, dominating social conversation, and influencing key industry debates in the coming year. Read on to discover more.
While global trade is set to rise by another 3.3% in 2025, geopolitical tensions and sustainability concerns are becoming significant hurdles for the tech sector.
Because of this, production processes are slowly shifting.
The production of AI systems, robotics, and 3D printing is moving closer to consumers for better security, support for domestic industries, and supply chain resilience.
Recent examples of this in action, include Meta and Google developing in-house AI chips rather than importing from Southeast Asia as many tech firms historically have done.
With this in mind, it's important to think about how your business is adapting to these shifts too.
What processes or technologies has your company invested in to become more ESG responsible?
Have you recently discovered any cybersecurity vulnerabilities within your supply chain?
What key technologies do you predict will face development hurdles in the coming year?
The more out-of-box questions you can answer, the more ammunition you can give industry journalists to secure media coverage or perform well on social media.
Just avoid speaking about political sensitivities directly.
Continuing with the sustainability theme, 2025 is bound to be another huge year for climate tech too.
Many ESG targets set by companies at the start of the decade have a 2025 completion date, while the planet will have just five years to achieve its 2030 goals.
Businesses, NGOs, and the general public will be looking at the contributions climate tech companies have made and the upcoming hurdles they foresee as sustainability experts.
Just make sure that your insights focus on real-world data, equally measuring the impact of both your business and the industry as a whole.
Leading with action and avoiding empty statements ensures that you appear credible and realistic.
You should also build a varied network of stakeholders, including businesses, policymakers, researchers, and NGOs, to stay informed about industry on-goings, react to debates, and improve your relevance.
Lastly, focus on reaching your audiences through a multichannel strategy. Podcasts, videos, and constant social media engagement are essential to explain complex technologies or solutions.
It's also worth noting that while speaking at COP30 might seem like a long shot, there are numerous events climate tech leaders can secure an invitation to, network, and help influence change with their thought leadership.
As many as 22 biotech firms went public this year, hinting at growing industry confidence as the population ages, the middle class grows, and biotech becomes more affordable.
This is why the industry has become a key focus for local governments and mainstream media, opening up a huge profiling opportunity for health professionals and tech executives who can shape the future of healthcare.
Without more biotech thought leadership, leaders with highly complex treatments will fail to instil the trust and confidence for their products to be widely adopted.
We're on the brink of huge historical milestones and medical breakthroughs as treatments for prominent diseases like cancer and Parkinson's improve. Biotech executives would be wise to make their mark.
Generative AI has been at the tip of everyone’s tongue for the past two years as billions have been spent to unlock the technology's potential.
However, 2025 is shaping up to be the year that the AI bubble finally pops. In fact, some experts predict as many as 30% of Gen-AI projects will be scrapped.
There many reasons for this.
Poor data quality.
Inadequate risk control.
An inability to prove ROI.
Plus, with the public having competing priorities such as the climate crisis to contend with, it's easy to see why the uptake of new AI technologies has been slow.
But while this may unnerve many AI leaders, those who have found a way to operate profitably have a huge opportunity to discuss where others have gone wrong.
Perhaps your Gen-AI start-up has perfected voice-generated content, or maybe you specialise in the health sector. It doesn’t matter. Becoming one of the first voices to highlight where AI brings real value would be immense.
The US tech sector is one of the largest and most influential in the world. So, it makes sense for thought leaders to follow how the next US election will impact it.
Even though the election takes place in 2024, the new government's regulations and policies won't come into play until 2025.
New administrative policies are bound to impact data privacy, cybersecurity, AI, and internet governance, which will create opportunities and challenges that thought leaders will be expected to navigate.
Your company's share price may be at risk.
One of your new patents could be rejected.
You could lose one of your suppliers.
While you might question whether thought leadership is a priority within this climate, we'd strongly argue otherwise.
With a well strategised, data-rich campaign its actually possible to shape regulation and policy-making in more favourable ways.
For Instance, Elon Musk's advocacy for sustainable transportation has influenced several federal policies around electric vehicles and renewable energy initiatives.
So, the earlier you start preparing for what the election might bring, the better off your business and industry will be.
If you enjoyed this article, read our article on IT thought leadership here.