Engineering science and technology serve as engines driving the development of human society [1]. Here, we use the term engineering fronts to represent crucial directions in engineering that are having a major impact on and will lead the future development of engineering science and technology, providing important guidance for cultivating and developing new, high-quality productive forces in the future. Global engineering science and technology have entered a new cycle of innovation activity, with continuous breakthroughs being made in new technologies, fields, and sectors [2]. To analyze and predict the development trends of engineering science and technology and guide the innovation frontiers in this field, the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) has organized Global Engineering Fronts research every year since 2017, selecting and publishing annual reports on engineering research and development fronts on a global scale [3]. More specifically, engineering research fronts focus on the exploration of basic principles and fundamental theories, while engineering development fronts emphasize technological development and practical applications.

The 2024 Global Engineering Fronts research is organized across nine domains, encompassing 53 disciplinary directions: mechanical and vehicle engineering; information and electronic engineering; chemical, metallurgical, and materials engineering; energy and mining engineering; civil, hydraulic, and architectural engineering; environmental and light textile engineering; agriculture; medicine and health; and engineering management. The selection process employs a research methodology characterized by deep interaction between expert judgment and data analysis. The overall research process consists of four stages: data mining, data analysis, expert study, and expert interpretation.

During the data mining stage for the year 2024, a co-citation clustering analysis was conducted on 2.013 million high-impact Science Citation Index (SCI) journal and conference papers published between 2018 and 2023 in the Web of Science database, with citation frequencies in the top 10%. This analysis yielded 195 000 key topics; through indicator screening, 734 hotspots in engineering research fronts were then identified. To obtain candidate hotspots for engineering development fronts, text clustering was also performed on 530 000 high-impact patent families in the Derwent Innovation patent database that were among the top 10 000 in their respective discipline groups in terms of citation frequency and were applied for during 2018-2023.

In the data analysis stage, bibliographic and information experts conducted a relevant analysis of the papers and patent data for each identified hotspot to derive the progress of research through data analysis. In the expert study stage, the final 92 engineering research fronts and 92 engineering development fronts were determined, primarily through methods such as surveys of domain experts, expert discussions, and expert revisions. In addition, technology roadmaps were completed for key directions among the engineering research and development fronts. In the expert interpretation stage, authoritative experts from various key engineering fields were invited to provide in-depth interpretations of the current status, development trends, and key development areas of their respective fronts.

The Global Engineering Fronts for this year fall into four main streams: Firstly, the new generation of information technology, represented by artificial intelligence (AI), continues to maintain strong development momentum. It is increasingly becoming a foundational technology driving the advancement of other key technologies. Its penetration into multiple industries—such as manufacturing, materials, construction, environmental protection, biology, transportation, and healthcare—is accelerating, and new application scenarios are continuously being explored, driving disruptive and collective breakthroughs in related engineering science and technology fields.

Secondly, low-carbon energy technologies are rapidly evolving. Energy conversion and storage technologies are continuously breaking through bottlenecks in safety, energy density, capacity scale, endurance, service life, and economy. The shift of renewable energy toward high capacity, high efficiency, safety, and stability is accelerating, and the complementary and deep integration of traditional and renewable energy is being established. Research and development of various types of batteries, such as all-solid-state, sodium-ion, and solar batteries, as well as hydrogen production and storage materials and devices, have become new frontiers of the energy field.

Thirdly, key technologies are emerging intensively within the field of materials. The demands of complex application scenarios continuously drive the advancement of materials engineering fronts toward multifunctionality, high performance, and increasing toughness. The design and development of a new generation of composite materials with integrated structure and function, integrated materials and devices, and metamaterials have become new frontiers of global materials science and technology.

Fourthly, the field of life sciences, represented by synthetic biology, gene editing, brain science, and regenerative medicine, continues to nurture new transformations. Explorations in areas such as biosynthetic feed, biology breeding, and bioengineered organs are providing innovative solutions to many practical problems currently faced by humanity and have broad development prospects.

Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, Table 6, Table 7, Table 8, Table 9 list the Global Engineering Fronts for 2024 [4].

We would like to thank all the experts and staff involved in the 2024 Global Engineering Fronts research project. We are grateful for the strong support from Higher Education Press, Clarivate, the editorial departments of the nine journals of the CAE, the CAE Center for Strategic Studies, the offices of the academic divisions of the CAE, Harbin Medical University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Tianjin University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tongji University, Tsinghua University, China Agricultural University, Ruijin Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and the China Engineering Sciences Press Co., Ltd.