Science and technology have been propelled into the front lines of the global contest. It’s not a military war, but an economic one, with companies and countries battling for ultimate supremacy. China and America are the main protagonists, but smaller players like the UAE are creating havoc on the sidelines.

By now everyone has accepted that tech dominates every industry and business, but hard science is the sharp end of the spear. Real scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations are keeping the leaders ahead of their trade rivals, and ‘mad scientists’ are in hot demand. And those with the deepest pockets are winning this war.

We’ve gone beyond digital supercomputers and AI engineers, though those have helped, along with robotic experimentation. Now we’re betting on atomically thin transistors, molecular assembly, and bio-fabrication of exotic devices and materials that have quantum properties. Coupled with photonic computation and gamma lasers, these inventions – to name just a few – promise to revolutionize everything from communications to energy to medicine, transport, and manufacturing.

The old trade wars based on tariffs and cost efficiencies have evaporated in the face of new realities, where superior intellectual property is the ultimate secret weapon. The countries and companies with the best scientific minds, the best research programs, and the best entrepreneurs to turn innovations into exponential opportunities, are leading the charge into the next economic era.

It’s not just a fight to dominate the next industrial revolution. It will change society and civilization as we know it. It’s a fight for the future.