Summary

• Flying cars and air taxis are creating new investment opportunities in urban mobility.
• Revolutionary weight-loss drugs present multi-billion dollar opportunities for pharmaceutical investors.
• Robotic surgery is transforming precision medicine, offering growth in the med-tech sector.
• Advanced battery technology is crucial for the energy transition, powering future growth.

Investing in the Future, Without the Jetpack Nonsense

Let’s be honest, the “future” has been a bit of a letdown. For decades, we were promised jetpacks, meals in pill form, and colonies on Mars. Instead, we got social media and slightly faster broadband. But I think we’re finally at a turning point. Beneath the noise and the endless hype, a few genuinely world changing ideas are not just taking shape, they are creating markets that could redefine how we think about growth. These are not speculative fantasies, but tangible shifts in technology that investors ought to be watching very closely.

Are We Finally Getting Flying Cars?

Every time someone mentions flying cars, I feel a familiar wave of cynicism. It’s the ultimate sci-fi cliché. Yet, here we are. A company like EHang Holdings is not just building prototypes in a shed, it is actually getting regulatory approval in China for autonomous flying vehicles. Think of them less as cars and more as automated air taxis, designed to hop over the gridlocked traffic that plagues every major city on earth.

To me, the real story isn’t the novelty of flying. It’s the solution to a cripplingly expensive problem, urban congestion. The opportunity is enormous, but let’s not get carried away. The path is littered with regulatory hurdles and the small matter of convincing the public to trust a pilotless pod in the sky. It’s a long game, but one with a potential prize that is almost too big to calculate.

A Cure for More Than Just Cravings

While flying machines grab the headlines, a quieter, perhaps more profound revolution is happening in our pharmacies. For years, tackling obesity has been a frustrating cycle of diet fads and public health lectures. Now, companies like Novo Nordisk have developed drugs that do more than just suppress appetite, they seem to fundamentally rewire the body’s metabolic system.

The results have been nothing short of staggering, achieving weight loss previously only possible through surgery. The market is, frankly, colossal. With hundreds of millions of people affected by obesity globally, the financial implications are mind boggling. Novo Nordisk has a significant head start, but the race is on. This isn’t just about vanity, it’s about potentially reducing rates of heart disease and diabetes on a global scale. It’s a healthcare breakthrough that also happens to be a multi-billion dollar commercial opportunity.

The Quiet Takeover in the Operating Theatre

While we’ve all been distracted, robots have been steadily making their way into our hospitals. Intuitive Surgical and its da Vinci system have, without much fanfare, completely changed complex surgery. Surgeons now use robotic arms to perform procedures with a level of precision the human hand simply cannot match. This means smaller incisions, less trauma for the patient, and faster recovery times.

From an investor’s point of view, the business model is beautiful in its simplicity. The company doesn’t just sell a hospital a very expensive robot. It then sells the disposable instruments and accessories for every single procedure. It’s the classic razor and blade model, creating a stream of recurring revenue that is the envy of the medical world. This isn't a bet on a future trend, it's an investment in a revolution that is already well underway. Trying to pick individual winners in these fields can feel like a fool's errand, however. A more pragmatic approach, I think, is to look at the broader themes. A collection like the Future Tech: World Changing Ideas basket, for instance, bundles these ideas together, which may help spread the risk.

Deep Dive

Market & Opportunity

• The urban air mobility market could become a trillion-dollar industry.
• The global surgical robotics market is expanding rapidly as hospitals adopt precision surgery.
• Over 650 million adults are affected by obesity globally, creating a significant market for pharmaceutical treatments.
• Effective obesity treatments could generate hundreds of billions in revenue.
• Advanced battery technologies, such as solid-state batteries, could accelerate electric vehicle adoption and enable grid-scale renewable energy storage.

Key Companies

• EHang Holdings Limited (EH): Develops passenger-grade autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) for short-distance urban transport and mobility. The company has moved from prototypes to commercial operations in China.
• Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG): Dominates the robotic surgery market with its da Vinci surgical platform, which enables high-precision procedures. The company operates on a recurring revenue model by selling systems, instruments, and accessories.
• Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO): A pharmaceutical company leading in obesity treatment with its GLP-1 receptor agonist medications, Ozempic and Wegovy. The company has a head start in production capacity and established relationships with healthcare systems.

Primary Risk Factors

• Regulatory approval for new technologies like AAVs and medical treatments can be complex and vary across jurisdictions.
• Public acceptance and consumer hesitation can slow the adoption of new technologies like autonomous flying vehicles.
• Technological development is often non-linear, and new breakthroughs can make existing solutions obsolete.
• Competitive dynamics can shift rapidly in emerging industries, eroding the advantages of market leaders.
• Market adoption timelines can be longer than projected due to infrastructure limitations or resistance from established industries.

Growth Catalysts

• The convergence of technologies, such as advanced batteries enabling electric aircraft, can accelerate adoption across sectors.
• Recurring revenue models, like selling disposable instruments for surgical robots, can create predictable cash flows.
• Expanding insurance coverage for new treatments could make them accessible to broader populations and increase market size.
• Companies with early regulatory progress and established manufacturing capabilities may capture significant market share.
• The development of next-generation technologies, like solid-state batteries, promises higher energy density, faster charging, and improved safety.

Investment Access

• The Future Tech: World Changing Ideas theme is available through the Nemo platform.
• The platform is regulated by the ADGM.
• Offers commission-free investing.
• Provides access via fractional shares starting from $1.