April 16, 2026
Agentic Commerce and AI Security among 2026’s Most Investable Emerging Technologies
Agentic commerce, AI security and trust technologies, and frontier AI models will produce returns for enterprises within two years, according to new research from Forrester that identifies the ten emerging technologies most likely to deliver value across short, medium, and long-term horizons.
The research, titled The Top 10 Emerging Technologies In 2026, also shows that AI is moving out of purely digital workflows and into physical environments, including robotics, autonomous vehicles, and ambient computing experiences that are beginning to change how consumers communicate, work, and buy.
Short-term: Agentic Commerce and AI Security
Agentic commerce is singled out as one of the fastest routes to measurable ROI, with brands expected to see returns first in owned environments such as apps and websites, where AI agents can reduce friction in the purchase journey and lift conversion through contextual personalisation.
Returns in non-owned environments, including third-party AI assistants and agent-to-agent marketplaces, are expected to take up to three more years as the surrounding ecosystem and underlying protocols mature. Early evidence suggests the commercial case is already landing, with shoppers who engaged with AI chat converting at 12.3%, roughly four times the rate of those who did not, with category lifts ranging from 240% in apparel to 427% in home and garden.
AI security and trust technologies also sit in the short-term bracket, highlighting how quickly integrated governance, identity, and access controls have become prerequisites for scaling generative and agentic AI across the enterprise. Sectors that rely on predictive models and high-stakes automated decisioning, including financial services, healthcare, and the public sector, are expected to feel the impact first. Cisco AI Readiness Index 2025 shows similar figures and reports 83% of companies plan to deploy AI agents, but only 13% of organisations worldwide qualify as AI-ready, with just 31% equipped to control and secure agentic workloads end-to-end.
Medium-term: Agentic Software Development and Humanoid Robots
Covering the next two to five years, agentic software development and humanoid robots are flagged as technologies that will reward disciplined investment and a higher tolerance for risk.
Agentic software development is expected to accelerate the software lifecycle as coordinated AI agents generate, test, and refine code, though meaningful returns depend on improvements in agent-to-agent coordination and stronger runtime guardrails. Humanoid robots and physical AI, meanwhile, are projected to remove labour constraints across industries and enable systems capable of adapting to unpredictable environments, although scaling, safety certification, data requirements, and workforce redesign will cap near-term value.
Long-term: Quantum Computing
Quantum computing is the sole long-term technology on the list, with advances in hardware, algorithms, and hybrid architectures pointing toward eventual breakthroughs in optimisation, simulation, cryptography, and materials science. Financial services, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing are expected to realise value first, although mainstream commercial adoption remains several years out.
“While AI continues to dominate the top emerging technologies list for 2026, AI technologies vary widely in capability and impact,” said Sharyn Leaver, Chief Research Officer at Forrester, adding that enterprises need to plan their tech investments around a combination of shorter-term returns and longer-term foundational commitments that demand higher tolerance for risk.
