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8 Emerging Industries For Growth

From the cars that drive themselves to rapidly evolving generative AI, find out about the 8 emerging industries for growth

Mon Jan 20 2025

BusinessBecause
Rapid technological advancements are paving the way for several emerging industries to drive growth over the next decade and beyond. 

While the likes of commercial space travel and driverless cars are a source of skepticism for some, industries such as clean technology and lab grown meat hold huge potential for social impact. 

Here are the top 8 emerging industries for growth. 


1. Generative AI 

There’s no doubt you’ve heard of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that has sparked excitement and controversy alike. The technology can generate an answer to almost any question it’s asked or even outperform students in an MBA exam, as it did at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. 

When ChatGPT was released in November 2022, more than a million people signed up to use the chatbot in just five days. Since then, its revenue reached $3.7 billion by the end of 2024.

However, ChatGPT is only one example of generative large language models (LLMs). Competitors such as Anthropic’s Claude, Microsoft's Bing, and Google’s generative AI powered features are also experiencing rapid growth

As AI technology grows, it's also having a knock-on effect in other industries.

For example, according to McKinsey, generative AI could add up to $275 billion to the operating profits of the apparel, fashion, and luxury sector in the next three to five years.  And according to the Future of Jobs Report 2025, some of the fastest-growing jobs in the next five years include big data specialists, AI and machine learning specialists, and software developers.


2. Driverless Cars

If you haven’t yet heard of automated cars that can drive themselves, you may soon be hailing one rather than your usual Uber. 

In 2023, San Francisco became the first US city to introduce driverless taxi services—also known as ‘robotaxi’.

In the driver’s seat of this advancement are Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, and Waymo, owned by Google.  b26a2d1b67555cc9eba4df91704269417d0b59aa.png

Sven A. Beiker (pictured), lecturer in management at Stanford Graduate School of Business, explains the advantages of driverless cars. “The number one benefit is likely to be fewer accidents and less fatalities. Also, it gives mobility to those who cannot use an automobile today because of accessibility issues.” 

In terms of risks, however, road regulations and laws will need to be adapted in the future. “There’ll still be traffic accidents, and therefore, who's liable when self-driving cars make a mistake is a question that’s being debated," he says.


3. Lab grown meat

The meat industry is estimated to contribute to roughly 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. 

In a world that is confronting urgent environmental issues, the emerging growth industry of lab grown meat may offer a part-time solution to mitigating the climate crisis. 

According to Andreas Rasche, a professor of business in society and associate dean of the Full-Time MBA at Copenhagen Business School, lab grown meat may reduce water pollution, improve animal rights, and free up land—all of which could play a key role in the global sustainability agenda. 

Cultivated meat has previously only been approved in Singapore but in June 2023, the industry reached a major milestone as the US Department of Agriculture gave the green light to two California-based companies, Upside Foods and Eat Just, to sell their cultivated chicken products. 


4. Commercial space travel 

The commercial space travel industry, led by billionaire entrepreneurs Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin, Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, and Elon Musk's SpaceX, continue to gain momentum. 

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In June 2023, Virgin Galactic flew its first paying customers to space, nearly 20 years after Branson started the company. The flight was commissioned by the Italian government as a training exercise for two Italian air force officers and an engineer.

However, Virgin Galactic has said it hopes to begin flying a backlog of customers who have paid as much as $450,000 per ticket and waited years for the thrill of flying into space. 

Unsurprisingly, there’s a long way to go before catching a flight into space becomes the new norm. 

“We’ll need to see technology leaps that reduce launch cost to make these services viable for ordinary people,” says Loizos Heracleous (pictured), professor of strategy and organization at Warwick Business School.


5. Cleantech 

There’s a growing need for sustainable innovation in the fight against climate change. 

This is where clean technology, or cleantech, comes in. The purpose of cleantech is to create environmentally friendly products, processes, and services, which include everything from energy-efficient batteries to electric cars and solar panels. 

As well as being a vital figure in the fight against climate change, the sector has huge market potential. The global market is predicted to be worth around $650 billion a year by 2030. 


6. Wearables 

The surge in at-home fitness trends, coupled with the rise in a desire to continuously monitor one’s health in a post-Covid world, has caused a boom in the wearables market. 

Wearables—or wearable technology—can track biometric data from heart rates to sleeping patterns. 

While Apple Watches and Fitbits are the most widely used of these devices, the industry is growing rapidly. In sports, for example, athletes are using smart compression shirts to help track and maximize performance. 

The wearable technology industry is expected to grow from $180 in 2024 to $635 billion by 2034.


7. The business of cannabis 

Cannabis has already been legalized for recreational use in several countries and multiple US states—which makes the potential of the cannabis industry hard to ignore.

U.S. cannabis sales alone totaled $31.4 billion in 2024, and are projected to reach $87 billion by 2035.

There are even cannabis-related specialized master’s degrees emerging, opening up the opportunity to learn everything there is to know about entering exciting jobs in the cannabis industry. 


8. eSports

The electronic sports (eSports) industry is rapidly becoming one of the largest growth industries, and is forecasted to shake up the entertainment sector in the years to come. 

From the Fortnite World Cup back in 2019 when a 16-year-old took home $3million after competing in the event online to the first Olympic eSports Week held in Singapore in June 2023, the industry is no doubt expanding. 

The eSports industry was valued at $2.4 billion in 2024, and is forecasted to quadruple by 2032. This means that several exciting eSports jobs for business savvy MBAs are on the horizon. 

Business as we now know it is set to look radically different in the future. These emerging industries are paving the way for innovative new business models and creating an array of fast-paced careers suited to challenge-hungry business school graduates.


Next Read: What Is The Sharing Economy?


BB Insights draws on the expertise of world leading business school professors to cover the most important business topics of today. This article was first published in July 2023 and updated in January 2025.

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