Our current areas of focus for the Regulatory Sandbox

A new form of central bank-issued digital money, which would complement physical cash and other payment mechanisms in facilitating everyday payment needs. You can read a detailed description of CBDCs in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Connected transport changes how vehicles operate and interact with their surroundings. Advanced sensors, increased connectivity and sophisticated data processing mean that the next generation of vehicles will know more about their users. You can read a detailed description of connected transport in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Software that employs blockchain technology to support peer-to-peer financial transactions. You can read a detailed description of decentralised finance in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

The sequencing of the human genome to improve understanding of a broad range of traits, mostly used in healthcare. There is further potential for these insights to be used in fields such as employment, sports and education. You can read a detailed description of genomics in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Consumer, enterprise and healthcare devices and procedures, both invasive and non-invasive, that directly record and process neuro-data to gather information, control interfaces or devices, or modulate neural activity. You can read a detailed description of neurotechnologies in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Next-generation search engines incorporating new technologies, such as embedded AI capabilities, as well as voice-based, image-based and ambient elements. You can read a detailed description of next-generation search in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

By taking advantage of phenomena at the atomic scale, quantum computing may in future be able to resolve highly complex computational problems that current computers cannot, but may also present serious risks to existing encryption. You can read a detailed description of quantum computing in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Synthetic media includes images, audio and video which are partially or fully created using AI or machine learning. This technology has advanced and distinguishing between deepfake and real content is difficult. This area relates to technological and social methods to identify and detect this media. You can read a detailed description of synthetic media and its identification and detection in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

The use of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in commercial settings, for example in delivery and e-commerce, monitoring, and crowd control. You can read a detailed description of the use drones in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Wearable devices and software applications that help people assess their health and wellbeing (includes smart fabrics). You can read a detailed description of consumer healthtech in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Advanced digital health provision supporting diagnosis, medical intervention and infrastructure. This could include innovations such as smart pills, digital twins, AI-assisted diagnosis and digital infrastructure  products. You can read a detailed description of digital diagnostics, therapeutics and healthcare infrastructure in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Augmented and virtual reality hardware that creates immersive software experiences for users. These software experiences can include highly immersive virtual environments, also known as the metaverse, in which users can interact with each other and make use of digital services, such as e-commerce and gaming. You can read a detailed description of Immersive technology and virtual worlds in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

Physical objects that connect and share information over the internet, with the ability to sense, respond to or interact with the external environment. You can read a detailed description of these technologies in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

The customisation of large language models, based on individual users’ search patterns, personal preferences and characteristics, to create more tailored user experiences and better-targeted outputs. You can read a detailed description of personalised AI in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.

New and improved capabilities due to the use of next generation quantum sensors or quantum-enhanced imaging. Use cases may be in sectors such as health, defence and transport. You can read a detailed description of quantum sensing and imaging in the ICO’s Technology Horizons report.