Predicting the future is a myth. But shaping it? That is strategy!

With my 20+ years in tech-led transformation experience, one truth stands out - you can strategically Anticipate trends, responsibly Adapt to emerging shifts, and proactively Act to stay ahead.

Technology is not just evolving, it is disrupting, accelerating, converging across industries, geographies, and every aspect of human experience and interaction.

At the KPMG CTO Office, we recognize this profound shift and to navigate it, we build a strategic approach to technology foresight - KPMG’s Tech Radar 2025+

KPMG’s Tech Radar goes beyond identifying trends. Our methodology connects emerging technologies to their strategic relevance, ecosystem potential, and actionable timing, helping us shape what’s next with intent.

We, at KPMG DE have a clear vision "Technology & AI in everything we do"

Our curated list of 30 game-changing trends has been screened against key dimensions:

1. Tech Maturity and Actionable Timing,
2. Strategic Disruption and Impact,
3. Scalability and Adoption,
4. Ethical vs Risk Implications,
5. Interoperability and Cross-industry Applicability.

These are not isolated impulses. Instead, these trends profoundly interact, reinforce, and challenge conventional assumptions, providing the most relevant and actionable insights. What truly matters is how we interpret, frame, and translate them into strategy.

KPMG’s Tech Radar methodology is fortified by seven foundational principles that guide how we empower organizations to turn trends into tangible strategic advantage:

1. Contextual relevance is paramount

Not every technology trend holds equal significance. Its true relevance is shaped by specific business models, evolving regulatory environments, dynamic customer preferences, and unique regional dynamics. At KPMG, we critically embed trend evaluation within each client's business-specific context, translating abstract innovation into concrete, implementable strategic examples that drive anticipated impact.

2. Clear strategy leads to actionable insights

The tech world is saturated with information overload, hype cycles, and cognitive biases, among others which can easily distort decision-making and hinder effective action. At KPMG, our clear methodology, grounded in rigorous assessment, precise differentiation, and strategic prioritization, significantly cuts through this noise. This provides not just trends, but precise strategic orientation, balancing excitement with the critical clarity needed to drive meaningful impact.

3. Preparedness, not perfection drives performance

In a rapidly evolving tech environment, it's neither realistic nor necessary to fully master every emerging trend upfront. At KPMG, our focus is on identifying which technologies are truly mission-critical within a given context and defining the most effective ways to prepare for them. This might involve building adaptable roadmaps, designing robust control mechanisms, or launching agile, small-scale pilots. Strategic readiness, not technical completeness, is our guiding priority.

4. Innovation lives at intersections

True disruption and transformative value often emerge at the intersections, where technologies, people, and processes converge. At KPMG, we apply a multi-dimensional approach that spans industries and technology domains to enable exponential innovation. Trends like Spatial AI or Humanoid Robotics gain traction not because of their standalone novelty, but because they connect previously siloed systems, enable new forms of collaboration, and drive holistic, cross-functional solutions.

5. Ecosystems drive scalable change and success

In today's interconnected world, no single player transforms alone; one’s reach is defined by their ecosystem. Several pivotal trends such as Trust-as-a-Service, Distributed Data Hubs, and AI-of-Things realize their full potential only when embedded within broader technology and application ecosystems. At KPMG, we support clients to develop future-proof enterprise and technology strategies by identifying trends that inherently enable interoperability, promote seamless collaboration between humans and technology, and encourage comprehensive ecosystem thinking.

6. Dual-lens thinking for a well rounded strategy 

KPMG's Trend Radar uniquely integrates market intelligence, insights from leading technology providers, perspectives from tech gurus, and learnings from academic research. This outside-in view is powerfully combined with KPMG’s decades of deep, credible industry experience. This significantly sharpens the relevance, timing, and impact of the trends we identify. By consistently applying this dual-lens approach, we, at KPMG, not only address our clients’ evolving needs but also co-create new realities with them.

7. Foresight is a mindset 

Anticipating the possibilities of the future is not a static snapshot; it's an ongoing process. As change remains the only constant in the technology landscape, our commitment is to continuously anticipate, adapt, and act. At KPMG, we regularly enhance this Tech Radar to reflect shifts in momentum and new emerging dynamics. Technologies don’t stand still and neither do we in our pursuit of strategic clarity.

Why act now!

Across my discussions with clients, colleagues, and visionary thinkers, I see a rising demand for trend orientation that moves beyond buzzwords, complicated graphs, and disconnected use cases. This Tech Radar is just the beginning of our journey together to anticipate, adapt, and act on the future.

Reach out to my colleagues and myself at the KPMG to begin shaping your next tech journey.

Jana Behr Sebastian Stöckle Christian Stender Philipp Glock Holger Pott Christoph Kaiser Benedikt Höck Ines Mulder-Teichmann Prof. Dr. Heiko von der Gracht Hans-Christian Schwieger Stephen Chase Saskia Maria Jahnel Shrishti Gupta Daniel Witte Maximilian Woidich Francisco Yzusqui Burkard