How will you make 2026 count? 2050’s digest of the news you shouldn’t miss to start the year
N°16 - January 2026
As 2026 kicks off, we’re diving into technologies transitioning from promising gadgets and systems to real enterprise and consumer deployment.
Artificial intelligence exits scaling. Researchers including Yann LeCun have reached a consensus on LLMs models plateauing. Enterprise are shifting towards fine-tuned small models whilst Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol enables agentic workflows moving into daily practice. At CES this week, AI saturation is making software differentiation almost impossible.
Infrastructure is sexy again. Some interesting climate trends this year are set to kick off, including China’s five-year plan and global EV market fracturing, asNorway starts theirfirst underwater desalination plant reducing energy consumption by 30-50%. Elsewhere on European sovereignty land, the French state acquiried 80% of Alcatel Submarine Networks whilst Dutch-headquartered ASML invested €1.3B in Mistral AI.
2026 begins with technologies battle-tested by geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty globally.
We hope this curation will drive your own reflections and actions as you’re planning the year ahead. Please feel free to share it with those who might be interested.
Let’s dive in! 💫
Insights
Rebecca Bellan 🇺🇸 argues 2026 marks AI’s transition from scaling to practical deployment as researchers including Meta’s Yann LeCun and Ilya Sutskever note model performance plateaus requiring new architectures beyond transformers. TechCrunch analysis shows enterprises shifting towards fine-tuned small language models for cost advantages whilst Anthropic’s MCP becomes standard connective tissue enabling agentic workflows to move from pilot demos into daily practice, as physical AI applications through robotics, autonomous vehicles, and wearables enter mainstream following years of brute-force model expansion delivering diminishing returns. | TechCrunch - AI
Boone Ashworth 🇺🇸 argues CES 2026 reveals AI feature saturation making differentiation impossible, “everything is AI now, so nothing is AI” as competing products offer identical chatbots, computer vision, and intelligent sensors. | WIRED - AI
J.D Capelouto 🇺🇸 reports all 21 Wall Street analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict S&P 500 gains in 2026 despite tech overvaluation narratives, with one longtime bull noting “pessimists have just been wrong for so long that people are kind of tired of that schtick” whilst finding unanimous optimism disconcerting. The Economist frames enthusiasm as bet on unusually fast corporate profit growth globally, yet Financial Times shows dollar heading for biggest annual drop since 2017 as foreign investors buying US equities now hedge currency exposure, revealing confidence in American stocks doesn’t extend to dollar despite consensus around equity performance. | Semafor - MARKET SENTIMENT - Unanimous Optimism
Graeme Wearden 🇬🇧 reports Deutsche Bank poll of 440 investors identifies AI bubble burst as top 2026 risk with 57% concerned, followed by fears Trump-appointed Fed chair could cause market turmoil. The Guardian analysis shows consensus expects 2.8% global growth though UBS warns markets face challenges if AI progress slows, with $4.7tn AI capital expenditure predicted by 2030 whilst money markets price two US rate cuts dependent on Fed chair choice, as TS Lombard economist Dario Perkins suggests consensus could underestimate activity rebound stoking inflation debate. | The Guardian - ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Lili Pike 🇺🇸 identifies 14 trends shaping 2026 climate action as world enters critical decade’s second half, with China’s five-year plan revealing decarbonisation ambitions whilst developing countries make progress through cheap Chinese clean tech. | Bloomberg - CLIMATE OUTLOOK
Gayle Markovitz 🇨🇭 presents World Economic Forum’s five defining questions for Davos 2026: cooperating in contested world, unlocking growth sources, investing in people, deploying innovation responsibly, and building prosperity within planetary boundaries. | World Economic Forum - DAVOS 2026
Jérémie Fosse 🇫🇷 argues Spain demonstrates transitions are made possible through democratic compromise linking ecology and social justice, with coalition government deriving over half electricity from renewables enabling low prices whilst minimum wage increased 50%+ since 2018. The Eco-Union president shows targeted mechanisms protecting vulnerable households with exceptional contributions from high-rent sectors achieving growth above European average and the lowest unemployment rate in 15 years, contrasting France’s renewable delaysr. | Le Monde - TRANSITION
Nicolas Buisine 🇫🇷 argues Europe shifts from digital sovereignty rhetoric to action through strategic infrastructure investments, with French state acquiring 80% of Alcatel Submarine Networks controlling 750,000km deployed cables carrying 99% global data traffic. The opinion piece also highlights Dutch-headquartered ASML’s €1.3B investment in Mistral AI, whilst Eutelsat’s €1.5B recapitalisation provides an alternative to Starlink and Kuiper with 650+ low-orbit satellites, as European cloud certification debate continues with 80% critical data hosted under US Cloud Act jurisdiction despite Europeanchampions | Maddyness - EUROPE SOVEREIGNTY
Florence Santrot 🇫🇷 reports Norway hosts world’s first commercial underwater desalination plant in 2026 at Mongstad Industrial Park, with Flocean exploiting 300-600 metre depth hydrostatic pressure reducing energy consumption 30-50% versus coastal facilities. | We Demain - WATER INNOVATION
Kristen French 🇺🇸 reports Rutgers research analysing brain imaging from 960 people reveals cortex regions operate at multiple speeds rather than single internal clock, with connectivity pattern distribution critical to switching between fast and slow thinking modes. Nautilus analysis shows Linden Parkes’ team found individuals whose brain wiring better matches regional information processing speeds demonstrate higher cognitive capacity, with patterns associated with specific genetic, molecular, and cellular signatures found across humans and mice, as researchers plan examining how connectivity alterations manifest in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression, validating Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s fast and slow thinking framework through neurobiological evidence. | Nautilus - NEUROSCIENCE
Graph of the week
Clean-energy indices surged 45-60% in 2025, vastly outperforming the S&P 500, as global green bond and loan issuance hit a record $947B. AI-driven electricity demand pushed investors towards infrastructure plays, with Asia-Pacific leading at $261B raised (+20% year-on-year) and China recording $138B in green bonds, as BNP Paribas predicts easing US rates could boost global green bond sales to $1.6T in 2026. Source
