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27 January 2026

NTT DATA Foresight Report 2026 Reveals Six Trends Shaping the Future of Technology Innovation

Tokyo - January 27, 2026 - NTT DATA, a global leader in AI, digital business and technology services, today announces the release of the NTT DATA Technology Foresight Report 2026. The annual Technology Foresight report examines how businesses are growing by making the most of digital, AI, and other advanced technologies and identifies trends for the future.

As we enter the age of mass intelligence, businesses are prioritizing tools that are focused on learning, adaptation and autonomous behavior. In this rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence, it is critical that businesses formulate medium- and long-term strategies to establish a presence in the global market.

For the report, NTT DATA examined six trends that indicate the direction of change centered on technology, while taking into account the relationship between technology, business, and society.

Trends Overview for 2026 
Human-orchestrated autonomy Autonomy enters a new phase where intelligent systems can operate and act at scale and speed yet remain guided by human intent to ensure that decisions are purposeful, transparent, and aligned with broader enterprise and societal goals.
Embodied agency and emotions Emotionally responsive systems are emerging as social infrastructure. Synthetic emotion fosters trust, engagement and ethical interaction, humanizing data and enabling co-evolution between human and artificial empathy which drives well-being, productivity and affective transformation across society.
Intelligence we trust Cybersecurity evolves into a trusted layer of adaptive intelligence, learning and adapting to complex threats while maintaining confidence across increasingly interconnected ecosystems. As AI systems gain autonomy, security extends to protecting their integrity, transparency and ethical behavior.
Informed infrastructure Infrastructure becomes an active foundation for innovation, using continuous intelligence to optimize performance, anticipate demand and balance agility, cost, control and sustainability in real time. It seamlessly spans the hybrid continuum of devices, edge and cloud, orchestrating diverse workloads wherever they deliver the greatest value and efficiency.
Sovereign Silicon Ecosystems Semiconductor innovation is vital for national resilience and technological autonomy. Nations are building end-to-end chip ecosystems to secure supply chains, protect IP, and maintain computing leadership. Control over silicon drives digital transformation, emphasizing collaboration, sustainability, and global innovation.
From illusory efficiency to sufficiency The next frontier of growth moves beyond the pursuit of narrow efficiency toward sufficiency, where technology enables businesses to thrive responsibly within planetary boundaries while strengthening resilience and long-term credibility.

"The rise of mass intelligence shifts our focus from acceleration to significance," said Oliver Koeth, Managing Director, Germany, NTT DATA. "When emotionally aware systems, sovereign compute and trusted infrastructure come together, technology evolves into a purposeful ally - amplifying resilience and reinforcing the values that will define our shared future."

For more information, please visit NTT DATA Technology Foresight website.

NTT DATA uses the NTT DATA Technology Foresight report to create visions for the future together with customers around the world and develops the technologies and services necessary to realize those visions, including the following use cases:

The Technology Foresight Report plays a key role in NTT DATA's innovation strategy, with the Company using it to guide the creation of new businesses and drive social change.

About NTT DATA

NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world's leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services. Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 70 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.

Visit us at nttdata.com.

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