Exponential Technologies

Defining and Describing Exponential Technologies

“Exponential technologies” is a market and strategy label for technologies believed to improve at accelerating rates and to create outsized economic impact as they spread. [5y65q6] [haq468]
In the sources returned here, the term is used most concretely in investment and business contexts, especially by Morningstar and iShares, where an “Exponential Technologies” index and ETF track companies “that create or use exponential technologies” or are positioned to benefit from “promising technologies.” [5y65q6] The phrase also appears in leadership and decision-making writing as a broad umbrella for multiple “ground breaking exponential technologies,” suggesting a category name rather than a single invention. [haq468] Because the retrieved results are limited, this profile reflects the term’s current usage more than a fully documented historical lineage.

Uses in Context

  • In investing, the term is used to label companies in an index designed to capture firms that “create or use exponential technologies.” [5y65q6]
  • In ETF marketing, it describes a theme for equities expected to benefit from technologies identified by the index provider as having “meaningful economic benefits.” [5y65q6]
  • In management writing, it is used as a broad category for several “ground breaking exponential technologies” that can improve decision-making across domains. [haq468]
  • In strategic commentary, it serves as shorthand for fast-moving tech trends that companies should monitor for future competitive advantage. [7tdjz5]
  • In policy and organizational branding, the phrase can appear as part of institutional names such as “Exponential Science,” showing its appeal as a signaling term for innovation-oriented initiatives. [wbcm8g]

History of Use

Origins

The clearest origin point in the retrieved sources is the Morningstar/iShares usage, where “Exponential Technologies” is the name of an index and ETF theme built around companies that “create or use exponential technologies.” [5y65q6] In that framing, Morningstar is the index provider and the concept is operationalized as an investable universe of firms “positioned to experience meaningful economic benefits” from promising technologies. [5y65q6] The returned results do not include the earliest coinage of the phrase, so the first appearance in the broader literature cannot be established from these sources alone. [5y65q6] [haq468]

Evolution

  • 2018–2020s: The term is standardized in financial products and indexing language, with iShares describing the fund as tracking the Morningstar® Exponential Technologies IndexSM and defining the underlying companies by their exposure to “promising technologies.” [5y65q6]
  • 2020s: The phrase broadens beyond investing into leadership and operations discourse, where a book chapter treats it as a set of “six ground breaking exponential technologies” relevant to decision-making. [haq468]
  • 2025: Tech-sector analysis continues to frame the relevant area as a moving set of major trends, reinforcing “exponential technologies” as a flexible label for fast-scaling innovation rather than a single field. [7tdjz5]

Best Real-World Examples

  • iShares Future Exponential Technologies ETF — a fund built to track companies that create or use exponential technologies. [5y65q6]
  • Morningstar Exponential Technologies Index — the benchmark underlying the ETF and the clearest operational definition in the sources. [5y65q6]
  • Decision Making with Exponential Technologies for Leaders — a chapter that treats the term as a suite of technologies shaping management practice. [haq468]
  • McKinsey technology trends outlook 2025 — a current example of how adjacent strategy research frames fast-moving technologies as business-relevant trends. [7tdjz5]
  • Exponential Science Fellowship Programme Policy — an example of the “exponential” label being used for innovation-oriented institutional branding. [wbcm8g]

Case Studies

The iShares Future Exponential Technologies ETF shows the most concrete institutional use of the term in the retrieved sources. The fund’s objective is to track an index of developed and emerging market companies that “create or use exponential technologies,” and the underlying index is described as measuring companies that Morningstar believes are positioned for “meaningful economic benefits” as suppliers or producers of promising technologies. [5y65q6] This case shows how the phrase functions in finance: it is not a single technology, but a thematic screen for firms associated with future growth narratives. [5y65q6]
A second case comes from the Emerald book chapter Decision Making with Exponential Technologies for Leaders. The chapter says it explores “six ground breaking exponential technologies” and links them to improving decision-making across domains, including AI in the snippet returned here. [haq468] That use broadens the term from portfolio construction into organizational management, where the phrase is used to group multiple technologies under a single strategic lens. [haq468]
McKinsey’s 2025 technology trends outlook illustrates the term’s continued role as a shorthand for emerging areas that matter to firms. The page frames the question of “Which new technology will have the most impact in 2025 and beyond?” and positions the analysis as an annual ranking of the top tech trends that matter for companies and business leaders. [7tdjz5] While McKinsey’s result does not use the exact phrase in the snippet shown, it demonstrates the same conceptual territory: a business-facing taxonomy of high-impact technologies that organizations track to anticipate change. [7tdjz5]

Sources