Trend · rank 50 of 250

Technical standards competition

Rivalry over who writes the standards for telecoms, AI, energy and payments is intensifying, giving nations with sustained engineering and negotiating capacity influence over the systems that others must adopt.

Information & InfluenceDiplomacy & influenceinstitutionsgeoeconomicsconnectivity

Second pass: Carried forward from the first pass unchanged. Held by all three panel models.

Sensitivity and network position

Rank
50of 250
Sensitivity
17.5rank 31
Breadth
3of 20 scenarios High or above
PageRank
41.0rank 81
Eigenvector
7.5
Betweenness
26.0
Links
13trends at Moderate similarity or above
Composite
31.6

Attention over three years

How much this trend is read about on Wikipedia and searched for on Google, week by week, set against the typical trend in the list so that what moves every trend at once is taken out. 100 is this trend's own three-year average. The score measures public attention, which is not the same as the strength of the force: a trend can deepen unnoticed, and a news event can lift attention for a fortnight.

Now
116
Over a year
+3%Steady
Over three years
+47%
Peak
16123 Nov 2025
Sources
Bothagreement -0.52
Coverage
16languages · 61 nations

Trailing 4-week average. 100 is this trend’s three-year average.

By language

Wikipedia reading in each language edition where the trend’s pages are read enough to measure (16 of 28). Share is of all the readers counted.

LanguageShareNowOver a yearThree years
English57%99+5%
Spanish6%109+12%
German6%91−2%
Russian5%110+18%
French5%87+0%
Japanese4%82−11%
Chinese4%102−1%
Persian2%80+1%
Italian2%104+8%
Ukrainian2%99+22%
Indonesian2%76+17%
Portuguese1%114+19%
Polish1%96−2%
Korean1%88−12%
Swedish1%132+44%
Vietnamese0%110+36%

By country

Google search interest over the three years, as a share of each country’s searching. 100 is the nation where interest is highest. The search terms are English, which favours countries that search in English.

Singapore

South Korea

Ethiopia

Kenya

China

United States

Philippines

Australia

United Arab Emirates

Netherlands

Nepal

Canada

100

90

70

60

57

56

49

46

46

43

39

38

The 12 highest of 61 nations with a reading.

By region and G20 member

Attention to this trend inside each place, from Google searches made in its countries and Wikipedia reading in the languages mostly read there, averaged where both exist. Each line compares the trend with its own past in that place; the lines do not compare places.

Regions

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
North AmericaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in English100−21%−8%+22%
EuropeGoogle in 9 countries + Wikipedia in German, French, Italian, Polish, Swedish95−11%+6%−14%
ChinaGoogle in 1 country112+37%+8%+45%
Indo-PacificGoogle in 8 countries + Wikipedia in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian95−10%−4%−13%
South AsiaGoogle in 1 country123−15%+9%+112%
Gulf and Middle EastGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in Persian67−41%+15%−53%
AfricaGoogle in 1 country89−43%−33%+79%
Latin America and CaribbeanGoogle in 5 countries + Wikipedia in Spanish, Portuguese98+6%−8%−2%
Russia and EurasiaGoogle in 3 countries + Wikipedia in Russian, Ukrainian85+20%−3%−35%

G20 members

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
AustraliaGoogle112−39%+27%+137%
BrazilGoogle + Wikipedia in Portuguese101+1%−1%−4%
CanadaGoogle105−42%+40%+78%
ChinaGoogle112+37%+8%+45%
FranceGoogle + Wikipedia in French65−37%−4%−45%
GermanyGoogle + Wikipedia in German102+16%+2%−11%
IndiaGoogle123−15%+9%+112%
IndonesiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Indonesian94−1%+5%−22%
ItalyGoogle + Wikipedia in Italian102−19%+8%+17%
JapanGoogle + Wikipedia in Japanese84−7%−12%−24%
South KoreaGoogle + Wikipedia in Korean82−19%−22%−29%
MexicoGoogle83+13%−37%−24%
RussiaWikipedia in Russian110+10%+18%−2%
South AfricaGoogle89−43%−33%+79%
TürkiyeGoogle42−68%+273%−72%
United KingdomGoogle128−17%+49%+77%
United StatesGoogle + Wikipedia in English99−19%−14%+23%

Relation to each scenario

A trend relates to a scenario when it changes how likely the scenario is, how hard it lands, or is itself sharply changed by it. Each score is the median of three scores given separately by the members of the model panel.

RelationScenarioFamily
4 · HighCritical trade divides into rival blocs S01Economic and trade
4 · HighA cryptographic breakthrough invalidates digital trust S09Technology and infrastructure
4 · HighA cross-regional market access compact redirects investment S12 ↗Economic and trade
3 · ModerateA great-power agreement lowers economic security barriers S13 ↗Geopolitical and security
3 · ModerateA public service platform reaches inclusive operation S18 ↗Technology and infrastructure
1 · Very lowHybrid coercion ends in an infrastructure blackout S04Geopolitical and security
1 · Very lowAn AI deployment step causes abrupt labour displacement S08Technology and infrastructure
1 · Very lowAI-directed research produces a reproducible discovery step S17 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA global funding seizure reaches sovereign balance sheets S02Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA regional war closes a globally important sea route S03Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA disputed transfer of power breaks effective government S05Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedTwo breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis S06Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedA major disaster disables the national economic core S07Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedA novel respiratory pathogen exceeds health surge capacity S10Health
0 · Not relatedA creditor agreement releases fiscal capacity S11 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA verified Middle East settlement restores access S14 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedCheap firm clean power becomes available at scale S15 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedA validated farming package raises water-efficient output S16 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAffordable preventive treatments reduce chronic illness S19 ↗Health
0 · Not relatedA live outbreak proves rapid distributed pandemic defence S20 ↗Health

Similarity = 0.3 × shared tags (Jaccard) + 0.3 × likeness of scenario profiles (cosine) + 0.3 × likeness of names and descriptions (TF-IDF cosine) + 0.1 if in the same capability domain, cut into seven levels at 0.12, 0.22, 0.33, 0.45, 0.58, 0.72. Shown at Moderate and above.

SimilarityTrendThemeRank
3 · ModerateDiplomatic capacity under strainDiplomacy & influence16
3 · ModerateGreat-power competitionConflict & security28
3 · ModerateMiddle-power diplomatic leverageDiplomacy & influence36
3 · ModerateEconomic security policyTrade, industry & supply chains47
3 · ModerateDevelopment finance as influenceDiplomacy & influence63
3 · ModerateCredibility of external commitmentsDiplomacy & influence65
3 · ModerateGlobal South coalitionsDiplomacy & influence72
3 · ModerateWeakening multilateral institutionsDiplomacy & influence77
3 · ModerateRegional trade agreement deepeningTrade, industry & supply chains105
3 · ModerateResearch security & science decouplingDiplomacy & influence113
3 · ModerateDigital sovereignty & data localisationAI, compute & quantum121
3 · ModerateNext-generation mobile networksEnergy, networks & climate resilience147
3 · ModerateInternational student flowsDiplomacy & influence227