Last January in this space we wrote that “technology doesn't really have bad years.” But 2020 was like no other year in recent memory: Just about everything suffered, including technology. One shining exception was biotech, with the remarkably rapid development of vaccines capable of stemming the COVID-19 pandemic.• This year's roundup of anticipated tech advances includes an examination of the challenges in manufacturing these vaccines. And it describes how certain technologies used widely during the pandemic will likely have far-reaching effects on society, even after the threat subsides. You'll also find accounts of technical developments unrelated to the pandemic that the editors of IEEE Spectrum expect to generate news this year. • Making such predictions is, of course, risky, We trust, though, that whatever we may have missed won't possibly be as momentous as the earthshaker that we-indeed the whole world-didn‘t see coming 12 months ago. ▸

中文翻译：

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2021年最佳技术：特别报告

去年一月，我们在这个领域写道：“技术确实没有糟糕的年份。” 但是2020年在最近的记忆中再好不过了：几乎遭受了所有损失，包括技术。生物技术是一个例外，生物技术的发展非常迅速，能够阻止COVID-19大流行。•今年的预期技术进步​​综述包括对制造这些疫苗的挑战的考察。它描述了即使在威胁消退之后，在大流行期间广泛使用的某些技术也可能对社会产生深远影响。您还将发现与IEEE Spectrum编辑希望在今年产生新闻的大流行无关的技术发展。•做出这样的预测当然是有风险的，但是我们相信，我们可能错过的一切都不会像我们真正的全球摇撼者一样重要，这是12个月前看不到的。▸