Cyrus Wadia is the CEO of Activate, a global organization dedicated to transforming scientific discoveries into real-world impact.gettyEach year, my team and I review hundreds of proposals from scientists and engineers working on technologies they believe could change the world. It’s literally the cutting floor for where technical innovation shines a light on the next two decades. That offers something most investors, strategists and executives rarely get: a front-row seat to the industries of the future.The AI Boom Reminds Us Of The Physical Foundations Of InnovationFor decades, the most valuable technology companies scaled through software, telco networks and data services. We watched mobile apps transform entire sectors without owning physical infrastructure, and now we're watching AI reshape how millions of people work, communicate and learn. This isn't a blip; AI is changing things. It makes our world feel even faster and more digital—something that was hard to conceive a decade ago.But consider the underlying truth behind this ever-accelerating digital world. Every major software and AI breakthrough depends on power generation, semiconductors, cooling systems, advanced materials, industrial construction, manufacturing and complex physical supply chains. Society isn't advanced in the cloud. It's built—with real systems engineered, financed, deployed and maintained.We've Seen This Pattern BeforeThroughout the 20th century, some of the most consequential companies were in hard tech and developed enabling technologies that gave rise to entirely new industries. • BASF commercialized the Haber-Bosch process for synthetic nitrogen, a chemistry breakthrough that made industrial agriculture possible.• DuPont's many advances in materials science produced innovations such as nylon, and later Kevlar and Teflon, reshaping the future of textiles, space exploration and defense systems.• Corning transformed specialty glass and ceramics into the foundation of the fiber-optic revolution.• Merck industrialized drug discovery and synthesis, building the manufacturing and process chemistry capabilities that allowed modern pharmaceuticals to scale.None of those companies began with the ambition of defining the next technological era. They became transformative by bringing frontier science into the physical world when the timing was right. That's what makes this moment feel familiar.The Edge Of Science Is Becoming The Foundation Of IndustryInnovation is never a singular breakthrough or moment of genius. It's born from combining advances across science, engineering and computation in ways that make previously impractical technologies commercially viable.Looking across this year's scientific applications, I see new patterns emerging. In advanced materials, researchers are using computational tools to identify promising compounds in months rather than years. In biotechnology, machine learning is helping scientists navigate biological complexity and design experiments more efficiently. In power and industrial systems, simulation tools are helping engineers improve thermal efficiency. Across sectors, software is reducing the cost, time and uncertainty required to move promising science toward commercial deployment.That may be one of the most important shifts happening today. For much of the last two decades, software was often the product itself. Increasingly, software is becoming the accelerator that helps frontier science become the product. The companies defining the next industrial era will likely be built at that intersection.What This Means For Business Leaders First, stop treating hard tech as a distant or speculative category. AI infrastructure, industrial decarbonization, supply-chain resilience and energy security are in demand today, not someday.Second, get closer to where breakthrough science is happening. Don't try to invent every technology within your company. Instead, understand how to identify promising science early, build relationships with the people developing it, such as entrepreneurs, universities and national labs, and help move it into the market.The next DuPont or Corning won't look obvious today. The companies shaping the next industrial era are still emerging from research labs, pilot facilities and startup ecosystems. Business leaders don't need to become scientists, but they do need to understand where science is headed.Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?