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Disruptive technologies are helping leading manufacturers to boost productivity, attract and engage new consumers, inspire new market strategies and drive substantial business growth. Here's our pick of disruptive technologies to watch:

Drones: Deutsche Post, the world's biggest courier company, is using a drone to deliver medication to a remote German island. It’s been such a success the company is considering using the “parcelcopter” to make more regular deliveries.

‘Mobile-geddon’: mobile devices are making waves in the business world: think service delivery, worker productivity and customer experience.

Distributed manufacturing: is where the final product is manufactured near the final customer, so the raw materials, assembly and product fabrication are decentralised, potentially increasing customisation.

Advanced robotics: including human-machine collaboration.

Emergent Artificial Intelligence: is where machines can learn automatically by taking on large volumes of information; it has huge implications for productivity.

Self-driving vehicles: that could potentially move or distribute goods.

Internet of Things: has massive potential for business process optimisation, reduced downtime and waste, and increased quality overall.

Find out more about these disruptive technologies by reading the full story here.

Food & Drink Business

Nestlé will spin its waters and premium beverages business into a 50:50 joint venture with Platinum Equity, as the group reported a 31.4 per cent fall in first-half net profit. Its Asia, Oceania and Africa zone, which includes Australia and New Zealand, delivered the strongest growth of its three geographic regions.

Kim Berry brings you the highlights, trends, and innovations on show at foodpro 2026. From Day 1: meat, robotics, and mushrooms. Sponsored by Bürkert Australia. 

Food & Drink Business editor Kim Berry spoke with Archit Jha and Chris Econ from ALVI Technologies about the company's engineering-led approach to process measurement and control.