- Energy - Cheaper, cleaner generation, plus storage and transmission
- AI - Narrow domains: self-driving, drugs, programming, fraud detection
- Robotics - Space and nano robots
- Biotech - Writing (instead of just reading) DNA, guard against biotech abuse
- Healthcare - Make it better for less money
- Pharmaceuticals - Nootropics: drugs that help thinking
- Education - The distribution of MOOC with the interaction of one-on-one
- Human Augmentation - Helping humans function, work or play better
- VR and AR - Something's up with AR & VR, but we are not quite sure what
- Housing - Cheaper housing
- Transportation - Lightweight, short-distance, personal transport
- One Million Jobs - Find new jobs for those that are replaced (by robots etc).
- Programming Tools - What is beyond programming languages?
- Hollywood 2.0 - New content distribution (vs theatres)
- Diversity - Inclusive workforce
- Enterprise Software - Making expensive (software) cheap
- Financial Services - Regtech that is as fast moving as Fintech
- Computer Security - It's very hard
- Global Health Non-Profits - Data-literate, metrics-driven giving
- Under-Served Communities - Innovation in social security
- Food and Farming - Reduce cost, improve flavour (and wholesomeness)
- Mass Media - How to fix media that rely on polarisation, misinformation?
- Improving Democracy - Better involvement, communications and fairness
- Future of Work - If jobs are lost (to robots etc), how to get money, healthcare?
- News - Fake news vs freedom of the press
- Water - Low cost desalination, novel purification, smart immigration
Y Combinator is accepting applications for the Summer 2017 funding cycle, which will take place in Mountain View, Califormia from Jun - Aug 2017. [The closing date for applications for this batch is March 24, though according to its FAQ, Y Combinator accepts late applications on an ad hoc basis. The next intake is around October.]