  Direct dark matter searches are promising techniques to identify the nature
of dark matter particles. I describe the future of this field of research,
focussing on the question of what can be achieved in the next decade. I will
present the main techniques and R&D projects that will allow to build so-called
ultimate WIMP detectors, capable of probing spin-independent interactions down
to the unimaginably low cross section of 1e-48 cm2, before the irreducible
neutrino background takes over. If a discovery is within the reach of a
near-future dark matter experiment, these detectors will be able to constrain
WIMP properties such as its mass, scattering cross section and possibly spin.
With input from the LHC and from indirect searches, direct detection
experiments will hopefully allow to determine the local density and to
constrain the local phase-space structure of our dark matter halo.
