Inflation is a phase of accelerated expansion, taking place at very high energy in the early Universe. During this epoch, inhomogeneities are generated on cosmological scales from the amplification of quantum fluctuations of the gravitational and matter fields, that are stretched to distances of astrophysical interest today. Inflation has become a very active field of research because the energy scales involved during this early epoch are many orders of magnitude greater than those accessible in particle physics experiments. The early Universe is thus one of the most promising probes to test far beyond standard model physics. I will review the current theoretical and observational status of cosmic inflation, and discuss what we may learn from future experiments.