Research Articles

Just jelly-like materials? Well, there is a new one that supports an elephant but goes squishy when it jumps off. The new IDTechEx reports, "Self-Healing Materials Markets 2022-2042" and "Hydrogel Markets in Agriculture, Industry, Energy, Electronics, Electrical, Consumer 2022-2042" have the big picture.

In February 2022, the White House issued an updated list of critical and emerging technologies that the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), and National Security Council (NSC) have identified as being important for US national security. Numerous technology areas have been featured, including advanced manufacturing, hypersonics, biotechnologies, and artificial intelligence. Of these, IDTechEx has highlighted which areas to watch and why exactly the White House has shortlisted them as critical technologies.

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In 2021, it was reported that over 100 employees at Amazon Prime Air, Amazon's drone delivery program, had lost their jobs and dozens of other roles were moving to other projects. This was not exciting news and made some people reflect on the feasibility of drone delivery in the near future.

In our surreal world, we continue to subsidize fossil fuels. We rarely subsidize the huge missing link on the way to 100% renewables, which is providing massive amounts of delayed electricity. People misunderstand. They think we do. Uniquely, the IDTechEx report "Future Stationary Energy Storage: Hydrogen, Batteries, Gravity, Gas, Other 2022-2042" looks at all the proliferating needs and technologies on the essential 20-year timescale ahead. It finds that the problems are largely solved of very brief fluctuations previously avoided by the momentum of rotating machines used in fossil fuel plants.

With the advancement of technologies and robotics, as well as the increasing challenges facing the agricultural industry (e.g., labor shortage, high labor costs, etc.), robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are widely considered as an approach to revolutionize farming. Robots have several advantages over human labor including higher accuracy and efficiency, better consistency and reliability, lower operational costs, and many others. As such, more and more farmers decide to adopt robots (also commonly known as Agbots) and automation to make their businesses more sustainable and efficient.

On the face of it, 2021 was a good year for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) in passenger car markets. Toyota, with their second generation Mirai FCEV, and Hyundai, with their NEXO FCEV, both had record sales, which largely made up for Honda announcing in June 2021 that it had decided to pull the plug on production of their Honda Clarity FCV (citing the lack of hydrogen infrastructure and weak demand).

Li-ion batteries are beginning to hit their performance ceiling, especially with regards to energy density. However, a shift in the anode materials used, namely to silicon or lithium-metal anodes, could provide a stepwise improvement to energy density. Their promise can be highlighted by looking at the high number of early-stage companies primarily developing anode materials, most being focussed on silicon, compared to other areas of Li-ion development.

El despliegue de la 5G está en pleno apogeo, con una infraestructura de banda media instalada para finales de 2021 que representa casi 6 veces más que en 2019. Sin embargo, esto no significa que se hayan resuelto todos los retos. Gran parte de la infraestructura 5G son equipos 4G reutilizados en bandas de frecuencia más bajas. La verdadera transición al 5G viene de la mano de la adopción de frecuencias más altas, que se han clasificado en gran medida en bandas sub-6 GHz y mmWave (> 20 GHz). Uno de los principales retos es la gestión térmica.

Wearable technology is now way beyond the watch, but IDTechEx identifies these as the ones to watch.

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Smart cities face new, exceptional challenges with new exceptional technologies. Those starting from scratch have seen a shakeout for reasons varying from push-back against people control to failing to raise the money. In contrast, work has begun on the NEOM smart city in Saudi Arabia and the more modest Toyota Woven City at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan that is, in some ways, more advanced. The IDTechEx report, "Smart City Materials, Systems, Markets 2022-2042" has the analysis and forecasts.

Thursday 24 February 2022 - Mobile Robotics in Logistics: Hundreds of Billion Dollar Market in 20 Years? An introduction to mobile robots and how they can be used in logistics; What makes mobile robots an attractive solution to logistics automation; Discussion of key enabling technologies and components; and much more.

The past two years have been extremely turbulent for many industries with production lines shutting down, chip shortages, and a host of general supply chain issues. Amongst the dismay, electric vehicles (EVs) have been a shining light. In 2021, sales of EVs globally grew by around 80% over 2020 which in turn was a growth of 44% over 2019.

Gymnast of chemicals, the awesome hydrogel is a 3D network of hydrophilic polymers like a giant molecule that can swell in water and hold at least 10% of water while maintaining a well-defined structure. Medical hydrogels currently dominate hydrogel publicity, patents, and research but the rest will become a larger business 2022-2042.

El sector de la robótica móvil ha crecido rápidamente en los últimos años, impulsado por los avances en la tecnología robótica, la navegación autónoma y la inteligencia artificial (IA), y puede aliviar de forma eficaz y rentable muchos de los problemas laborales que amenazan actualmente al sector logístico mundial.

The new year has dawned, and with it, new year resolutions. From hitting the gym to learning Japanese, January is a month where people challenge themselves. But what if the most worthwhile challenge is to spend a little longer asleep? A celebration that starts with staying up past midnight is hardly the most conducive to getting enough shut-eye - but that is exactly the resolution worth making.

Thursday 3 February 2022 - Solutions to Modern Agriculture Issues - Agricultural Robotics Market Gaining Momentum. In this webinar, Yulin Wang will talk through the key enabling technologies used in agricultural robotics, explain why different applications have different levels of development, and analyze how this trend will change and evolve in the upcoming decade.

Fires in electric vehicles (EVs) certainly gain a lot of media attention in comparison to their internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts. But a crucial question for the future of mobility is whether EVs are actually any more likely to catch fire than an ICE vehicle. There is always a non-zero risk of Lithium-ion batteries entering thermal runaway but the key points are how likely is a fire, how problematic is an EV fire and what is being done to prevent or limit them in the future?

Thursday 10 February 2022 - This webinar looks at hydrogels beyond the medical applications that currently dominate the publicity, patents and research. Come away aware that someone will make a new billion-dollar business out of this and greatly benefit society, from smart cities to ample food, water, and electricity with zero emissions and so much more.

This report is focused on key technologies (e.g., AI, sensors, GPS, imaging systems, etc.) and applications (weeding, harvesting, monitoring, etc.). It analyses recent challenges in the agriculture industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how robotics and technology developments will change the business of agriculture, enabling ultra-precision farming, helping to mitigate the challenges, and maintaining sustainable developments.

The materials science industry is highly competitive. There are large changes in various sectors, such as an electric and autonomous future for vehicles, geopolitical & legislative developments, and new players offering innovative materials looking to gain market share. The key to future success will rely on commercializing R&D activity and remaining agile to market needs, two reasons that developing a materials informatics strategy is imperative.

"We expect to see the additive manufacturing market consolidating in the near future" has been the refrain of many for nearly a decade now. The thought really strengthened after major acquisition moves by industry titans Stratasys and 3D Systems between 2010-2012. Stratasys would acquire wax 3D printer company Solidscape and merge with material jetting pioneer Objet in 2011-2012, while 3D Systems completed a jaw-dropping 13 acquisitions between 2011-2012. With so many major moves by market leaders in the early 2010s, it seemed like market consolidation was just around the corner.

¿Cómo nos comunicamos con nuestros dispositivos electrónicos? Hay muchas opciones de "interfaces hombre-máquina", desde las más conocidas (teclado/ratón/interruptores mecánicos) hasta otras más recientes, como las pantallas táctiles capacitivas de los smartphones. A medida que aumenta el número de dispositivos que nos rodean que adquieren una funcionalidad "inteligente", la capacidad de incorporar componentes HMI de forma elegante y rentable es cada vez más importante.

Join the free webinar - Thursday 27 January 2022. What are the major printing technologies driving the 3D printing hardware market's growth? What are new emerging technologies to keep an eye on? Is the hardware market at a point of consolidation or expansion?

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Thursday 20 January 2022 - What's Happening in Battery Technology? Recent commercial developments to advanced and non-lithium batteries, various next generation batteries and analysis of their relative strengths and weaknesses, and the potential markets for the range of technologies being developed.

Casi dos años después del inicio del brote de COVID-19, el mundo sigue en el túnel. A pesar del impacto negativo que ha causado la pandemia, hay algunos aspectos positivos. Por ejemplo, acelera la digitalización: las empresas se ven empujadas a adoptar las tecnologías más rápidamente para mejorar la producción, así como la eficiencia de la gestión.

IDTechEx ha identificado una variedad de modelos de negocio adoptados por los recicladores. Algunos pretenden optimizar las vías de transporte y recogida, a través de soluciones Spoke y Hub o móviles, mientras que otros buscan licenciar sus tecnologías o vender productos de reciclaje.

The mobility sector continues to see a rapid pace of change, enabled by technological leaps in the underlying componentry and materials, but there is still a long way to go. In this article Luke Gear, Principal Analyst at IDTechEx, explores six key future mobility trends, drawing from IDTechEx Subscription research.

Commercial interest in silicon anodes and investments into start-up companies has continued through 2021 - IDTechEx estimates that $1.9B of funding has now made its way into silicon anode start-ups. Beyond investments, there has also been greater activity regarding companies beginning to license technologies, enter into supply relationships or commercialize technologies in early adopter markets, highlighting that the promise of silicon anode technology may soon be realized.

El último informe de IDTechEx, "Automotive Radar 2022-2042", muestra todas las innovaciones tecnológicas que están impulsando el rendimiento del radar hacia un nuevo territorio inexplorado. Teniendo en cuenta todas las ventajas que puede ofrecer el radar, ¿por qué entonces Tesla se aleja y se centra en un conjunto de sensores solo para cámaras?

Thursday 13 January 2022 - New Self-healing Materials Save Lives, Money, and the Planet. The webinar explains how this is a world of many materials including a lot of silicon polymers such as geopolymers and silicones. It involves many ionomers, hydrogels, polyurethanes, ionomers, epoxies and Diels-Alder polymers but much more besides.

El interés comercial por los ánodos de silicio y las inversiones en empresas de nueva creación han continuado hasta 2021: IDTechEx calcula que ya se han destinado 1.900 millones de dólares a empresas de nueva creación de ánodos de silicio. Más allá de las inversiones, también ha habido una mayor actividad en relación con las empresas que comienzan a licenciar tecnologías, entrar en relaciones de suministro o comercializar tecnologías en los mercados de adopción temprana, lo que pone de relieve que la promesa de la tecnología de ánodos de silicio pronto puede hacerse realidad.