Research Articles

The world has a plastics problem. Every day, approximately 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into the world's oceans and plastic pollution can now be found on every beach in the world, from busy tourist beaches to uninhabited tropical islands.

Cardiologists need to rely on the technology at their disposal. Shortages in available donor tissue for cardiac transplantation are driving the development of cardiovascular 3D bioprinting technologies.

Recent developments bring into focus the motivation, and at times the imperative, to increase automation in the logistics and delivery chain. IDTechEx have been examining the technological and commercial trends in this field for several years.

In its recently published report "Innovations in Robotic Surgery 2020-2030", IDTechEx forecasts that the robotic surgery market will reach over $12 billion by 2030. The report breaks down the market landscape and emerging technologies in the field of robotic surgery.

In 2020 vessel owners have had to deal with an 'emissions control world' for the first time. Unlike most other mobility sectors, which predominantly tend to switch partly or completely to a traction battery in order to meet emissions targets, a mixture of solutions have a role to play for boats and ships.

As part of research commissioned by the International Copper Association (ICA) IDTechEx outlines which electric traction motor technologies are winning in electric cars, with a view to how this will impact overall copper demand by 2030.

Meat is big business. The global industry is worth over $2 trillion and JBS, the world's largest meat company, makes over $50 billion in annual revenue. This article from Dr Michael Dent discusses the sustainability problems in the meat industry and what can be done?

XR is a term which has become more prominent in the last few years. It encapsulates virtual, augmented, and mixed reality topics. The definition of each of these has become saturated in the past decade, with companies using their own definitions for each to describe their products.

Plastic pollution is rapidly becoming one of the world's biggest environmental issues as increasing production of single use plastic products far outweighs the world's ability to deal with them.

The redox flow battery market is growing. After more than 40 years of research, and 20 years of testing and demonstration projects, the flow batteries are now technologically ready to compete on the energy storage market. With a forecasted CAGR of 30% in the next years, this technology is looking to have all the characteristics to address each segment of the energy storage market, from residential to grid scale application.

In the past decade, mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) has attracted significant attention as it holds the potential to disrupt the business model of the traditional automotive industry and the way people travel.

Electrics and robotics squares the circle of seeking a wider variety of depleting materials in nastier, more remote places from the seafloor to four kilometres underground, up remote mountains and later outer space. Zero-emission microgrids on-site, sensors everywhere and new information and communications technology lubricate the process.

Vertical farming is the practice of growing plants indoors under fully controlled environmental conditions in many stacked layers, using artificial lighting instead of relying on the sun. By tuning the growing environment to the exact needs of the plant and using soil-free growing techniques, vertical farming can achieve yields hundreds of times higher than conventional agriculture, 365 days a year and without requiring pesticides.

The electric vehicle market is growing rapidly, and with it the demand for fast charging, increased energy density and improved safety. Something that all these areas have in common is heat. Charging a battery quickly generates a lot of heat, with the extra energy capacity of modern and upcoming electric vehicle batteries, extracting this heat becomes more challenging.

Along with the rest of the automotive sector, the medium and heavy-duty truck market is evolving. Governments around the world, recognising the potentially catastrophic repercussions of unfettered climate change and witnessing the detrimental impact on human health from vehicle exhaust pollutant emissions in urban environments, are taking decisive action, that will, in the coming decades, drive vehicle manufacturers to zero on-road exhaust emission powertrain solutions. Consequently, the days of the fossil fuel powered combustion engine are numbered.

The EV market is booming. The battery is a key feature for both cost and performance, the chemistry and cell levels are extensively discussed. However, everything else that goes into a pack is often overlooked.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, with over 17 million per year according to the World Health Organisation. This represents approximately 31% of global deaths. Many forms of cardiovascular disease are chronic in nature, meaning that they worsen over time. Thus, once the disease has been diagnosed it is important to initiate treatment as soon as possible in order to provide positive patient outcomes.

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and screen-printing techniques open the door to miniaturised gas sensors and enable the integration of such gas sensors into many consumer devices, such as mobile phones and wearable devices.

The lidar market is very dynamic and some players are making excellent progress towards launching automotive-grade products. Analysts at IDTechEx are tracking more than one hundred companies that develop 3D lidar modules, this article presents insights from their report "Lidar 2020-2030".

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Wednesday 25 March 2020 titled Electric Vans: The Time is Now.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Tuesday 24 March 2020 titled Where are the Market Opportunities in Molecular Diagnostics?

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Tuesday 17 March 2020 titled Electronics Reshaped: How Flexible, Stretchable and Structural Electronics is Unleashing New Design Freedoms in Healthcare, Mobility and Retail.

XR is a term that has become more prominent in the last few years. It encapsulates virtual, augmented, and mixed reality topics. This article discusses AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality) in more detail.

Attendees of Healthcare Sensor Innovations USA 2020 will hear from industry representatives on how advanced sensors, sensor fusion, algorithms, analytics and artificial intelligence can enable point-of-care testing and the movement towards the decentralization of healthcare.

Historically, growth in the Li-ion battery market has been due to consumer electronics. Moving forward, Li-ion battery demand will be driven by growth in electric vehicle adoption, which has grown steadily over the last 10 years. Subsidies in countries such as Norway and China, especially, have encouraged EV sales.

IDTechEx identifies top future technologies in healthcare. With demographic changes such as the aging of the population, they forecast there to be strong growth in technologies that help healthcare providers manage the growing burden on the healthcare system while maintaining high quality care.

IDTechEx calculated that this industry received over $100m in investment in 2019. There are very good reasons for both the composite and 3D printing industry to be excited.

Global Production of Electric Light Commercial Vehicles to Exceed 2.4 Million Units Annually by 2030 Forecasts IDTechEx. The light commercial vehicle market is at the dawn of a revolution; the future is electric.

2030 will be the global 'tipping point' for sustainable mobility in the world's largest cities, according to Kantar's Mobility Futures study, confirming the IDTechEx study just before. Kantar predicts private car journeys in the world's largest cities decreasing 10% by 2030 due to the sharing economy, multi-modality, autonomous vehicles and ageing population.

IDTechEx attended AutoSens 2019 in Brussels. The event took place at the car museum in Brussels. This event is focused on all future vehicle perception technologies including lidar, radar, and camera. It focuses on the hardware side as well as on the software and data processing side.

Masterclasses are the ideal way to train staff on emerging technologies. Bracketing the IDTechEx show in Berlin, the IDTechEx masterclasses on 12th and 15th May 2020 will contain the latest insights and analysis on their chosen topics.

Healthcare Sensor Innovations 2020, hosted in San Jose on March 17-18, identifies and assesses the opportunities for printed and flexible electronics in healthcare as the technology enables a new wave of medical wearable devices.

In-Mold Electronics (IME) will one day become a well-established process with a well-developed ecosystem and a mature, easy-to-use design-to-product workflow. This process will become the basis of many novel structural electronic designs and products.

Healthcare Sensor Innovations North America debut on Marc, 17-18, 2020 in San Jose, USA will focus on the latest developments in the use of wearables and sensors in point of care diagnostics and continuous monitoring.

Some of the biggest hurdles to widespread adoption of electric vehicles are range anxiety, battery longevity and safety. As the electric vehicle market grows and for it to reach its full potential, there is an increased need for effective thermal management of the vehicles.

Memphis Meats a leading start-up in the race to develop cultured meat products, recently announced that it had closed a $161 million funding round. IDTechEx Analyst Dr Michael Dent discusses what this means for the commercialisation of the cultured meat industry.