IDTechEx

Graphene & 2D Materials Event Accelerating Graphene Commercialisation

The Graphene and 2D Materials Europe event will be the 10th business-focused IDTechEx exhibition and conference.

Can e-textiles take the next step towards the mass market?

Over the past 20 years, e-textiles have progressed from an academic curiosity to an important technology platform generating revenue for companies globally. In particular, the industry saw strong growth for several years up to 2015, with successful launches of many new products from a series of players.

Artificial island to provide renewable energy for Europe

Central to the plan is the construction of one or more islands, so called Power Link Islands with interconnections to surrounding countries, in the middle of the North Sea.

Sigfox

Sigfox provide a global network for connecting devices over long distances. Now available in 32 countries, Sigfox plan to expand to 28 more within the next 18 months. David Pugh spoke with Thomas Nichols, EVP at Sigfox on the companies roadmap.

New Report from IDTechEx on Transparent Conductive Films (TCF)

The transparent conductive film (TCF) industry will leave behind its years of sluggish growth to achieve rapid growth.

Triboelectric energy harvesting and storage improved

To sustainably power electronics by converting mechanical energy into electricity, energy storage is essential to supply a stable regulated electric output, something traditionally realized by a direct connection between the two components through a rectifier.

NGK INSULATORS, LTD.

NGK Insulators is a Japanese conglomerate which produces sodium/sulphur batteries for stationary applications. A fire accident in 2011 cost the company $600M but they are now back in the game.

Kuraray Co Ltd

Kuraray is a Japanese conglomerate. They have developed a hard carbon for Li-ion anodes with high capacity that can compete with graphite in terms of specific capacity.

EDF

Technology Analyst Dr Lorenzo Grande interviewed Philippe Stevens from EDF. They have developed a rechargeable Zn/air battery with a specific energy of 450 Wh/kg, as well as an aqueous Li/air battery.

Autonomous cars re-thought

Suppliers such as Delphi argue that autonomous cars will sell first to organisations, notably as taxis but, after a delay, they will be bought strongly by private individuals. IDTechEx notes that many cities will ban private cars, autonomous or not

Graphene Highlights from MWC

IDTechEx recently attended the Mobile World Congress and visited the graphene flagship booth, which consisted of a number of graphene companies highlighting their latest work. Here are some of the highlights.

Cabot Corporation advancing graphenes towards commercial applications

IDTechEx has invited a series of industrial players and leader active in graphene commercialization to contribute their opinions about the state of the technology and markets.

Aerosense

Aerosense is a joint venture between Sony and ZMP. The company focuses on UAVs for industrial applications like soil monitoring, facility management, and wind turbine blade inspection.

Uppsala University

Researchers at Uppsala University have patented a cellulose battery separator derived from Cladophora, a type of seaweed found in the Baltic Sea.

IDTechEx Research announces new report on Wireless Charging

The unique commercially oriented report Wireless Charging 2017-2027: Phones, Cars etc. is packed with detailed market and technical analysis with many new infograms, conference slides, roadmaps and ten year forecasts 2017-2027. It is based on global research by PhD level multi-lingual analysts in 2016-7 with frequent updates. The lead author has followed the subject for 20 years and is a globally acknowledged authority on the subject.

Simufact Engineering GmbH

IDTechEx Technology Analyst Dr Bryony met Mirja Mente from Simufact Engineering GmbH to catch up with Simufact's recent developments in simulation for additive manufacturing.

Printrbot

IDTechEx Technology Analyst Dr Bryony Core spoke with Brook Drumm, Founder and CEO of Printrbot, about their latest developments serving 3DP's consumer/hobbyist and education markets.

Energy Storage Innovations Europe 2017

The field of battery energy storage is set to grow significantly over the coming years. The question that incumbents, raw materials suppliers, end users, and innovators are all asking themselves is whether Li-ion batteries will keep the lion's share of the market, or whether disruptive innovation will drive technology diversification according to applications.

Jaguar Land Rover: Autonomy Insights 2017

At the Future Powertrain event March 2017 in Solihull UK, Tony Harper, Head of Research and Advanced Systems Engineering gave valuable insights into the reality of autonomous and electric vehicles.

Electric trucks reinvented this year

At the recent Future Powertrain Conference in Solihull UK, Professor Matthias Wellers, Managing Director AVI Powertrain, said he liked the idea of intermittent catenaries on major roads charging inter-city pure electric trucks.