2020 Industrial Technology Outlook

Article by: Asst. Prof. Suwan Juntiwasarakij, Ph.D., Mega Tech Senior Editor

Look around and you then see the pace of time is accelerating everywhere. Not only are diverging demographics, increasingly multipolar geopolitics and long-term sustainability issues driving change everywhere, but also disruption from exponential technologies is shaking the economy and profoundly transforming competitive positions and business ecosystems, thus capture the market vertically and horizontally. This issue presents key technologies potentially impact industries and businesses in the years to arrive.

Technology Radar

According to the 2020+ Technology Radar, the technologies that will power businesses tomorrow are offered with regard to business impact and maturity level. Business impact reveals four priorities: transformational, high, medium, and low while adoption maturity levels describe as mainstream, early adopter, adolescent, and emerging.

As for business impact, transformational is likely to require radical changes with in organizations whereas high will have a high impact at work and in people’s home lives, and low will have impact on specific processes and services or affect some aspects of user’s consumers’ lives. In response to maturity assessment, mainstream is when there is a clear need and many clients are implementing solutions. Early adopter is when clients are starting to look for solutions. Adolescent is when a particular technology increasingly receives conversational momentum among practitioners and influencers. Lastly, emerging is when academia and small number of specialized markets are developed towards a technology. However, this issue puts highlights on 3D printing, 5G network, and blockchain technology.

Printing the Future in 3D The global 3D printing market was valued at $4.16 billion in 2014 and projected to reach 44.39 billion by 2025, registering a CAGR of 21.8% from 2019 to 2025. North America was at highest contributor to the global market with $1.73 billion in 2014 and estimated to reach $16.84 billion by 2025 registering a CAGR of 20.8% during the forecast period. Decades of innovation have led to the 3D printing revolution. Recent advancements in speed, printing technology and material capabilities are now aligned, and together they will push the entire industry forward. Along with growing competition and investment in the 3D printing industry, these new capabilities will reshape custom manufacturing. However, the 3D printing industry is on the verge of another tipping point.

Global 5 G Global 5G market has gained momentum as subscription for enhanced mobile broadband expected to reach 1.5 billion by the end of 2024, and more than 40 percent global population, according to Ericsson Mobility Report. This will make 5G the fastest generation of cellular technology to be rolled out on a global scale. With global mobile data traffic forecast to increase more than 5 times between 2018 and 2024, key driver for 5G deployment include increased network capacity and decreased cost per byte.

5G subscription uptake expected to be faster than for LTE, which in turn is the mobile communication technology with the fastest subscription uptake so far. On a global level, 5G network deployments are anticipated from 2020, and by the end of 2024 the projection is 1.5 billion 5G subscriptions for enhanced mobile broadband. This will account for close to 17 percent of all mobile subscriptions at that time. Between 2018 and 2024, total mobile data traffic is expected to increase by a factor of five, with 5G networks projected to carry 25 percent of mobile traffic by the end of the period.

Blockchain for Manufacturing

Blockchain is a decentralized ledger of all transactions in a network. Using blockchain technology, participant in the network can confirm transactions without the need for a trusted third party intermediary. Bitcoin and other financial applications of blockchain may grab headlines, but companies in the industrial manufacturing sector are also developing innovative commercial solutions based on the technology. Manufacturers are quietly experimenting with blockchain use cases that are rewriting how firms interact.

Over time, many industries have witnessed blockchain’s application power in logistics and supply chain. According to Capgemini Research Institute analysis, the maturity of blockchain adoption will evolve in three waves. The first wave is from 2011 to 2018; organizations have invested in understanding the technology, its implications, and raising their awareness. The second wave is from 2017 to 2020; organizations are exploring proofs of concept and working on establishing consortia. Industries other than financial services have also started investing in blockchain. The third wave is from 2019 to 2025; organizations will undertake enterprise transformation, driving enterprise integration and establishing policies for privacy and data management.

Take-Home Message

Out of three technologies discussion above, blockchain offers an opportunity to tackle some of the perennial issues that compromise supply chain effectiveness such as the lack of traceability. Supply chains have become increasingly complex over the years. Traceability, responsiveness, and trust issues remain barriers to more efficient supply chain networks. Companies should determine which pain points in their supply chain they want to address, clearly assess whether blockchain is the best solution, and identify the use case they want to initially run as a proof of concept before scaling up.