The early adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) is proof that a completely connected universe will be a reality in the not so distant future. Soon enough, our garage door opener will communicate with the lights inside our homes and our coffee makers will be linked to our iPhone alarms. Everything will be controlled from the devices in our pockets and the wearables on our wrists.
In general, as consumers, we focus mainly on the end product – the benefits or entertainment it delivers, what is different, how it has improved, or how it makes our lives easier. We rarely stop to think about what is actually enabling these advancements.
A recent Deloitte Global and US Council on Competitiveness study identifies 10 of the most promising innovations and why they are important. Among them are IoT, predictive analytics, smart factories, and high-performance computing. What may surprise most consumers is that advanced materials also ranked high on the list. The importance of advanced materials is common knowledge among the leading companies that develop and manufacture next generation products. In fact, advancements in materials technology have been the genesis for all of the computing devices that have become critical to our daily lives. Developing the next generation of advanced materials starts at the molecular/atomic scale where properties can be amplified and fine-tuned. The most powerful of these advanced materials are referred to as nanomaterials. These nanomaterials can be used to deliver applications ranging from revolutionary drug delivery to dramatically more efficient lighting to mobile devices that help to manage our world. The cumulative effect of advanced materials innovation has been to deliver a vast array of transformational products that continue to improve the human experience.
How are the leading manufacturers across numerous industries leveraging these advanced materials to deliver breakthroughs in medicine, lighting, cars and iPads? How are they constantly improving on these innovations? And how do they fit into the IoT landscape?
Simply answered, they partner with the leading companies that are delivering the biggest advancements in nanomaterial technology, making the largest investments in materials R&D, and finding ways to deliver solutions at commercial scale. The leading electronics manufacturers (Apple, LG, Samsung, etc.) are fiercely competing to deliver faster processors, brighter lights, thinner devices and more flexible screens that their customers are continually demanding. Advanced materials manufacturers enable these companies to create revolutionary products at an ever-accelerating pace, while at the same time reducing costs, time to market, and their environmental footprint.
What makes one type of material better than the other? It’s all about the process. Advanced materials manufacturers need to perfect their processes in order to provide the control and flexibility demanded by their customers. In applications such as lighting, for instance, they need products that deliver more light output, with near perfect transparency, that have a long life time. Our company, Pixelligent, has found a way to create such an environment through delivering next generation, nanotechnology-based solutions at commercial pricing and scale. Our “secret sauce” – the PixClearProcess – ensures that consumer products that incorporate our technology are higher quality and more efficient. What was once a distant nanotechnology future is now a reality: a set of highly valuable advanced materials that can be delivered in meaningful volumes with the right value proposition to the commercial marketplace.
Almost every chemical and manufacturing company you can name is using advanced materials to drive their products forward and offer more innovative options to their customers. Today, three of the five largest global chemical companies are working with Pixelligent, and several of the top 50 advanced materials companies are our customers.
Stay tuned for my next blog post, which takes a deeper look at how advanced materials and nanotechnology is driving innovation and efficiency in the lighting industry.
Lighting the Way to a More Innovative FutureWhether we realize it or not, lighting touches every part of our world, from our homes and computer screens to commercial office buildings and highways. It does more than just brighten our lives – it impacts learning, the environment and even our mood.
Everyone reading this knows that the numerous breakthroughs in LED architectures, advanced materials, and innovative fixtures over the past decade have contributed to making LED the de facto lighting standard around the world. When compared to traditional incandescent bulbs, the state-of-the-art LED bulbs last up to 40x longer, are 10x more efficient, and reduce greenhouse gases by as much as 90 percent. According to Radiant Insights, the LED market is anticipated to grow 45 percent annually through 2020, making it a $63.1 billion industry and one of the fastest-growing electronic device markets. This year we have seen the explosive growth of “Smart Lighting,” which combines LED fixtures with sensors to collect data and use that intelligence to control when, where, and how much light you want to deploy.
Smart and efficient lighting does not stop at LEDs. OLED lighting technology is an emerging new product category and is providing manufacturers and application developers a unique option to differentiate and innovate. According to Digital Trends, because of their nature, OLEDs are extremely thin, small and remarkably flexible. They are being used in some of today’s most cutting-edge products, from consumer, to automotive, to architectural applications. Many analysts, including IDTechEx, predict that the OLED market will continue in a development stage until 2020, at which point mass-market adoption is expected. Additionally, based on the current level of activity with Pixelligent’s global customers, we expect the number of potential OLED lighting applications to accelerate over the next three to five years.
What is driving the lighting industry to evolve its technology?
Consumers’ increased desires for innovative and connected products are driving manufacturers to pioneer new lighting solutions. Global manufacturers, such as LG Display, Konica Minolta, Osram Opto OLED and OledWorks, are a few of the recognized leaders driving OLED lighting applications for a new generation of highly efficient and higher-quality lighting devices.
Pixelligent has taken a leadership position in this market, supporting innovation in this rapidly emerging marketplace through leading-edge, high-index nanomaterials and advanced manufacturing solutions. The PixClearProcess is the key to delivering the efficiency that dramatically improves light extraction and overall performance in terms of light quality.
Key Markets and The Growth Potential for OLED
It is expected that the automotive, architectural lighting, and new building-construction markets are going to be the early adopters for OLED lighting. Delivering significant wins in these key markets will drive down the costs of OLED lighting panels, which will drive broader market adoption over a diverse set of applications, ultimately finding its way to the mass consumer markets by around 2022. The first two most critical markets that will enable this are:
- Automotive – The automotive industry is one of the earliest adopters and biggest drivers of lighting technology. Audi has been the leader in implementing new lighting technology to differentiate its autos and is the first automaker to begin using OLED lighting in its vehicles. Check out the tail lights on the Audi E-Tron SUV, which are flexible OLEDs that create a 3D structure.
- Buildings and Construction – Starting in 2017, the building and construction market is expected to begin designing in-OLED lighting to replace the inefficient and low-quality fluorescent lighting that is present in most buildings today. OLED lighting is not only significantly more efficient but also delivers visibly higher-quality lighting.
What is driving this change in these industry and others? Leading advanced materials and device companies, which are at the forefront of delivering this next generation of highly efficient and higher quality OLED lighting to the market. Stay tuned for my next blog for a deeper dive into the manufacturing strategies and the key manufacturers in these markets to learn how they are impacting advanced lighting technologies.