Embrace Industry 4.0 for cleaner, healthier lives.

Industrial electronics is a stealthy but enormously valuable business. Approaching one-quarter of all PCBs manufactured worldwide are for industrial applications, including not only equipment for use in factories but activities such as construction and power generation. In Europe, about 40% of electronic production is destined for industrial applications.

Though cost-conscious, industrial companies appreciate the importance of investing in advanced technology to secure their market position and take advantage of new opportunities. While investing is critical for survival, early adopters can gain a significant competitive edge. This is increasingly the case as the fourth industrial revolution – Industry 4.0 – continues to transform activities.

It’s good news for product innovators. Although development can be expensive and the pace fast, the value of cutting-edge industrial electronics tends to be high, and differentiating features that deliver extra value for customers can attract a premium.

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Advanced prosthetics highlight the value of pure research, with or without a business case.

I have said this before, but I am a huge fan of technology’s potential to help humanity, and particularly the opportunities to improve quality of life and restore impaired physical capabilities.

In my last column, I enthused about using augmented and virtual reality to create experiences and environments that help people interact and enhance their well-being. Physical augmentation, with technologies such as powered exoskeletons, have industrial and therapeutic applications and could also be used to help people with mobility problems get outdoors to tackle activities such as hill walking. Lack of mobility can have negative effects on the state of mind, as well as physical condition, so an assistive technology that tackles both these challenges could help us establish healthy approaches to aging and help us all keep engaged with the world around us for longer.

A prime application for exoskeletons is to help people suffering from disability or limb loss reacquire important capabilities such as walking. Remarkable as these technologies are, there is enormous scope for improvement to make them easier to use and more affordable and therefore accessible to more people worldwide.

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