The first electric hearing aid was created in 1898 and was arguably among the earliest examples of wearable tech. So it is fitting that more than a century later, on- and in-ear technology is once again leading the way - this time as hearables, a sector now poised for substantial growth.

Magnetic materials are key to producing electric vehicles. Many of the electric vehicles on the market use kilograms of magnetic materials to drive their electric motors. In fact, over 80% of electric cars sold globally utilised permanent magnet-based motors in 2019. These magnets are typically made with rare-earth materials such as neodymium and dysprosium, which have a very geographically constrained supply chain.

IDTechEx report, ‘Solar Vehicles 2021-2041’ notes that cars with solar bodywork have long-range. Tough sell. Even longer range is being achieved by those crudely shoving in an enormous battery. The real significance is that Lightyear and Sono Motors cars with solar bodywork achieve range with half the battery and, for the gentle, never suffer a charging point. By Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman of IDTechEx

Energy storage is a broad term and the energy can be stored in different forms. With the mature application of consumer electronics, rapid progress of electric vehicles, and fast adoption of stationary energy storage systems, energy storage (especially electrochemical energy storage) has attracted tremendous attention from the public.

Printed and flexible electronics spans a vast array of applications, ranging from touch sensitive displays to e-textiles and from electronic skin patches to circuit prototyping. Indeed, this breadth of applications can make it challenging to know in which avenue to focus technological/product development.

Image recognition AI has the potential to revolutionise medical diagnostics. In addition to enabling early disease detection and even the possibility of prevention, it can enhance the workflow of radiologists by accelerating reading time and automatically prioritising urgent cases. However, as IDTechEx has reported previously in its article 'AI in Medical Diagnostics: Key Strategies for Faster Clinical Uptake', image recognition AI's current valu...

This webinar breaks down the total electric vehicle market across land, sea and air, discussing core enabling technologies and outlines key challenges on the road to electrification. 

Imagine a situation where, given a request, a lab automatically chooses what experiments to do, robotically carries this out, tracks the reaction with integrated sensors, acquires and analyses the results, and then decides what experiment to do next. This seems like science-fiction, but certain truths may be closer than you think. 

The market for electric vehicles across land, sea and air will be 24 million unit sales this year, which represents a decline of roughly 19% year on year from the impact of COVID-19. Urban vehicles such as electric cars and two-wheelers have the highest unit volume, battery demand and motor demand, and, as consumer-driven markets, bear the brunt of the pandemic's impact.

3D Electronics covers all the methods of adding electronics both to 3D surfaces and incorporating them within 3D objects. This promises much greater design freedom and potentially reduced costs as assembly is substantially simplified. Other advantages include reduced weight and greater durability.

Electric vehicle powertrains are much more materially diverse than the internal-combustion engine vehicles they replace. As a result, they are putting sudden and unprecedented strain on several raw materials industries. One of the most crucial materials is Nickel, an essential part of the cathode in the Li-ion batteries enabling electrification.

The market for 5G devices is expanding rapidly, several 5G smartphones are now available on the market, with manufacturers emphasising the benefits of low latency and high download rates. However, 5G still faces many challenges, especially in the infrastructure.

Most legacy car makers need 15 years to switch to battery electric without collapsing. To keep their ICE cars legal and desirable, 50 are urgently upgrading them to 48V mild hybrids and many plan 48V full hybrids by a further upgrade.

One influence of COVID-19 is its change to our lifestyle and perception on healthcare. Social distancing, limited medical resources and more attention to healthcare lead to a move from centralised hospitals to remote patient monitoring.

Li-ion batteries are starting to near their performance ceiling. Trade-offs are having to be made to increase energy density with the use of high nickel cathodes and high capacity anodes plagued by safety and cycle life problems.

One influence of COVID-19 is its change to our lifestyle and perception on healthcare, and batteries need to change to keep up. Social distancing, limited medical resources and more attention to healthcare lead to a move from centralised hospital to remote patient monitoring. In addition, the availability of newly designed devices have expanded human body monitoring and treatment beyond just medical usage, but also on healthcare, fitness and cosm...

The electricity is facing a substantial change, due to the growing amount of renewable energies installed. Because of the necessity of decarbonise the electricity grid, a growing installation of variable renewable energies is expected for the future.

Surprises abound in the new IDTechEx Research report, ‘Supercapacitor Markets, Technology Roadmap, Opportunities 2021-2041’. In 2010, there were no Chinese manufacturers in the top ten supercapacitor manufacturers. In 2020, 40% of them are Chinese. This has been achieved by world-class R&D, being in one of the largest markets globally, strong investment and government support including protective trading.

In today's digital age, focus on digital health and the quantified self have led to the rapid rise of heart rate monitoring technologies through wearables such as fitness trackers and smartwatches. Such devices have already proven their ability in detecting hidden heart conditions such as tachycardia and atrial fibrillation in seemingly healthy people.

The autonomous mobility industry is tackling part of the last-mile problem that many commuters encounter when using public transportation by replacing large, diesel buses with a fleet of electric, self-driving shuttle buses that transport small groups of people along defined and planned routes.