To say that 2020 was challenging is an understatement. However, as the year unfolded we continued to see resolve and resilience, innovation and progress, and validation of solid trends poised for growth in 2021. As we leave this historic year behind and focus on the future – as has as always been the objective of Navigate the Future – we wanted to share our most popular blog posts from 2020, as a bellwether of top trends to watch. Our blog stories focus on the disruptive technologies and industry trends that are driving growth for our customers across multiple industries. Enjoy reading. Let us know if there are any topics you’re interested in hearing more about this year.
Ensuring Safe Air Travel
As the world looks beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, the aerospace industry will be vital to its economic recovery. There is a lot to do: the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted that full-year passenger demand will be 48% lower than in 2019. Meanwhile 40% of recent travelers told an IATA survey that they plan to wait at least six months after the virus is contained before they will fly again. Building those passengers’ confidence will be crucial. But this industry has strong experience of preventing the spread of illness – which is why airlines, airports and aircraft original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) already have robust safety protocols in place.
Aerospace Trends for 2020
As the quintessential well-spring of technology innovation, aerospace may be the most visible nexus between engineering and the art of the possible. But higher/faster/farther no longer is driving the shape of things to come. Sustainability is in the driver’s seat and will be for the foreseeable future.
How Smart Simulation and Analysys Can Help Stop the Spread
As the pandemic continues to challenge the world with new risks and incidences of infection, one way of introducing a solution to buildings and facilities is through smart simulation. While the coronavirus has inflicted havoc, it has presented a major design challenge to engineers around the world to create solutions, using the very best tools available to them and subsequently curate solutions that help to break the back of the virus. Such solutions lead to the creation of amenable environments that reduce the risk of infection.
Creating the Aircraft Cabin of the Future
Aircraft cabins are a key focus as the air travel industry looks to ensure safe and profitable operation in the wake of COVID-19. Passengers and crew need to feel confident that sharing these spaces is safe. Meanwhile, airlines must be able to adhere to safety measures, like social distancing, while carrying enough passengers to support the industry’s recovery. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are combining incremental improvements with longer-term innovation to support a safe and resilient industry.
2020 Digital Health Predictions
The future of health is digital and it is also personal, as health, or absence of health, is a deeply personal experience. And we are starting to see more personalization in the multitude of new solutions in the general health technology and healthcare marketplace. DigitalHealth is a broad term that applies to all technologies that engage patients around their health and wellness. The vast DigitalHealth landscape includes tech infrastructure like existing health information technology and telecommunications, health tech disruptors like Digital Therapeutics, software, web applications and mobile apps (for example telehealth or telemedicine). DigitalHealth also includes devices, sensors and wearables, personalized medicine and genetics
Harnessing Data Science and AI for Drug Development
The pharmaceutical industry is a big business, often referred to as “big pharma”. It is also a very competitive industry capable of a great societal impact because of its role in public health and the overall economy. Despite its size and maturity, there is a growing “drug discovery problem” in the industry. Learn more about the mounting challenges, and recommendations.
Flexibility: Hidden Value from Additive Manufacturing’s Emergence in the Automotive Industry
The automotive industry has been waiting for this. Bring us a way to rapidly prototype, test, try, and deny, all in the span of a few weeks. Suddenly the innovation of parts has a whole new persona. Lightweight with strength? You got it. How about metal materials? Quite possible. Additive manufacturing has been a tacit boon for manufacturing, especially for its largest segment: automotive. Additive manufacturing and 3-D printing are used in assembly, design, and in finished goods inventory. Its flexibility makes for many possibilities from design through fabrication and assembly.
The Three C’s of Additive Manufacturing; Conceptualization, Comparison, and Collaboration
There is considerable buzz these days about the use of Digital Twin technology for manufacturing, especially for additive manufacturing with 3D printing. By definition, a digital twin is the digital, virtual representation of a physical object. In nature twins are born at the same time, while in design one twin essentially begets the other.
Early use of digital twins was to create the digital/virtual twin as a descriptive version of the existing physical object. Now the focus is shifting to modeling the complete product and all processes in the digital realm first, then use it as the basis for manufacturing.
This shift means the digital twin has advanced from being a description of the physical object to being the dynamic representation of every design intention, guiding how the object is made.
5 Ways Covid-19 Response Shatters Supply Chain Rules
When Ambassador-at-Large Deborah Birx, M.D., at a recent White House briefing by the Coronavirus Task Force, said it was time for a “push” response instead of a “pull” strategy, she made it clear that supply chain best practices were out the window in a national mobilization against the pandemic. From a push approach of making and shipping in volume without waiting for explicit demand pulls, to sending viral tests out the door before total regulatory signoff, it’s all bets off in one of the biggest supply chain challenges in history.
How Virtual Twins Can Overcome the Challenges of Additive Manufacturing
We don’t think about it much, but there is a considerable amount of culture wrapped up in our engineering and manufacturing processes. In North America, product design traditionally delivers project data to the manufacturing engineers with a “here, make this” attitude. Other nations and cultures give more power in this dynamic to the manufacturing engineers. In these cultures, design becomes an artifact of available fabrication processes, to be interpreted by the manufacturing engineers. The Japanese even have a word for it, “monozukuri,” which roughly translates into “the thing and the act of its making.” The rise of additive manufacturing (AM) brings new challenges to manufacturing cultures
What Is The Future of eVTOL?
When it comes to electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, it’s no small feat staying abreast of how rapidly the technology behind this emerging transportation market is maturing. Estimates of the number of research and development programs worldwide vary widely, but knowledgeable industry players believe there are approximately 200 programs at various stages of maturity, with more on the way, as startups enter the race to commercialize their idea of a better “mousetrap.”
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