Material Gains

Connecting the world will require a better energy solution.

The early stages of the IoT "hype curve" saw some wild predictions for the number of devices that would be deployed. They're not looking so wild now, with 15 billion devices in 2020 and 29 billion expected by 2030. About 60% of these will be consumer devices, the remainder industrial, or IIoT, devices including smart meters and sensors for monitoring automation equipment, transportation infrastructures, and buildings like offices and factories.

Knowing that IPv6's 128-bit address space would permit more than 100 IP addresses for each atom on the surface of the earth, we can see that the IoT could theoretically grow well beyond even the most ambitious predictions.

While we can solve many problems by adding more of these devices, we are creating another at the same time. Each one needs a source of energy to operate and the fact that many of them will be deployed in mobile or remote locations means a battery is the most obvious power source. Already, the US alone throws away about 3 billion batteries every year and our IoT habit could add many extra tons of hazardous waste. But there are some exciting alternatives.

Read more: Powering the IoT

Durability in the heavens can lead to sustainability on Earth.

We are increasingly reliant on satellite-borne services, as evidenced by the huge increase in launches in the past few years. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has recorded over 5,500 launches between 2020 and 2022 in its Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space. This contrasts with typically 100 to 200 per year from the early 1960s until 2016.

The vast majority of satellites in operation today support communication applications such as Internet services. Of the 6,718 operational satellites at the start of 2023, 4,823 are communication satellites. While their number has increased more than 50% since 2022, there are also over 1,200 Earth observation satellites, up by more than 13%. Others are used for technical development, navigation and positioning, and space observation.

We need the services these space vehicles provide. The Starlink constellation, delivering high-speed Internet services, operates in a low earth orbit at an altitude of about 550km. It can boast much lower latency than typical Internet satellites in higher, geostationary orbits needed to support streaming services and video calls. This enables high-quality services to reach areas where installing ground-based Internet infrastructure is not cost-effective or practicable.

Read more: Racing into Space

Generative AI could transform product design, but raises questions about creative ownership.

The recent ousting and subsequent rehabilitation of OpenAI's CEO added some theater to the debate and buzz around artificial intelligence. AI, it seems, is everywhere and in everything from our smartwatches and phones to automobiles, data centers and factories.

With the explosion in generative AI like OpenAI's ChatGPT, it's also taking on creative roles that we might have assumed would remain the preserve of human intellect. For a while now, it has been possible to generate realistic images of human faces – not copies but unique individuals that never existed except inside a computer. Also, in 2023, the fashion brand Levi's became one of the first companies to suggest it would use AI-generated clothing models. These are expected to improve the shopping experience for customers by helping them assess clothes on likenesses that have a similar body shape and size to their own. Of course, it's also likely to help brands cut marketing and merchandising costs.

Let's set aside the prospects for the first AI catwalk model, or photographer, or bestselling novelist, and consider activities at the border between engineering creativity and design automation.

Read more: Who Will Own AI-Built Designs?

AI factories could be the next step for smart manufacturing.

Joined-up thinking is a concept that can deliver a multitude of benefits. Where there are many differing interests to satisfy, bringing together ideas and coordinating actions in a holistic approach can lead to a better outcome for all. Not the least, it can reduce duplication of efforts and resources, making processes more streamlined and cost-effective.

In practice, joined-up thinking is often difficult to achieve. Institutional barriers, differing priorities among stakeholders, and the sheer number and diversity of variables to evaluate and manage can conspire to thwart the best intentions.

Manufacturing is a complex sequence of events that demands substantial joined-up thinking simply to make it happen and see a result coming off the production line. Increasingly, however, this is not enough in the modern world. Numerous related factors must be considered, especially the environmental impact of our activities. Smart manufacturing has enabled us to address some of these issues, connecting the factory and IT domains and bringing manufacturing data into enterprise systems to enhance planning and historical analysis for continuous improvement. This is joined-up thinking 2.0, if you like.

Read more: Joined-up Thinking 2.0

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