From autos to airplanes, change is in the air.

2020 has been an unusual and challenging year, although many of us can be thankful for the resilience of high-tech industries. Indeed, activity has surged in some sectors, and generally the outlook is relatively buoyant.

In my other role as president of the EIPC (European Institute for the PCB Community), I moderated the Institute’s Technical Snapshot webinar last November, at which Dr. Shiuh-Kao Chiang of Prismark described how various sectors have fared. While 5G infrastructure rollouts slowed and handset shipments fell about 10%, the PC market has been buoyed by the increase in work-from-home, and certain consumer markets such as wearables and smart appliances have also done well. Overall, he noted a surprising robustness across the electronics, semiconductor and substrate markets.  

The automotive sector has been among the hardest hit, along with conventional commercial aerospace. Rebuilding after the damage to sales caused by the pandemic is just one of the challenges facing vehicle manufacturers right now. They are also contending with the push toward higher levels of driving automation, mandatory smart systems such as autonomous emergency braking, and real-time V2X capabilities, which are expensive to develop. At the same time, governments are signaling their intentions to accelerate electrification, which will require all manufacturers to move their entire product ranges to hybrid-electric or pure battery-EV platforms. The UK government has brought its intended start date forward to 2030. There is no doubt about the urgency, although I am sure at least hybrid-EVs will prove a steppingstone to the kinds of vehicles we use in the future.

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Affordable and accessible technologies are the key to global progress.

My smartphone does everything so well I hardly use my tablet or laptop at all. It contains all the apps I need to use every day, is always with me and always connected, and the clarity of the screen makes it a pleasure to handle the majority of computing tasks on this device. I am convinced improvements in display technologies have helped the smartphone become the go-to device for a vast number of daily activities.

To support the best possible experiences in video, photography and gaming, new display technologies continue to emerge to provide seamless, immersive viewing. OLED displays are dominating the smartphone and flat-panel television markets, bringing attributes such as conformability and optical performance, including high contrast ratio with the ability to render true black, which conventional LCDs cannot manage.

But we humans are insatiable by nature. If the color is good, the viewing angle could be a little wider. If the angle is okay, the contrast could be higher. Now, another change is in progress with the arrival of mini-LED backlit LCDs. Containing many thousands of individual mini-LED emitters less than 0.2mm in size, the backlight has many dimmable zones and permits deep black levels, high contrast ratio and high luminance.

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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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Even a small amount of virtual assistance can improve our quality of life.

It may seem surprising that the automotive heads-up display (HUD), an aerospace-inspired innovation, was proposed by designers as far back as the 1960s. It took until the late 1980s to reach production. Interest among OEMs and electronics brands has surged recently. As an increasing quantity of information is pushed at drivers from autonomous functions, driver-assistance features and connected services, today’s HUDs provide graphical and text overlays on top of the view through the windshield to aid concentration and improve safety.

Augmenting reality by overlaying computer-generated images and information on our view of the world can help us in many other important contexts as well. AR is increasing productivity in the workplace and is entering the medical arena. Surgeons are beginning to appreciate the benefits of AR, like a graphical overlay from a scan or x-ray image taken previously, which can show important information about the patient during an operation, alleviate distractions and improve outcomes.

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