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https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/16800/1/Public_Opinion_behind_the_Deterrence_preprint.pdf

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Rationalizing conflict behavior- Human Behaviour

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Rationalizing conflict behavior- Human Behaviour

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Surgical Techniques That Improve the Use of Bionic Limbs

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This document helps amputees monitor all current and future surgical techniques that may improve the use of bionic limbs and/or reduce pain. We still have additional surgical procedures to cover. They are just too early in their research to warrant a supporting article. This website is primarily about bionic devices and their underlying technologies.

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designboom | architecture & design magazine

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this finger tape device helps the visually impaired correct braille misprints

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just as correction fluid fixes tiny errors, this hand-worn device can fix small typos by taping over the faulty Braille writing.

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designboom | architecture & design magazine

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taking a leap in anti-counterfeit technology

Biomedical engineers from Purdue University and the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in South Korea set a new record in anti-counterfeiting technology with their creation: a tiny QR code printed on an edible silk tag that detects fake whiskey. This revolutionary safety measure was designed for manufacturers to place in bottles of whiskeys, and once purchased, users can scan the QR code with a smartphone to determine if the drink is fake or not.

While still experimental, the invention was featured in the ACS Central Science journal, with promising findings that suggest using the tag to tackle not only fake whiskey, but counterfeit medication as well.

video courtesy of Purdue University

the power of a tiny qr code printed on a fluorescent silk tag

' Some liquid medicines contain alcohol. We wanted to test this first in whiskey because of whiskey's higher alcohol content ,' shares Young Kim, Associate Head of Research and Associate Professor at Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering

Kim led the project alongside postdoctoral research associate Jungwoo Leem. Together, they developed the edible QR code tag by processing fluorescent silkworm cocoons, creating a biopolymer - silk proteins - that can encode information. More importantly, ' researchers apply alcohol to silk proteins to make them more durable. Because they tolerate alcohol, the shape of the tag can be maintained for a long time ,' continues Kim.

image courtesy of Purdue University | ©John Underwood

a battle against the dangers of fake medication and alcohol

Kim, who has been working on anti-counterfeit measures for years, carried out this project to address the threats associated with a global rise in fake medication and alcohol. According to the World Health Organization, selling counterfeit medical goods is ' one of the urgent health challenges for the next decade ' as consuming them has proven fatal for many victims.

'Online pharmacies sell controlled substances to teens. People can buy counterfeit opioids easily. This work is extremely important for patients and buyers in addressing this issue,' . 'If you have this technology on or in your medicines, you can use your smartphone to authenticate. We want to empower patients to be aware of this issue. We want to work with pharmaceutical companies and alcohol producers to help them address this issue.'

Kim and Leem tested the tag on different whiskey brands over ten months, successfully activating and scanning the fluorescent QR code every time under various light settings.

image courtesy of ACS Central Station
project info:
name: Edible QR code on silk tag

project lead: Young Kim from Purdue University

in collaboration with: National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in South Korea

published in: ACS Central Science

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biomedical engineers create tiny, edible QR code that detects fake whiskey

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Biomedical engineers from Purdue University and the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in South Korea set a new record in anti-counterfeiting technology with their creation: a tiny QR code printed on an edible silk tag that detects fake whiskey.

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designboom | architecture & design magazine

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Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a wearable exomuscle made of fabric. Dubbed Myoshirt, the soft, wearable technology for the upper body is intended to give people with limited mobility more strength and endurance in their upper body.

The product features a vest-life shape with cuffs for the upper arms together with a small box containing the technology not linked to the body. Equipped with sensors, the fabric sends the data to an intelligent algorithm that recognizes what kind of movement a person wants to perform.

images by Florian Haufe, ETH Zurich

Developed by ETH Zurich's Sensory Motor Systems Lab, the Myoshirt is equipped with a motor able to move a cable found embedded in the fabric. This cable runs parallel to the muscle, mimicking its movement, and acts like a kind of artificial tendon, supporting the movement. The support is always in line with the movement performed by the user and can be adjusted to individual preferences.

The exoskeleton has been recently tested by the researchers with 12 participants, ten without any physical disability, one person with muscular dystrophy, and one with spinal cord injury. The results showed that all participants were able to lift their arms and/or objects for much longer thanks to the Myoshirt. In healthy subjects, endurance was increased by 30% while it increased roughly by 60% for the ones with muscular dystrophy. The participant with spinal cord injury was able to perform the exercises three times as long.

The researchers are developing the product further with potential users. 'In the next phase, we want to test our prototype outside the lab in the natural environment of future wearers and use the results to further improve it,' said Michele Xiloyannis from the Sensory Motor Systems Lab at ETH Zurich.

The next step will be to test the prototype outside the laboratory. Currently, the device weighs 4kg, presenting some trouble when worn. The researchers want to minimize the product's size by focusing on a single core function: to support the shoulders when they are used to lift the arms.
project info:
name: Myoshirt

developed by: Sensory Motor Systems Lab at ETH Zurich

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ETH zurich's myoshirt is a wearable muscle offering upper-body strength + endurance

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Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a wearable exomuscle made of fabric. Dubbed Myoshirt, the soft, wearable technology for the upper body is intended to give people with limited mobility more strength and endurance in their upper body.

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designboom | architecture & design magazine

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gest evolves our digital interaction needs with hand wearables
all images courtesy of gest

gest lets users workers with their hands in a more intuitive way. it can switch between apps just by twitching a finger, or point the screen to move the mouse around. it's extremely versatile, with programmable custom gestures for every possible action. it's a new way of working with computers. it understands hand and finger positions with a high degree of precision. gest conforms to any sized hand and shape through its adjustable palm strap and moldable finger mounts. over time the interaction system learns common gestures, like pointing, swiping, flicking and grabbing. it also monitors to ensure precision and accuracy.
video courtesy of gest
the finger tracking technology is extremely low latency, which means higher accuracy and more recognized gestures. the team of engineers packed 15 discreet sensors into each hand so the gest has an accurate picture of what the hands are doing, no matter their orientation. the team put the project on kickstarter to help with manufacturing, testing and shipping. the gest wearable device plans ship to backers in november 2016.

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gest evolves our digital interaction needs with hand wearables

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gest evolves our digital interaction needs with hand wearables all images courtesy of gest gest lets users workers with their hands in a more intuitive way. it can switch between apps just by twitching a finger, or point the screen to move the mouse around.

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Imagine feeling like you're lifting a 50-kilogram weight just by pulling at thin air. That's just one of the possible applications of new "smart fingertips" created by a team of nanoengineers. The electronic fingers mold to the shape of the hand, and so far the researchers have shown that they can transmit electric signals to the skin. The team hopes to one day incorporate the devices into a smart glove that creates virtual sensations, fooling the brain into feeling everything from texture to temperature.

Scientists have already developed circuits that stimulate our sense of touch. Some are used in Braille readers that allow blind people to browse the Internet. The devices work by sending electric currents to receptors in the skin, which interpret them as real sensations. However, most of these circuits are built on flat, rigid surfaces that can't bend, stretch, or fold, says Darren Lipomi, a nanoengineer at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the new study.

Hoping to create circuits with the flexibility of skin, materials scientist John Rogers of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and colleagues cut up nanometer-sized strips of silicon; implanted thin, wavy strips of gold to conduct electricity; and mounted the entire circuit in a stretchable, spider web-type mesh of polymer as a support. They then embedded the circuit-polyimide structure onto a hollow tube of silicone that had been fashioned in the shape of a finger. Just like turning a sock inside out, the researchers flipped the structure so that the circuit, which was once on the outside of the tube, was on the inside where it could touch a finger placed against it.

To test the electronic fingers, the researchers put them on and pressed flat objects, such as the top of their desks. The pressure created electric currents that were transferred to the skin, which the researchers felt as mild tingling. That's a first step in creating electrical signals that could be sent to the fingers, which could virtually recreate sensations such as heat, pressure, and texture, the team reports online today in Nanotechnology.

The work is "a striking achievement," Lipomi says, who notes that the device could have lots of applications. "In a virtual world, a trainee could perform virtual surgery, in which the devices were used to trick the trainee's brain into believing they were actually performing a delicate task."

Rogers says another application of the technology is to custom fit the "electronic skin" around entire organs, allowing doctors to remotely monitor changes in temperature and blood flow. Electronic skin could also restore sensation to people who have lost their natural skin, he says, such as burn victims or amputees.

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'Smart Fingertips' Pave Way for Virtual Sensations

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Imagine feeling like you're lifting a 50-kilogram weight just by pulling at thin air. That's just one of the possible applications of new "smart fingertips" created by a team of nanoengineers. The electronic fingers mold to the shape of the hand, and so far the researchers have shown that they can transmit electric signals to the skin.

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Researchers at the University of Cambridge stumbled upon a promising solution for our increasing plastic pollution problem.

Plant-based "vegan spider silk" could replace the pollutants found in everyday packaging materials, according to their paper, published in Nature Communications.

A Cambridge spinoff called Xampla will commercialize the technology, with plans to release the synthetic spider silk in the form of sachets and capsules in late 2021.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge may have a viable solution to the single-use plastic dilemma: spider silk. Or, more accurately, a plant-based synthetic polymer that mimics the composition of spider silk, but doesn't actually come from the eight-legged arthropods.

The researchers modeled their polymer after spider silk due to its durability and strength-if you could scale up a spiderweb to human size, it would be capable of trapping an airplane. In fact, spider silk is five times stronger than steel, and half as strong as Kevlar; it's considered one of the strongest naturally occurring materials on Earth.

Incredibly, the scientists developed the synthetic material while studying something else altogether: protein formation and interactions. It all began with a series of protein analyses in the lab of Tuomas Knowles, a professor at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. He wanted to understand why, in some instances, proteins become malformed, leading to diseases and health problems in humans.

"We normally investigate how functional protein interactions allow us to stay healthy and how irregular interactions are implicated in Alzheimer's disease," Knowles said in a Cambridge news release. "It was a surprise to find our research could also address a big problem in sustainability: that of plastic pollution."

This protein-related research prompted Knowles and his team to consider how some materials, like spider silk, could be so strong given their weak molecular bonds. Spurred on by that question, the team began thinking about how they could replicate spider silk's molecular bond formation and self-assembly in other proteins.

The researchers found success using soy protein isolate-which has an entirely different molecular composition from spider silk-due to the fact that all proteins are comprised of polypeptide chains. Because the researchers had the same base material to work with, they were able to duplicate the dense molecular formation of spider silk with the soy protein isolate. They describe the process in a June 10 paper published in the journal Nature Communications.

Using sustainable ingredients, like plant proteins, the researchers developed the "vegan spider silk," which looks similar to plastic, but is compostable and has the potential for use in various applications, including as a water-resistant coating. The hope is that this new material will be an effective, environmentally friendly alternative to the harmful microplastics and single-use plastics found in everyday products from packing materials to laundry detergent capsules.

University of Cambridge

A Cambridge University spinoff called Xampla, which focuses on replacements for single-use plastic and microplastics, will commercialize the technology. You can expect to see the synthetic spider silk later this year in the form of single-use sachets and capsules.

🎥 Now Watch This:

Daisy writes for Runner's World, Bicycling, and Popular Mechanics. She received her MA from ESU and loves all things pop culture, dinosaurs, cooking, and reading.

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This 'Vegan Spider Silk' Could Replace Most Single-Use Plastics

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Researchers at the University of Cambridge stumbled upon a promising solution for our increasing plastic pollution problem. Plant-based "vegan spider silk" could replace the pollutants found in everyday packaging materials, according to their paper, published in Nature Communications.

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Spider Silk: Wonder Material Used to Heal the Human Body

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Spider silk is one of nature's wonder materials, more flexible than nylon, thinner than a human hair, and, for its weight, stronger than steel. Webs and nests are spun from this incredible natural protein and spiders use thin threads to glide through the air and escape from predators.

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Primary structure.

Spider silk primarily consists of proteins that possess large quantities of nonpolar and hydrophobic amino acids like glycine or alanine, but for example, no or only very little tryptophan.,, In comparison to common cellular enzymes, it is evident that silk proteins exhibit a quite aberrant amino acid composition (). Furthermore, spider silk proteins contain highly repetitive amino acid sequences, especially in their large core domain ().

The repetitive sequences often account for more than 90% of the whole spider silk protein and are composed of short polypeptide stretches of about 10-50 amino acids. These motifs can be repeated more than a hundred times within one individual protein. Each polypeptide repeat therefore has distinct functional features resulting in the outstanding mechanical properties of spider silk threads. MA and Flag silks contain up to four typical oligopeptide motifs which are repeated several times: [I] (GA) n/(A) n, [II] GPGGX/GPGQQ, [III] GGX (X = A, S or Y) and [IV] "spacer" sequences which contain charged amino acids ()., Structural analysis revealed that oligopeptides with the sequence (GA) n/(A) n tend to form α-helices in solution and β-sheet structures in assembled fibers., The structures acquired by oligopeptides with the sequences GPGGX/GPGQQ and GGX have not yet been identified. Several studies describe these regions to adopt amorphous rubber-like structures,, whereas others suggest formation of a 3 ₁-helical structure. Flagelliform silk, typically rich in GPGGX and GGX motifs, preferably folds into β-turn structures resulting in a right-handed β-spiral helix upon stacking (13, 14, 30).,

Apart from the repetitive core domain, nonrepetitive regions are located at the protein's termini. These nonrepetitive terminal domains of the proteins are crucial for the assembly of spider silk proteins into fibers. The regions comprise approx. 100-200 amino acids and show-in contrast to the repetitive core-well defined secondary and tertiary structures in solution., Due to conserved cysteine residues, these domains can establish intermolecular disulfide bonds and are thus able to stabilize dimers and multimers under oxidizing conditions. Therefore, these domains are thought to initiate and specify assembly of silk proteins. ⁻ Several carboxy-terminal nonrepetitive sequences of different silks and spiders have been identified, revealing a high sequence homology amongst these domains.,,

However, only one full length sequence of a Flag silk protein from Nephila clavipes covering both termini has been identified so far. Further, only recently the first full length sequence of MA silk from the black widow spider has been reported.

In contrast to the Flag silk gene, both analyzed MA silk genes lack introns consisting instead of unusually large exons (>9,000 bp of coding sequence). The large exons might be a result of gene duplication processes during evolution. Additionally, genes with shorter introns generally show a higher expression rate than genes with large introns-and spider silks are highly expressed throughout the lifetime of the spider.

The primary structure of spider silk proteins shows a specific hydrophobicity pattern with alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic blocks in their core domains. Such amphiphilic composition is reminiscent of surfactants or biological membranes and, in the case of spider silks, is thought to be crucial for phase separation during the spinning process (see below). ⁻ Additionally, the unusual amphiphilic pattern might be responsible for formation of micelles postulated as intermediate structures during thread assembly (see below).

Quaternary structure and protein stability.

After secretion from the silk glands, silk proteins are in aqueous solution and lack considerable secondary or tertiary structure. Particularly in their repetitive core domains, however, the long repetitive sequences permit weak but numerous intra- and intermolecular interactions between neighboring domains and proteins upon passage through the spinning duct. These interactions result in the formation of secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure. Roentgen diffraction analysis of the final structure of MA silk threads led to the identification of areas of high electron density embedded in areas with low electron density ().,, In a postulated model of this structure, the high electron density regions comprise crystalline sub-structures with high β-sheet content. These sub-structures are thought to be responsible for the mechanical strength of the silk thread. The elasticity of silk is based on the areas with low electron density, which are characterized by amorphous structures with few defined elements of secondary or supersecondary structure. ⁴⁰, Such arrangement closely resembles that of protein hydrogels. Upon tensile loading, the hydrogel-like areas can partially deform, contributing to the elasticity and flexibility of the thread.

Different types of silk reveal different structural distributions (e.g., different compositions of crystalline-and hydrogel-parts). MA silk which is used for constructing the frame of the web contains a high amount of crystalline (β-sheet) structures. In contrast, the much more flexible Flag silk consists almost exclusively of amorphous hydrogel-like regions. Thus, the correlation between the structure and function of individual spider silk proteins becomes evident. However, in the future more detailed analysis is necessary to characterize the structure-function relationship of individual spider silk proteins.

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The elaborate structure of spider silk: Structure and function of a natural high performance fiber

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Spider silk primarily consists of proteins that possess large quantities of nonpolar and hydrophobic amino acids like glycine or alanine, but for example, no or only very little tryptophan., , In comparison to common cellular enzymes, it is evident that silk proteins exhibit a quite aberrant amino acid composition ().

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As we head towards a future where the rise in adoption of cognitive technologies is inevitable, thinking out of the box seems to be key when it comes to the evolution of material design. With an increase of intelligence in our garments expected in the not too distant future, the latest innovation to come to our attention is AI silk. Developed by a forward thinking Japanese company, AI Silk is determined to 'free the future' with their super silk material.

Founded in 2015 by Hideo Okano, AI Silk has found a way of producing electrodes that reduce risks and challenges of conventional medical electrodes, known to cause discomfort, skin and in vivo inflammation, and measurement failure due to sweat or other elements. They have done this by giving electrode functionality to the fibre itself, lowering the risk of unwanted irritation. "It is stress-free for elderly people and those with sensitive skin, and, besides, its function as an electrode is resilient to deterioration after many washes, ensuring it can be used for a long period while maintaining a very hygienic state," claims their website.

Combining science and technology AI Silk has successfully turned silk into sensors, creating a new material with diverse and robust application potential. Produced using natural silk, the creators behind the innovation gave the material conductivity via a dyeing technique. One of the impressive characteristics presented by the material is the fabrics capability of collecting vital data to help manage health risks and also assist users when it comes to training and rehabilitating without distractions.

Another critical characteristic of AI Silk is its high conductivity. Reported to be as high as 100Ω/sq resistance, the fabric will hardly deteriorate even after numerous washing cycles. This makes it the perfect material, not only for medical use, but also for active sports, where exposure to sweat will not negatively affect its conductivity.

"It is stress-free for elderly people and those with sensitive skin, and, besides, its function as an electrode is resilient to deterioration after many washes, ensuring it can be used for a long period while maintaining a very hygienic state,"

Designed to make everyday activities more comfortable, AI Silk's conductivity makes it possible for it to aid those having difficulties with certain activities after an injury. They have made this possible by attaching PEDOT-pTS to the textile using chemical polymerisation. This has allowed them to achieve high conductivity, high-precision measuring, and also reduce the unpleasant tingling sensation caused by stimulation to the muscles.

Developed from scratch, AI Silk's electricity-conducting textile is a technique that will not only be applied to a diverse range of textiles, but they also plan to use their printing technology to manufacture textiles in a way that only the required parts are conductive.

Written By Muchaneta Kapfunde
Founding editor-in-chief & WearableTechStylist of FashNerd.com, Muchaneta has worked in the fashion industry for over 14 years. She is currently one of the leading influencers speaking and writing about the merger of fashion with technology and wearable technology and a regular contributor to digital news sites like Wareable.

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AI Silk, Freeing The Future By Turning Silk into Sensors

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As we head towards a future where the rise in adoption of cognitive technologies is inevitable, thinking out of the box seems to be key when it comes to the evolution of material design.

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First responders-from firefighters to law enforcement to emergency medical services technicians-need to be ready to handle any situation they encounter, and they need the appropriate gear to respond quickly to emergencies. Responders draw on their experience to make sound decisions in the chaos of a crime or accident scene, or in the heat of a fire. Having access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and reliable response technologies means they can focus on the task at hand, which is, in many cases, saving lives.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate's (S&T) mission is to deliver effective and innovative insight, methods and technological solutions for the critical needs of first responders, to keep our communities and nation secure. By engaging and partnering with the emergency preparedness and response communities, S&T achieves a better understanding of their requirements and is able to develop innovative solutions to their most pressing operational challenges.

From a virtual environment that provides realistic training scenarios across multiple first-responder disciplines to advanced PPE that reduces responders' risk of heat exhaustion, bodily injury or cancer, S&T has been instrumental in developing, validating and commercializing technologies that first responders have identified as critical capability gaps.

S&T is currently partnering with several academic institutions and industry performers to invest in smart fabrics, as well as protective equipment, to keep first responders safer and help them perform their jobs more effectively. By leveraging emerging innovations to enhance technologies already on the market, several exciting developments are currently, or will soon be, available for responders to add to their tool kits.

New products, new power

S&T recently issued a solicitation through its Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) for energy-harvesting fabrics that will allow first responders to power up their communications equipment, with sensors for environmental and physiological monitors or other tools, without adding to the considerable weight load they already carry.

In August 2018, S&T awarded $199,260 to Boston-based Protect the Force Inc. for the Phase I development of photovoltaic (PV) fibers that can be woven into a "power fabric" and integrated with first-responder garments to provide a reliable, portable power source.

S&T is also working to arm responders with more durable PPE, developing enhanced gloves to hoist rescue workers whose stability is paramount as they work to rescue people who are injured and stranded in hard-to-access areas. Currently available rescue hoist gloves have severe limitations; they may only last for one or two rescues, as friction from the steel rescue cable causes the gloves to degrade quickly, and the glove material can become entangled in the cable, causing the glove to fail prematurely. This is extremely dangerous as well as extremely costly for agencies that have to continuously procure replacements.

"We go through rescue gloves quickly, and talking to our counterparts in the U.S. Coast Guard, they face the same issue," says Steve Vandewalle from San Diego Fire and Rescue. "Private industry has been slow to address this-not because it isn't greatly needed, but because of the limited market. Having S&T drive the research and development of a solution to this capability gap will open the door to bringing a suitable product to responders."

Existing gloves lack comfort and flexibility, and do not provide enough dexterity for first responders to perform a variety of required tasks. S&T awarded funding in April 2018 to St. Paul, Minn.-based Higher Dimension Materials Inc. (HDM) to develop enhanced rescue hoist gloves. HDM is testing materials and gloves currently on the market to determine wear rates and wear patterns of these designs and glove materials.

The company is also testing new materials to identify those that will provide the increased levels of durability required by responders in an enhanced glove design that is more comfortable, flexible and durable, while providing greater dexterity for the responder wearing the gloves. Prototypes will be laboratory- and field-tested with state and local first responders and U.S. Coast Guard personnel, with the goal of having a commercial product available on the market in late spring 2019.

Critical feedback

S&T continues to leverage fabrics and equipment to help first responders carry out their day-to-day tasks more quickly and efficiently. Several of the technologies currently in development will soon be transitioned to commercial use. Before those transitions can happen, S&T will conduct real-world testing to ensure that the technologies meet first responder operational requirements.

Wear testing is being currently conducted with two multi-threat protective base ensembles that can be worn as normal duty uniforms. S&T collaborated with both North Carolina State University's Textile Protection and Comfort Center (TPACC) and Luna Innovations Inc., Roanoke, Va., to develop the garments (shirts and pants) that provide protection against multiple threats while maintaining comfort for prolonged daily wear. The garments provide increased levels of protection against specific threats compared to existing responder uniforms.

The first, Advanced Multi-threat Base Ensemble for Responders, or AMBER, was designed by TPACC in partnership with Protect the Force. The team identified and selected commercially available materials that meet various protective requirements. AMBER design goals included comfort and durability for daily wear; limited protection against heat and flame; splash resistance; rip/tear protection; and modular design for integration with primary protective clothing against specific hazards. In addition, the design team aimed to address unique design requirements of female responders.

The second, designed by Luna Innovations, is designed to be worn daily and protects against multiple hazards for a limited period of time. The multilayer textile system consists of fluid-resistant textile treatment to repel water, chemicals and bodily fluids; antimicrobial textile treatment to protect against a range of bacteria and pathogens; a flame-resistant textile layer; a chemical protective membrane; and rip/tear protection.

These base ensemble uniforms are currently being wear-tested by first responders in the United States, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Available now

To ensure that first responders are on the cutting edge of technology as they respond to emergencies, S&T looks at a variety of sources-including the commercial marketplace, responder communities and international partners-for low- to high-tech solutions. Sometimes that means starting from scratch, and other times it means taking available technologies and enhancing them specifically to meet responders' operational, training or even health-related needs.

The increased rate of cancer among firefighters is alarming, so when it was brought to the attention of the DHS, S&T funded a project to address this important issue. S&T collaborated with TPACC and LION Group Inc., headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, to develop a structural turnout ensemble with enhanced protection infiltration at the ensemble interfaces from smoke and soot that could contain carcinogenic compounds.

Laboratory tests, including tests to determine vapor infiltration and fluorescent particle tests, were critical in demonstrating that the new turnout ensemble prevents smoke and particulates from reaching firefighters' skin, protecting them from hazardous vapors and materials. By reducing the potential for chronic dermal exposures to toxic fireground compounds, over time this ensemble and the technologies developed during this research will help to improve the well-being and safety of firefighters.

TPACC conducted development testing with local firefighters, incorporating changes to the structural turnout ensemble based on their direct feedback. The new structural turnout ensemble, named RedZone ™ Contaminant Control, is currently available for agencies to purchase through LION.

New solutions needed

In seeking to protect the U.S. against terrorism and all other hazards, S&T will continue to provide first-responder solutions for high-priority capability gaps through rapid prototyping, technology assistance and information sharing to save lives and maximize preparedness. The first responder community is in need of solutions at various price points and capabilities. S&T is always looking to collaborate with industry to meet these needs.
William "Bill" Deso is program manager, Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate, for several firefighter personal protection equipment projects, and has successfully transitioned several of its projects to the commercial marketplace. He is a member of the Science and Technology Subcommittee of the InterAgency Board (IAB) and a participant in the Washington, D.C., area Council of Governments HazMat Subcommittee. For more information on current and future SVIP solicitations, contact dhs-silicon-valley@hq.dhs.gov. To provide ideas on technology solutions, visit https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/first-responders or contact first.responder@hq.dhs.gov for more information about S&T's research and development efforts, or for technologies currently available for the first response community.

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New smart fabrics and protective gear innovations keep first responders safer - Specialty Fabrics Review

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First responders-from firefighters to law enforcement to emergency medical services technicians-need to be ready to handle any situation they encounter, and they need the appropriate gear to respond quickly to emergencies. Responders draw on their experience to make sound decisions in the chaos of a crime or accident scene, or in the heat of a ...

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It's been a tough few years for gear manufacturers.

From 2014 to 2016, U.S. gear demand dropped 30 percent across the 11 different markets. A recent NAM poll indicated a 90 percent "optimism in business" rating from its members. That appears to be a positive story, but is it the real story? The revenue story? It will take years to recover a market that has experienced the following numbers:

Gears in oil and gas operations dropped by 72 percent.

Gears in regular mining operations dropped by 63 percent.

Gears in farm equipment dropped 45 percent.

Gears in construction equipment dropped 40 percent.

Gears in turbines dropped by 37 percent.

Gears in shipbuilding dropped by 32 percent.

Gears in machine tooling dropped 28 percent.

Gears in material handling dropped 24 percent.

Gears in industrial machinery dropped 18 percent.

Gears in railroad equipment remained unchanged.

Only aerospace grew between 2014-2016 - by 11 percent.

Total U.S. demand dropped from $5 billion in sales to $3.8 billion over that time period.

$1.2 billion was lost in revenue.

In 2017, AGMA is forecasting a recovery of sorts. We expect overall demand to reach $4 billion - a 6 percent growth rate. By 2021, we expect the market to reach $4.9 billion. Put another way, it's not until 2021 that AGMA expects total U.S. demand to be within $200,000 of 2014 figures.

By then, it will have been seven years of holding on ... managing cash, costs, and doing everything they can to survive as companies while fighting in the trenches to secure new business.

That is a perseverance story.

What is the way out of this trend? What needs to happen in order to speed up a transition from a perseverance story to a growth story?

One word: Innovation.

AGMA members need to be looking at innovative ways to partner with customers, suppliers, and each other.

AGMA members need to be connected directly to the research institutions, schools, and organizations advancing innovative new ways to deliver power transmission via mechanical means.

AGMA members need to have design engineers who are trained and capable of leading an innovation effort.

AGMA members need to spend time focused on new alloys for their products, additive as a manufacturing tool, and industry 4.0 as a value driver.

And it needs its association to be right smack dab in the middle of this and support its members as we move from perseverance to growth. Our new vision states AGMA and its members drive power transmission innovation. The emphasis is on the word and. Together, AGMA and its members are working to connect our members to the innovation that will drive our future.

What is AGMA doing to make this happen?

AGMA is currently redirecting some efforts that are very visible for people to see and join. Through our communications strategy of social media and blogging, we try to instantly connect members to the newest industry content available. We want to encourage a dialogue to start so we can learn from each other and figure out how our businesses can stay current with the trends.

Our education department is implementing new classes for 2018 that will help companies and their employees build the foundation for innovation. AGMA wants to offer the courses its members need in order to thrive in a changing industry.

The Emerging Technology Committee is hard at work exploring the disruptive technologies that are going to change the way businesses work five to 10 years down the road. AGMA wants to be the telescope that can help focus efforts of its members to be smart about the future. Studying industry innovation is the best way to see how our members can implement new solutions into their own strategies.

AGMA is also looking to expand the global initiative to create relationships and open doors to international innovation. By traveling outside of the U.S., AGMA can work with new suppliers and education programs that will enable a broader market for our members.

Lastly, we are putting all these efforts together and listening to the needs of our members. The Industry Voice Committee and Trade Show Committees are enhancing the reach of the association, looking for ways to collaborate with other partners and to keep innovation at the forefront of our tradeshow to include a broader spectrum of drive transmission solutions. The Drive Technology Show is in 2019 with an unbeatable schedule filled with more opportunity to connect members directly with the suppliers and manufacturers they need while placing them in the middle of the newest industry technology.

AGMA and its members will drive innovation together - join now and be a part of the exciting things happening in 2018!

Matthew Croson - AGMA President

Gear Expo 2017

AGMA would like to say thank you to everyone for their support and attendance at Gear Expo this year. Make sure to stop by our booth (823) to see the AGMA crew and take some pictures with the Strati from Local Motors. Don't forget that you can register for any classes at Gear Expo on site.

Gear Expo on Social Media!

Look for signs around Gear Expo with our social media handles. We encourage all of those attending or exhibiting to take photos with these signs and tag AGMA (Twitter: @AGMA, Facebook:
@AGMAGear) in their online posts to make sure everyone knows how great the show is and that you were a part of it.

2018 Fall Technical Meeting (FTM)

The call for papers for the 2018 FTM will begin at the close of the current FTM Tuesday, October 24. Information will be provided at that time. If you have any questions, please contact Courtney Payne at payne@agma.org.

2018 AGMA Education Events

AGMA is excited to bring you some new education events this year that offer enhanced learning opportunities taught by some of the best experts in the gear industry.

Registration opens for these events October 24, 2017.

There are some great events planned for 2018.
Visitwww.agma.org for the full schedule.

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Innovation is gear industry's (near) future

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It's been a tough few years for gear manufacturers. From 2014 to 2016, U.S. gear demand dropped 30 percent across the 11 different markets. A recent NAM poll indicated a 90 percent "optimism in business" rating from its members. That appears to be a positive story, but is it the real story?

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TU Graz researcher Philipp Eisele has developed 'Smart Gear,' an innovative and meanwhile patented gear for industrial robots, lifting and positioning devices. Credit: Frankl - TU Graz

As part of his master's thesis at TU Graz, Philipp Eisele developed a concept for a collaborative robot in 2019, i.e. an industrial robot that works together with humans. As a doctoral student at TU Graz's Institute of Production Engineering, he developed the concept further-and is now the inventor of 'Smart Gear.' This is an innovative and meanwhile patented drive system which is currently being implemented as a prototype and could be a watershed in drive technology.
Lightweight with smart interior
The innovative gear principle allows transmission ratios twice as high as previous coaxial gears, as Eisele uses pistons for power transmission instead of revolving gear wheels. "Compared to conventional gear units, the patented system allows the transmission ratio to be doubled while increasing the transmitted torque." As a result, the size and thus the weight can be halved in comparison to existing gear units without losing effect. The Smart Gear prototype consists of steel and aluminum. The structure is modular, which means that the individual components can be inexpensively produced in mass production and cover a wide range of products through various combinations. "In practice, this means drives will become smaller, lighter and cheaper," says Eisele, summarizing the advantages. The use of Smart Gear is possible with industrial robots, lifting devices and positioning equipment.

The main strength of Smart Gear lies in the available space in the housing, which was created by the elimination of the revolving gears, as Eisele explains: "We can use the empty space for intelligent sensor technology to enable completely new services." For example, the gear can be connected to cloud services or local company networks, allowing companies to monitor performance data and transmission status in addition to the mechanical system, thus enabling them to manage their production processes efficiently.

TU Graz PhD student Philipp Eisele with a plastic model (scale 1:1) and the prototype of "Smart Gear" placed in the test stand: Pre-series production is scheduled to start this year. Credit: Frankl - TU Graz

Worthwhile payment models
In addition, the networking of the gear opens up new business models that can be used to keep acquisition costs low. Eisele names three types as examples: "As in pay-by-use models, only those hours during which the gear is used are charged for. In fact, the company only pays for the actual duration of use. The system also allows for predictable maintenance. This maximizes uptime and reduces costs for the company. In addition, the maximum power can be limited by software and can be unlocked as needed, allowing a power upgrade without having to replace the gearbox." With this business model, Smart Gear won the twelfth edition of the Start-Up Garage in 2019-a cooperation project between TU Graz and the University of Graz that trains students to become the founders of tomorrow-and thus also attracted investment.
System to be further developed with business partners
Pre-series production is scheduled to start this year; initial talks are already underway with robot manufacturers and companies from the manufacturing industry who want to integrate Smart Gear into their products. Eisele is already thinking one step ahead. He would like to make production even more cost-effective and efficient by using innovative manufacturing processes and new materials.

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'Smart Gear': An innovative gear principle

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As part of his master's thesis at TU Graz, Philipp Eisele developed a concept for a collaborative robot in 2019, i.e. an industrial robot that works together with humans. As a doctoral student at TU Graz's Institute of Production Engineering, he developed the concept further-and is now the inventor of 'Smart Gear.'

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Streamlining processes, developing more efficient systems, and modernizing operations within the apparel industry are indispensable components of the apparel sector. Supply chain technology makes processes more efficient, while the use of data analytics, garment fitting, recycling, intelligent machinery and a revolutionary virtual garment marketplace, artificial intelligence and augmented reality help guide creation, purchasing and business decisions.

The traditional mass production process in apparel manufacturing is contrasted with innovative techniques based on teamwork and greater employee participation. Although economic forces have encouraged the growth of innovative work practices, so far, these techniques have been implemented only within traditional human resource strategies that maintain sharp distinctions between production workers, on the one hand, and managers, supervisors, and engineers, on the other.

With the apparel industry in Sri Lanka, the nation even in a post-COVID-19 pandemic is still one of the world's leading destinations for 'Ethical Business and Manufacturing Practices' for several reasons. Sri Lanka as a destination creates excellence in providing exceptional solutions to global brands - the industry is powered by titans such as Star, a subsidiary of American-based apparel manufacturers - Komar.

Technology and innovation remain to be the most exciting part of the apparel industry and despite its many challenges, Sri Lanka continues to be an innovation hub for the world of apparel. Driven by a clear purpose to care for its people and planet - brands such as Star understand the importance of continued innovation. In fact, Star is driven by innovation, sustainability, collaboration and a commitment to quality.

At the heart of its operations, is a 70,000 square foot Innovation Center where ideas are transformed into products. The center features a print resource library, sample room, pattern making facilities and world-class design capabilities enabling our teams and customers to work together collaboratively to bring ideas to life.

It is clear now more so than ever in today's technological landscape that "innovation" is the main catalyst to better business practices, ethical management and sustainable growth for people, profit and planet.

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Streamlining processes, developing more efficient systems, and modernizing operations within the apparel industry are indispensable components of the apparel sector. Supply chain technology makes processes more efficient, while the use of data analytics, garment fitting, recycling, intelligent machinery and a revolutionary virtual garment marketplace, artificial intelligence and augmented reality help guide creation, purchasing and business decisions.

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Smart Garment: Can it become the choice of the masses? | Apparel Resources

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Changing consumer preferences have become an epicentre of innovations in garment technology, and smart clothing is an outcome of the same. However, is this a choice of the masses? Let’s explore…

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By Pragati Verma, Contributor

You can call them virtual clinical trials.

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) are conducting a research trial along with Vanderbilt University Medical Center to find out if an anesthetic called Ketamine can help patients of Rett syndrome -a rare neurological disorder that primarily afflicts girls' ability to speak, walk, eat, and even breathe.
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However, it's not a typical clinical trial where researchers and clinicians assess the safety and effectiveness of the new treatment intermittently, with patients visiting the medical center each time. Instead, patients enrolled in BCH trials wear sensor-embedded, machine-washable shirts that enable researchers and clinicians to remotely monitor their breathing, heart rate, and hand movement. This means patients can stay in the comfort of their own homes, while still participating in the study.
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Smart sensor-embedded clothes are a very patient-friendly way of providing a continuous stream of data to researchers, says Pierre-Alexandre Fournier, co-founder and CEO Hexoskin, a Montreal-based startup that designed the smart shirts used in the study. "It's much easier to recruit patients if they don't have to visit clinics too often or wear heavy, clunky devices for several days," he explains.

Gartner researchers agree with Fournier and predict smart clothing to be one of the fastest growing areas of the wearable devices market. "These discrete and nearly invisible wearables will particularly increase acceptance among reluctant end users," says Alan Antin, senior research director at Gartner. The technology research firm expects a tenth of all wearables to be unobtrusive to wearers by 2023.

Data-Driven Medicine

According to Fournier, hundreds of researchers are already using their smart shirts to reduce the travel frequency of patients and study participants. Participants simply wear the machine washable smart shirts that come with built-in clinical grade textile electrocardiogram and respiratory sensors. The data collected by sensors is stored in a tiny, rectangular device that discreetly sits in their shirt's zippered pockets. Researchers and clinicians can remotely monitor and analyze this data in real time on Hexoskin's Connected Health platform and patients only need to travel to the health center to get their dose of the medicine being tested.

"Clothing is the visible part and has to be great for people to wear it long term... What matters most is having the best technologies and tools to collect and analyze the most relevant data continuously."

-Pierre-Alexandre Fournier, co-founder and CEO, Hexoskin

While Fournier is excited about non-invasive sensors making clinical trials patient-friendly, he is clear that the ability to provide more precise, rich, and continuous real-time stream of data is the true game changer. "Medicine's progress depends on being able to better observe patient outcomes," he says. "Clothing is the visible part and has to be great for people to wear it long term, but it's really about the data in the end. What matters most is having the best technologies and tools to collect and analyze the most relevant data continuously."

He has a point. Hexoskin's smart clothing and platform have been used to collect data for more than 80 scientific publications across specialties, including cardiology and physiological psychology, as well as sleep patterns and aging, among others.

And researchers across the world are exploring how smart clothes, embedded with medical-grade sensors, can transform a centuries-old system for collecting the data needed to diagnose and manage a disease. Take Canadian Institutes of Health Research, for instance. It has launched a five-year program to gather biological and vital signs data through Hexoskin's smart clothing and health-monitoring solution to help people living with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue symptom. "This project will build the largest long-term cardiopulmonary and activity database in the world for patients with ME," Fournier says.

From Fitness to Health

Founded in 2006, Hexoskin was one of the first companies to make smart shirts that capture cardiac, respiratory, and activity body metrics. "We were initially planning to develop sensors and information systems to support artificial intelligence applications for problems related to aging and chronic diseases clinical research and healthcare," recalls Fournier.

In addition to monitoring astronauts inside the International Space Station, smart shirts are now being used by professional athletes, trainers and health professionals around the world.

However, they were too early to the market, he says, as there was no infrastructure to collect data that healthcare companies would use. So, they decided to target elite sports, defense, and aerospace industries. "We worked with the Canadian Space Agency and NASA, where we monitored astronauts inside the International Space Station," he says. In addition to astronauts, their "smart shirts are now being used by NBA players, Cirque du Soleil, and thousands of athletes, trainers, and health professionals all over the world," he says.

In fact, most other smart clothing sellers remain focused on athletes and fitness enthusiasts, monitoring and improving sports performance, providing insights on intensity and recovery, fatigue level, calories burned, and sleep quality. Athos, for instance, integrates electromyography, a clinical technology that captures what muscles are doing, into its clothing to measure and improve athletes' performance. Ambiotex shirts use electrocardiogram sensors to capture athletes' vital parameters and activities and provide training recommendations, such as warn the wearer if a certain exercise is too hard for them or if their stress level is too high during a session.

As these smart clothes lay chips and sensors-currently embedded in smart watches on wrists-all over the body, companies like Hexoskin are betting on making inroads into healthcare. Smartwatches made the transition, Fournier argues: While researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston are using Apple watches to examine physical activity and heart data to identify early warning signs of declining heart health, Kaiser Permanente is remotely examining cardiac patients' daily heart rates and activities with Samsung watches.

Doctor in Your Shirt

That's exactly what Fournier plans to accomplish with smart shirts. His vision is to move beyond trials and enable physicians to recommend their smart shirts for vital signs monitoring of patients with chronic conditions. "We are going through the FDA process in the United States now and expect clearance for our new shirts by the end of the year. That's when physicians will be able to prescribe our smart shirts in a way that insurance companies will reimburse patients," he says.

"Smart clothes will help early discharge of patients, keep them home, and even prevent hospital admissions for patients with chronic cardiac or chronic respiratory diseases." Hexoskin is already working with Mayo Clinic to explore how their sensor-laden clothes connected to a remote patient monitoring platform can help in-home patient rehabilitation.

When healthcare companies like Mayo will start prescribing smart clothes, they will open new possibilities for real-time monitoring of patients with chronic conditions. And, as Fournier says, "You will have millions of people wear them to get access to better care and better ways of managing their health."

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How Smart Clothing Is Changing Healthcare Technology

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By Pragati Verma, Contributor You can call them virtual clinical trials. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) are conducting a research trial along with Vanderbilt University Medical Center to find out if an anesthetic called Ketamine can help patients of Rett syndrome -a rare neurological disorder that primarily afflicts girls' ability to speak, walk, eat, and even breathe.

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Since the dawn of human life, we have used clothes and accessories to protect our health and defend ourselves from the elements and danger. From the mid-1990s onward, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology began to explore the possibility of incorporating microprocessors into textiles. Since then, 3 areas of innovation have strongly promoted the development of smart clothing: the introduction of new fibers in textiles (eg, conductive materials), the miniaturization of electronic devices, and the development of wireless communication. The latter enables clothes to communicate and interact with personal computers and mobile phones.

Smart clothes were originally designed for use in clinical settings. However, thanks to miniaturization and mobile technology, their use has recently proliferated in the general population as a tool for health and wellbeing. According to the World Health Organization, mobile health (known as mHealth), will soon be available to 90% of the world population. mHealth has undergone exponential growth and currently there are more than 100 000 medical applications that can be used on computers or mobile phones. Of these applications, 30% are for the use of patients and health professionals and 70% for the general population. It is estimated that within a few years 65% of mHealth applications will be used for monitoring chronic diseases. In global terms, it is thought that the mHealth business will have a turnover of more than $27 000 million in 2017, with 90% of the market share divided proportionally between Europe, Asia, and North America. However, this figure is small when compared with the indirect benefits of this technology. A report published in May 2011 estimated that the use of data generated by mobile applications (big data) could reduce fraud and improve efficiency to the point of saving €150 000 million per year in the European public sector.

In general, smart clothes are based on using sensors to detect a variety of signals, which are usually converted into electrical signals. Currently, sensors can measure almost any parameter: pressure, stretch, temperature, humidity, and even various substances in blood, such as glucose. In addition, sensors are sufficiently small to allow them to be mounted in a tooth or a contact lens.

Since the time of the first textile sensors and smart clothes, a fundamental aim has been to obtain a good ECG signal. The first sensors measured and transmitted all the information that can be obtained from an electrocardiographic lead (ie, a signal with a sampling frequency of 4 ms). This signal is difficult to store on mobile devices due to the amount of space required and the difficulty of interacting with different operating systems. Most applications have been limited to measuring and transmitting the heart rate alone and to using technologies with well-defined standards, such as Smart Bluetooth, which has solved the problem of interoperability and drastically reduced costs. Thus, heart rate can now be indirectly acquired without the need for an electrocardiographic signal. Nevertheless, the ECG signal remains the most widely used signal because its quality is sufficiently reliable to measure heart rate and because the devices used for its measurement are inexpensive and durable (they can last up to a year without changing the battery even when used for several hours a day). This technology is used in many textile sensors just to measure heart rate. However, some sportswear incorporates proprietary technology to analyze the ECG signal and provides the heart rate as well as QRS and P wave morphologies in some leads. These technologies are similar to conventional Holter monitoring but have the advantage of being more comfortable, having greater mobility, and providing a longer observation period.

In addition to devices able to acquire ECG signals, other technologies have been developed, such as photoplethysmography (PPG). This technology seems likely to become established and is based on detecting changes in blood volume by using an emitter and detector at the same site to measure reflected light (reflective PPG). This technology is used in bracelets and watches to measure heart rate. Companies such as Apple, Google, and Samsung are staking their smart watches on this technology. Although entrepreneurial drive is very powerful, the cost of these devices is still higher than the cost of ECG-based monitors and their batteries still have to be recharged.

The Modulated Magnetic Signature of Blood (MMSB) is another upcoming technology, which detects fluctuations in the magnetic field created by the blood flowing through a section of the cardiovascular system. The magnetic flux can be used to show pulse and blood flow information, and can propagate through materials such as fabric (eg, clothing), through the body (eg, as blood), and through environmental pollutants (eg, water). Information on heart rate can be obtained by MMSB without the need for electrical or optical contact with the skin and has been favorably compared with ECG and PPG signals.

With the exclusion of military projects, most trials using smart clothes have addressed health monitoring in general and cardiovascular health in particular.

Some of the most pioneering European projects have been developed by the MyHeart and HeartCycle consortiums. These projects began more than 10 years ago as part of the sixth and seventh European Union Framework Programs, which included more than 30 international associates (medical technology and telephone companies, universities, and hospitals). Their aim was to devise solutions for patient self-care, encourage heart-healthy lifestyles, and provide safety through widespread access to rapid and effective care. They designed and used textiles and clothes with sensors to detect respiratory rate, heart rate, ECG analysis, proper acceleration, 3-dimensional movement, and oxygen saturation. They also made available devices for monitoring obesity and depression, for preventing myocardial infarction and stroke, and for remote cardiac rehabilitation, relaxation, and stress prevention. These projects particularly addressed the issues of patients with heart failure and the rehabilitation of patients with ischemic heart disease. Given the huge amount of healthcare resources needed to assist patients with these diseases, one of the main aims of these projects was to obtain sufficient information on the daily life of patients to allow prediction of recurrences before they occur, provide early treatment, and avoid hospitalization.

Currently, smart garments are available that can analyze heart rate and changes in heart rate and ECG morphology. They can determine the presence of bradycardia or tachycardia, measure heart rate variability, and provide a rough differential diagnosis between supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. These advances are already a great achievement. A more difficult task is to assess ST-segment abnormalities, especially if they do not match symptoms suggestive of myocardial ischemia. However, this task is just as difficult when using conventional Holter monitoring.

In clinical practice, cardiac monitoring tools are needed such that when symptoms arise it is possible to identify what is happening in the heart, thereby helping us to provide patients with correct treatment. It is essential to be able to detect silent atrial fibrillation and initiate anticoagulation if needed, as well as to prevent sudden death in patients with damaged hearts and warning ventricular arrhythmias. Irrespective of these considerations, smart clothes provide immense amounts of information, thus leading to huge increases in knowledge, and are clearly changing health worldwide. Their capacity to monitor a wide variety of diseases will soon provide vast amounts of information. In addition to its use by professionals and patients, this information will allow many processes to be automated, thus changing the physician's role. In the near future, patients and nonpatients alike will experience a fundamental change by becoming active elements in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. It is easy to imagine all this information being connected via an electronic medical record and managed by an artificial intelligence network.

Currently, the greatest area of uncertainty lies in knowing whether the use of smart clothes will be able to change lifestyles. It is extremely complicated to design and conduct clinical studies to determine the independent benefit of smart clothes in chronically ill patients. Factors such as adherence to protocols are both decisive and difficult to address. We do not know if the trend to use smart clothes is driven by people who care more about their health than others and are willing to follow a healthier lifestyle. In contrast, adherence is most difficult to achieve in chronically ill patients with multiple comorbidities who sometimes appear to have given up altogether. Within this group, elderly patients represent the greatest challenge: they have few resources and need constant assistance to help them persevere with the self-care needed to maintain their health. In many cases, the main issue is to replace hospital care with home monitoring and office consultations with virtual consultations. To date, few studies have been published on the clinical success of the help provided by the use of smart clothes. Studies are underway, but until the results are available, we will continue to be surprised by new developments in medical technologies and by the information provided by implantable and nonimplantable sensors. For example, despite the lack of adherence to specific treatments, a better clinical course than expected has been observed in some patients with heart failure.

J. Pérez-Villacastín has participated as a researcher in the MyHeart and HeartCycle projects.

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Smart Clothes to Take Care of People or Smart People Who Use Clothes to Take Care of Themselves? | Revista Española de Cardiología

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Since the dawn of human life, we have used clothes and accessories to protect our health and defend ourselves from the elements and danger. From the mid-1990s onward, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology began to explore the possibility of incorporating microprocessors into textiles.

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The intelligence of clothing is mainly realized in two ways : (1) Ordinary clothing is organically combined with an integrated circuit system to realize the preset functions. For example, sensors, power supplies and other hardware are integrated into a single package through packaging and miniaturization technology and then are attached to clothing. (2) To realize the intelligent functions, flexible wearable technology is used. For example, flexible sensors, thin-film batteries and flexible displays are woven into clothing, or fabrics with functions such as phase change and color change are directly used. In the first way, intelligent modules are separated from fabrics, while the second way emphasizes the integration of smart modules and textiles, with better comfort, flexibility and concealment of electric components, which will be the main trend of smart clothing in the future.

Research on smart clothing originated from the smart medical shirt developed by Georgia Tech Wearable Motherboard (GTWM) , a U.S. Navy funded project, in 1996. This shirt was made of optical fibers and special sensors to detect gunshot wounds and monitor physiological signals in a fighting environment. Although research on the wearable system began as early as 1991, the GTWM smart shirt realized the real integration of textile materials and computing technology. As the research continues, the application of smart clothing is no longer limited to the military and is also widely used in aerospace , fire protection , medicine , fitness and other fields.

2. General Classification of Smart Clothing

Smart clothing provides a series of personalized services by embedding multiple functional modules on the basis of traditional clothing. According to the function, smart clothing can be divided into various types used for sports and fitness, medical care, safety protection and entertainment, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. General classification of smart clothing.

Types

Main Functions

Target Groups

Representative Examples

For sports and fitness

Record wearers' fitness metrics to improve exercising effect

Sports enthusiasts

Athos bodysuit, Hexoskin vest, etc.

For health care

Monitor users' health data for preventing and curing diseases

The elderly, children, patients, etc.

Remote monitoring equipment, intelligent bone rehabilitation equipment, LEGSys gait analysis system, etc.

For safety protection

Provide safety protection for users to reduce danger

The old, the weak, the sick, the disabled and the practitioners of high-risk occupations

Sensatex baby pajamas, Prop fall-proof coat, ClimaCool racing suit, etc.

For entertainment

Make clothing more interesting and enrich leisure life

The young

Levi's music coat, smart navigation jacket, Teslasuit, etc.

Smart clothing for sports and fitness is mainly used to track steps, speed, heart rate, calorie consumption and other fitness metrics so as to improve the exercise effect. For example, the Canadian Athos bodysuit integrated several washable EMG sensors in key muscle spots, enabling real-time monitoring of users' heart rate, respiratory rate and muscle mass to avoid injury during exercising. On the basis of tracking users' physiological data, Hexoskin smart vest was equipped with an app compatible with third-party applications (e.g., Strava, Run Keeper, etc.)

Smart clothing for health care is an important trend of the apparel industry. It helps its wearers monitor health status in real time and prevent diseases by accurately collecting and analyzing heart rate, ECG, blood pressure, EMG signals and other health data. The existing achievements include a wearable device with remote monitoring function , intelligent bone rehabilitation device , etc. LEGSys (a gaits analysis system) developed by BioSensics helps doctors track patients' conditions and adjust treatment plans.

Smart clothing for safety protection is mainly developed for the old, the weak, the sick, the disabled and high-risk occupational practitioners. This type of clothing usually has the functions of alarm, positioning, pollution prevention and high temperature resistance to reduce the wearers' danger in daily life or harsh environments. Sensatex developed special pajamas for babies , which will sound an alarm if the baby stops breathing when sleeping. Prop invented an intelligent fall prevention coat , which is able to sense the motion of falling and quickly inflate and pop up within 0.1 s to protect the hip, spine, head and other body parts for the elderly. The ClimaCool smart racing suit launched by Adidas is used to recognize identity and store personal medical records so as to provide help for treatment in case of car accidents.

Smart clothing for entertainment focuses on the experience of garments and life, equipped with music playing, video playing, automatic temperature regulation, positioning and navigation and expressing mood and other functions, for example, Levi's music jacket , its smart jacket with voice navigation and some wearable equipment based on virtual reality technology. Tesla Studios developed a VR equipment named Teslasuit , made of a special intelligent fabric and a large number of sensors to stimulate nerves and muscles through a pulse current to confuse human senses so that wearers can experience the feeling of interacting with virtual game characters.

3. Design Principles of Smart Clothing

The difference between intelligent clothing and ordinary clothing is that it emphasizes people's actual needs. In order to meet the requirement, smart clothing has a complicated manufacturing process, high cost and lots of design principles. In addition to style, color and fabric, designers focus on how to combine clothing with electronic information technology. Thus, the design principles can be summarized as intelligent module design and carrier design, in which carrier design includes material design and garments integral design ( Figure 1).

Figure 1. Design principles of smart clothing.

3.1. Intelligent Modules

Intelligent module design is the core of its difference from traditional clothing design, which involves the frontier technologies in many fields. It can be divided into the following five aspects.

Sensor module is the key to realizing intelligent garments. It is used to convert non-electrical signals into electrical signals that are easy to process . Sensing technology can monitor heart rate, blood pressure, sweating rate and other physiological indexes, as well as the changes of environmental information such as temperature, pressure, location, etc. For example, baby pajamas developed by Rest Devices can sense the baby's breathing and temperature through multiple built-in sensors, and the family can view the baby's condition on an app to facilitate nursing . An Italian team Andretta developed a gas sensor and applied it to work clothes, achieving a great effect on gas safety monitoring .

Communication module transmits the data and information collected by sensors. Communication technology greatly reduces the use of wires and facilitates data transmission. The communication between smart clothing and the data terminal is mainly based on Bluetooth, WiFi, NFC and other technologies. For example, a smart shirt launched by Arrow uses NFC to realize sending electronic business cards and playing music . Japanese researchers designed intelligent clothing that prevents the elderly from getting lost by combining WiFi with GPS, which is convenient for families to know the elderly's location in real time and ensure travel safety for the old .

Decision-making and feedback module is a unit for information collection, processing and transmission. In smart clothing, it is mainly used to extract, transform and analyze the collected physiological or environmental signals, make judgments according to default information and trigger further reactions . Smart clothing can realize communication with people, no matter what the communication form is (e.g., text display, voice feedback, image presentation, etc.). The decision-making and feedback module is essential to process signals and improve reasonable services and guidance.

Human-machine interaction module builds a communication bridge between users and clothing. Human-machine interaction technology, originated from the computer field, is a technology that produces an interactive relationship with the surrounding environment and other organisms through language or behavior based on the needs of users . At present, human-machine interaction technology generally achieves speech recognition, face recognition, gesture analysis and other functions by identifying and analyzing sound, image and other signals.

System integration module integrates separated modules and function into an interrelated and unified system through computer network technology so as to achieve resource sharing and efficient management . System integration technology includes module integration and function integration. Module integration is the integration of electronic components into a single package, mainly relying on packaging and miniaturization technologies. Function integration refers to the connection and interaction between devices to make function configuration reasonable, which mainly relies on wireless body area network technology, a technology that transmits data to an intelligent terminal by wireless communication technology . For example, users' ECG, pulse, respiration and blood oxygen are monitored at the same time.

3.2. Carrier of Intelligent Modules

In addition to the advanced technologies, the intelligence of garments cannot be realized without the design of a carrier. Carrier design can be roughly divided into material design and garment integral design.

The materials used in smart clothing include ordinary fabrics and functional material. The former are used as functional carriers to ensure the basic wearing performance of clothing, whereas the latter is used to improve the functionality of clothing based on the unique properties of fibers.

The adaptability of intelligent components, clothing comfort and usage scenarios should be considered for fabric design. Because the properties (e.g., rigidity and extensibility) of electronic devices such as sensors and processors are quite different from ordinary yarns, the fabric yarns should be selected flexibly according to the position, embedding mode and functional requirements of electronic components. For example, the fabric for emergency rescue should have high strength, high toughness, good permeability and water resistance . In order to improve the comfort of clothing, combining intelligent materials with ordinary yarns through blending or knitting is a common way. For example, phase-change materials are added to underwear fabric to regulate body temperature, and conductive yarn is blended with ordinary cotton yarn to improve the feel and look of the fabric. In addition, fabric layered design is also commonly used in smart clothing, for example, physiological monitoring intelligent clothing applied in fire protection and military. In order to accurately perceive the changes in workers' health condition, the intelligent module should be in close contact with the skin, and thus it is generally placed in the inner layer, which should have the properties of moisture absorption, ventilation, heat transmission and fast drying. The second layer of fabric is used for thermal insulation and minimizing external signal interference. Finally, in order to improve the protection capability further, a third layer can be added to improve the performance in wind resistance, water repellency, temperature resistance and acid resistance .

Functional materials have the functions of sensing information, processing information, self-diagnostics, self-repair and so on . The common materials used in intelligent clothing include shape-memory materials, phase-change materials, intelligent color-changing materials, optical materials and conductive materials. Shape-memory material is able to return to its original shape with the right thermal, optical, etc., stimuli . It is mainly applied in clothing for fitness and posture adjustment. Phase-change material enables garments to regulate temperature by sensing ambient temperature . The material is usually applied in pockets, necklines and other positions and is suitable for athletes, sanitation workers, smelting workers, etc. Intelligent color-changing material is divided into photochromic and thermochromic, mainly applied for leisure and recreation, as well as acting as a warning. Optical material is used to sense and transmit data and provide real-time and accurate system information and is widely applied in all kinds of sensors . Conductive material is able to connect various electronic modules to ensure the system works properly . In addition to serving as a connection, conductive fibers are also widely used in flexible sensors. For example, American Circuitex weaved conductive fibers into clothing as sensors to monitor the health status of patients . In addition, with the development of biochemical technology, more new intelligent materials have been developed, such as antibacterial material and anti-impact material . Wang et al. tried to improve the tensile properties and conductivity of fibers applied to smart textiles. Tokyo University developed an invisibility cloak based on visual camouflage, which is made of retro-reflective fibers .

The style design of smart clothing requires designers to improve the fashion sense while ensuring garment practicability. Similar to ordinary clothing, the characteristics of targeted consumers should be considered. For example, in terms of color selection, simple and elegant color matching are suitable for the elderly while bright and bold colors are better for the young. In pattern design, children's clothing needs to emphasize fun and novelty. For example, most children prefer vivid and lovely patterns such as cartoon, letter and bionic figures. It is suggested that the concealment of intelligent components be considered in the pattern design. It is necessary to reduce the presence of electronic components through proper arrangement of pattern color, position and shape. In addition, the feedback mode of smart clothing also affects the design. For example, the LED display screen is generally placed on the back, and the light-emitting module is generally built in hems and cuffs. Other detailed designs such as laces and folds can not only play a decorative role but also enhance the concealment of electronic components.

For smart clothing, it is difficult to balance functionality and comfort. For example, the hardness, rigidity and volume of electronic components may cause foreign body feeling or even tingling. At present, flexible electronic technologies (e.g., flexible sensor, skin electronic patch, thin-film battery, flexible screen) tend to be used for improving the comfort of intelligent clothing. For example, Coosemans et al. integrated sensors made of mixed textile materials into baby pajamas. In addition, fabric segmentation design is also a widely used method to improve the comfort of intelligent clothing. Different fabrics should be selected according to the contact area with the skin. For example, fabric close to the neck and the elbow should be soft and elastic . In addition, the position of intelligent components also affects the wearing comfort; thus the areas susceptible to large activity and dirt such as cuffs and necklines should avoid electronics. For example, Liu designed a zipper on the front of the T-shirt to place the locators.

The connection manner between the carrier and the intelligent module is a vital part in smart clothing design. The traditional method makes intelligent components separate from textiles, that is, textiles as a platform for embedded electronics (e.g., pockets) . Pockets are generally located in side seams, hems, hats, etc. As the technology develops, intelligent materials are better integrated with textiles, and thus softer connection modes emerged. For example, the electronic devices are embedded in zippers and buttons or with seamless connection between the intelligent elements and ordinary fabrics by knitting , embroidery and coating . Recently, the progress of biochemical technology has inspired designers to directly adopt textile materials with inherent functionalities without considering the connection mode. For example, Solar Active developed yarns that are able to change into orange, blue, red and other colors under ultraviolet irradiation, which can be directly used to make intelligent color-changing clothing . Berzowska et al. designed a shape-memory material in the shape of flowers to decorate the shoulder of a dress, with flowers blooming and closing to the change of temperature.

Various intelligent wearable devices are sprouting up with technological advancements. Wearable devices are the combination of microelectronic devices with daily wearable products , such as glasses, watches, backpacks, etc. However, these products have long-term discomfort, insufficient accuracy and many other disadvantages; thus health monitoring through traditional wearable devices is difficult to sustain. In addition, due to the small contact area between wearable devices and the skin, the types and accuracy of collected physiological parameters are relatively limited , resulting in the functions being unable to meet the requirements of consumers. As a kind of intelligent wearable device, clothing is in direct contact with about 90% of the skin , which has a wider monitoring range and gains more accurate results. Thus, the key to achieving continuous innovation and vitality for smart clothing is to integrate functional components into daily textiles in a softer way, which not only meets the basic needs of consumers for covering and keeping warm but also satisfies the functional needs of physiological monitoring, health protection, leisure and recreation.

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Smart clothing can be defined as the intelligent system that senses and reacts to the changes and stimuli of the environment and the wearer’s conditions, such as electrical, thermal and magnetic ones. Smart clothing has various functions (e.g., protection, temperature regulation, monitoring, entertainment, expression of personality, etc.)

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From K-12 schools to post-graduate college programs, 3D printing is a way for educators to encourage more active participation in the learning process. Though research studies abound on different learning styles and the effectiveness of diverse teaching methods, so much of traditional education still relies on rote memorization of reading material. 3D printing offers a way for students to truly connect to the subject matter by physically manipulating ready-printed teaching aids or by designing tools themselves.

For K-12 students especially, this hands-on aspect of 3D printing in the classroom helps improve engagement and participation. To put this theory into practice, Formlabs partnered with Tech Boston Academy, a public high school in Dorchester, Massachusetts that focuses primarily on technology education. Over the course of a 13-week program, Formlabs employees gave lectures and guided the students through a project-based course, culminating in a 'hackathon' where students designed, modeled, and 3D printed a tool. The students were able to problem-solve and use CAD skills to develop a solution, then bring their ideas into reality with the Formlabs 3D printers. One student said that the aspect they enjoyed the most "was the ability to materialize physical objects inside my mind into a real thing that I could hold or touch."

These types of in-person interactions are invaluable for developing young adults. In today's educational environment, however, face-to-face instruction isn't always possible. 3D printing ensures that each student has access to the hands-on tools they need and gives teachers the power to change those tools or print extra if necessary. "Our curriculum is very physical. We need machines, building tools, and laser cutters. So one of the casualties of going through the pandemic was that we couldn't do much physical modeling or physical objects," says Michael Silver, an architecture professor at the University of Kentucky. Relying on his previous experience with Formlabs 3D printers in the university's labs, Silver brought a Form 2 home with him, had students send him their STL files, and printed their models out to be discussed at the final evaluation for the class. "We were able to continue to make physical objects during the period of quarantine. 3D printing gave us the ability to still physically implement a prototype during quarantine with everybody only meeting through Zoom and doing remote learning," Silver said.

Dental school is expensive, no matter what country you're in. Part of that cost is due to the highly specialized tools that dental students need to learn. Dr. Gülşah Uslu, an instructor in the dental school at Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University in Turkey, began using 3D printers as a way to reduce costs and source a set of tools for each student, rather than ask students to share.

Typically, dental students go through a hands-on training program before they treat their first patient under supervision in the clinic. This training is either conducted on artificial anatomical models or on extracted teeth, both of which are expensive and difficult to procure. Dr. Uslu turned to 3D printing and produced more than 13,000 anatomically accurate artificial teeth models so each student could continue their hands-on learning uninterrupted, without relying on digital learning modules or sharing with classmates. Dr. Uslu was able to continue her high standard of teaching and students were able to focus on personalized teaching tools, increasing their knowledge retention and engagement.

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From K-12 schools to post-graduate college programs, 3D printing is a way for educators to encourage more active participation in the learning process. Though research studies abound on different learning styles and the effectiveness of diverse teaching methods, so much of traditional education still relies on rote memorization of reading material.

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8 Everyday Household Problems Solved by a 3D Printer – DeAgostini Blog

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Not sure if you should get a personal 3D printer? Here are 8 reasons to convince you!

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38 amazing examples of 3D printing in the medical world

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Discover the incredible and amazing ways that this new technology is changing lives for the better as we dive into the wonderful world of medical

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3D printing technology enables economies to produce goods locally, so conventional wisdom has been that it would dramatically reduce international trade; however, new University of California San Diego and World Bank research presents robust evidence that 3D printing expanded trade.

The paper coauthored by Caroline Freund, economist and dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy, finds that 3D printing changed production processes, but supply chains remained intact. The study is the first to examine the impact 3D printing has on trade.

Published in the Journal of International Economics, the paper looks at the production of hearing aids -- a good most commonly produced by 3D printing.

The results reveal that the shift to 3D printing led to a doubling or near doubling in producers' exports after five years and the technology was the main cause for the rise in exports.

Freund and co-coauthors also examined 35 other products, such as running shoes, aircraft parts and prosthetic limbs that are increasingly being 3D printed and they found similar patterns.

"The technology is a boon, not a curse to trade," Freund said. "A country's exports of hearing aids increased more than trade in other similar goods following the adoption of 3D printing by manufacturers there. The new production technology in combination with trade means that consumers around the world suffering hearing loss are benefitting from better and often cheaper hearing aids."

One reason behind the expansion is that printing hearing aids in high volumes requires a large investment in technology and machinery. The countries that were early innovators -- Denmark, Switzerland and Singapore -- dominate exports of the good, while middle-income economies such as China, Mexico and Vietnam also have been able to substantially increase their market shares.

In addition, hearing aids are lightweight products, which makes them fairly cheap to ship internationally. The same is true for the other products the authors examined -- lighter products are associated with more trade growth.

These results are based on comparisons of the growth of the 3D printed products to other similar goods. The authors also accounted for trends and other factors that could skew the data.

"Policymakers often view 3D printing as a means to shorten supply chains when in fact it is more likely to enhance trade and reshape supply chains," said Freund, former global director of Trade, Investment and Competitiveness at the World Bank.

While the analysis of 3D printing's impact on trade is positive, it has the possibility of being short-lived. If 3D printers become more accessible to local producers or even consumers in some sectors, production could be more localized, hindering development opportunities through trade.

The study "Is 3D printing a threat to global trade? The trade effects you didn't hear about" is coauthored by Alan Mulabdic, economist for the Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions' Chief Economist's Office at the World Bank, and Michele Ruta, lead economist at the World Bank.

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3-d printing; energy policy; telecommunications; acoustics; resource shortage; world development; consumerism; environmental policies

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Despite fears, 3D printing has positive effects on global trade, study finds

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3D printing technology enables economies to produce goods locally, so conventional wisdom has been that it would dramatically reduce international trade; however, new University of California San Diego and World Bank research presents robust evidence that 3D printing expanded trade.

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What is the future of 3D printing? In 2022 3D Printing Industry will mark our first decade of reporting on additive manufacturing - we're looking forward to a second decade, and so are the 3D printing experts we asked to help predict the future here.
If you want a near-term view of the current 3D printing trends to watch then read our previous article.
Which 3D printing materials are expected to thrive in the next decade? Will we see newly discovered 3D printing materials from AI-enabled computational alloy discovery where end users can specify required characteristics? How about the widespread application of metamaterials - materials with properties that do not occur naturally? How will sustainability be considered, an acceleration of efforts to produce bio-based polymers or recapture waste plastics and metals, returning resources to a circular economy?

Is 3D printing overhyped? Like any frontier technology, 3D printing has seen its share of futurist froth. Hype and buzzwords can be useful tools to attract funding, yet overpromising and underdelivering is detrimental in the long term. Marketers may use creative language to boost sales or encapsulate concepts in a digestible format, the counter-point to hype is providing a vision or goal to strive for.

Advertising at Formnext 2022. Photo by Michael Petch.

Can 3D printing companies expect increased government scrutiny as soft state invention extends security concerns beyond defense and into others verticals such as energy, aerospace, or broader technology markets. Concerns over the semiconductor market are illustrated by friction between China and Taiwan's TSMC, the European Chips Act announced at Davos, or Intel's $20 Billion investment to build a "Silicon Heartland" and may herald a new era of protectionism. Export controls and ITAR restrictions are unlikely to be removed as tensions between Russia and NATO escalate over Ukraine. How might a tax on digital goods operate, and is the current moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions likely to be extended - if removed how will trends towards smart factories and collaborative business models react?

Soaring shipping costs and gummed-up supply chains driving a logistics crunch have prompted a reappraisal of manufacturing locations. Does additive manufacturing have a role to play in the reshoring projects, bringing manufacturing back to consumer nations, and will this take the form of the long-touted distributed manufacturing - or is production likely to be relocated yet remain concentrated due to economies of scale?

Back to the immediate 3D printing industry and how will the logo landscape change in the coming decade? Is consolidation in the 3D printing sector on the horizon, a succession of IPOs and a SPAC frenzy have poured capital into the sector. How will this money be deployed, R&D time horizons to bring innovation and new 3D printing technology to market can be contrasted with the shorter time frame some investors demand. Executives under new pressure to show incremental improvements on a quarterly basis may feel the temptation to supplement the bottom line via acquisition. 3D Printing Industry will be bringing updated data on 3D printing patents to these pages soon, will additive manufacturing retain a top ten position?

How can the additive manufacturing market be valued at $12 billion if SPAC activity in a recent 12 month period was over $11bn? And the market capitalization of one company using additive manufacturing is three times greater than the 3D printing industry itself? (Align Technology, NASDAQ: ALGN, market cap: $37.4 billion versus 3D Systems, NYSE: DDD, market cap: $2.2B)

The market via end users may do some of the work. Purchasing power works to seek out winning technology platforms among a sea of me-toos. Conversely, as the demand for additive manufacturing grows, a swelling market may raise all ships and both newcomers and incumbents will have access to a larger pie to be shared.

In an article about the future, it might seem odd to look at the past, yet parallels can be both illuminating and help plot a safer course. 1922 is often heralded as the birth of modernism, a workforce returning from global conflict and on the move through the great migration found work in the recently mechanized factories. Artists under the banner of futurism led by Marinetti had celebrated the movement and pace of machines whilst Dada and Chaplin's Modern Times later kicked against the same. Woolf, Elliot, and Joyce put the internal stream of conscious thought onto the page, experimentation in the Harlem Renaissance saw modernism flourish in literature, music, and other art forms in the US and across the world. Might new design tools and technologies enable a modern-day renaissance and realization of creative urges? And how will the wider trends in society and macroeconomic forces interact?

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World reflects the proclivities of his social circle but also, as artists are prone to do, imagines novel applications of technology. Although written almost a decade later, Brave New World has roots in a 1921 novel and expresses anxieties of the time alongside the perils of scientific futurism. Clumsily cherry-picking elements from the roaring twenties to draw parallels with the present decade is an enjoyable diversion, but it would be remiss to neglect the malignant forces such as frenzied speculation, overproduction, and maladaptive or absent control mechanisms that plunged the followed period into the great depression. This is a topic we will return to next week when additive manufacturing experts give their perspective on the broader technology landscape that will shape the coming decade. Will NFT backed STL's be readily available in the metaverse and worked on by augmented reality engineers?

Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter if you don't want to miss the next article in this series.

An aerospace blisk in 316L from Meltio metal additive manufacturing. Photo by Michael Petch.

Arno G. Held, Managing Partner, AM Ventures
In the next 10 years, Additive Manufacturing is going to establish its place as THE manufacturing technology which is going to support the transition to a sustainable and resource-efficient civilization. Today's biggest potential applications - be it heat exchangers, lightweight structural components, or electric motors - will then be actual applications. To achieve this, industry participants will have realized that we all need to work together and overcome the big challenges of quality control, cross-platform repeatability, and recycling of materials.

I expect mass customization will not only be an important trend for 2022 but the coming decade. While many organizations aspire to take advantage of additive manufacturing's ability to produce large quantities of distinct parts, I don't think every organization has fully understood how to integrate AM into its workflow. As we see a broader acceptance of additive alongside traditional technologies, I anticipate we'll also see manufacturers of all sizes embracing AM for mass customization.

To facilitate the integration of AM into existing workflows, I believe machine learning will play a critical role. It is not enough to introduce design flexibility, speed to market, or supply chain efficiency offered by additive manufacturing. For companies to maintain their competitive position, they need to have a smart manufacturing strategy to introduce AM effectively and efficiently into their overall manufacturing workflow. As more companies adopt smart manufacturing solutions, I expect they will see how machine learning can enable autonomous manufacturing - thus helping improve productivity, and enhance capacity to introduce scalability and flexibility into processes.

Focusing our perspective on the next decade even further, I expect that we'll continue to see additive manufacturing drive remarkable advancements in the transformation of healthcare delivery. AM has already demonstrated its power in this industry to enable patient-specific healthcare with unique solutions to create surgical plans and medical devices. I'm very excited about the next frontier in healthcare where bioprinting plays an important role. Over the past year, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of entrants to this field, whether it be research organizations or private and public companies. We've seen the scope of the research efforts broaden to include new printing technologies and new materials designed to assist in drug discovery, the creation of tissues, and hopefully one day, producing transplantable human organs. I believe we're on the precipice of amazing advancements in this arena and look forward to what we're able to influence and achieve as an industry.

AM will play a key role in reversing global warming through light-weighting, carbon footprint reduction from localization, lower energy consumption, and waste reduction, as well as transition to plant-based materials.

Over the next decade, AM will become a cost-effective and practical tool that covers the entire product life cycle from concept models to aftermarket spares and everything in between including the holy grail: volume production.

AM will go large, becoming an effective fabrication tool for planes, trains, automobiles, and homes - and also small for atomic structures.

We will get closer to a "replicator" state, particularly in bioprinting.
Kristin Mulherin, General Manager, Powder Products, Nexa3D & President Women in 3D Printing
Sustainability and the circular economy have been hot topics of 2021, and I only expect this to accelerate through the decade. Not only is additive manufacturing an enabler of a circular economy but adopting the tenets of a circular economy is necessary for the industry to fully thrive. Aside from the increasing environmental pressures, efficient recycling of materials, both plastic, and metal, is critical to reducing the costs for production-scale printing. The high cost of the raw materials for 3D printing is arguably one of the biggest hindrances of AM becoming a true mainstream manufacturing method. And until we can effectively and efficiently reduce or nearly eliminate material waste, and consequently bring these costs down, real high-volume printing will likely remain cost-prohibitive.

There is a historic shift in consumer behavior underway. And personalization and sustainability are lifelines for brands looking to stand out in increasingly competitive markets. Traditional product design, manufacturing, and supply chains are ill-suited to meet these demands. In the coming years, as we continue to improve additive manufacturing solutions, more brands, both small and large, will embrace new automated, higher performance, data-driven innovations that are ubiquitously connected to complex design, ordering, and logistics systems. This all enables us to bring both mass-personalization and sustainable manufacturing into a scalable reality.

Time and time again, shipment trends show that the industrial 3D printing market grows with each new innovation. Innovation can come by way of a new spin on existing technologies, by existing players expanding their product portfolios with complimentary technologies or by net-new technologies being introduced to the market. New products in new categories - especially when well marketed by established players, by well-funded start-ups - sell.

End-markets are always eager to investigate technological advances to try to find the silver-bullet technology to give them the competitive edge. Expectations are that in the same manner that Carbon's spin on Vat Photopolymerization technology or Markforged's spin on Material Extrusion technology helped the market to grow, other vendors will find new enhancements to the 7-core additive manufacturing technologies. In the same manner, as we are now seeing Stratasys expand its polymer portfolio to now include Vat Photopolymerization and Powder Bed Fusion, we can expect other manufacturers to self-develop or acquire tangential technologies and aggressively bring them to market.

In the next decade, we expect to see the digital thread come into full force and become the DNA of smart factories, with additive manufacturing playing a major role in the transformation of end-to-end industrial production.

As AM standards continue to develop, and with the certification and qualification of more materials, processes, and parts, more industries will adopt end-use volume production. We will also start to see multi-material printing and part consolidation become more ubiquitous.

From a technological standpoint, we also expect to see major breakthroughs in the field of bioprinting and regenerative medicine, whether it is the creation of complex tissues, or even drug development.

Kathy Bui, Product Lead, Engineering Business, Formlabs

The last two years have shown us exactly how fragile and important supply chains are. AM/3DP has already stepped in to help support and strengthen supply chains, but the next decade will usher in an even greater role for AM/3DP in supporting traditional manufacturing techniques. Specifically, we'll see more companies use 3D printing to create consumer-facing parts, produce custom manufacturing aids, and enable decentralized production. AM/3DP will never completely replace traditional mass production, but in the next decade, we'll see the technology take on more and more processes historically handled by traditional manufacturing.
Joseph Crabtree, CEO and Founder, AMT
In the next few years it will be necessary to address the issue of sustainability. The fact that AM is already a leaner, "lighter" and agile method of manufacturing is certainly already an advantage over traditional technologies. But it will be necessary to work on sustainability at the production level of the AM supply chain: from the materials to the use of electric power, which must come from renewable sources as much as possible. This will be one of the themes of the future, too.

In terms of manufacturing in 10 years, I envision new collaborative business models facilitated by digital platforms and technologies around the world. AM/3D will be implemented at all manufacturers for prototyping, but especially, for mass production. Barriers related to AM knowledge, quality certification, data collection will be lifted. These new Industry 5.0 factories will be sustainable, connected, and digitized. Through this, I hope creativity will become limitless; new form manufacturing (additive, hybrid, etc.) will be fully integrated with artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital twins will push us to discover the limits of IoT, and ultimately, determine no limits exist! I can't wait to see this!

Frank Roberts, President,
Technology across the AM supply chain from materials to machines to post-processing as well as software will significantly add value to organizations as more applications move to production. Specifically for materials, we see an ever-evolving suite of high-performance metal materials that will enable rockets to go faster and run at extreme temperatures, that will allow medical applications that will significantly improve patient care, and allow doctors to perform surgery with implants made from the most exotic materials. Materials will also be made from high-entropy alloys that today are in their infancy. And while new materials will emerge, the sustainability commitment from material manufacturers and customers will be as important as the quality and cost factors.

Kaj Fuehrer, CEO, enter2net.com

In the future, additive manufacturing will conquer ever-larger shares of the total manufacturing volume. A new driver is the stabilisation of logistics chains through local and decentralised manufacturing. On the way to a sustainable and cost-efficient implementation in the manufacturing industry, 3D printing will lose its special status as a new technology "where everything is different" and will be integrated into the complete value chain, especially using automation and industrial IoT concepts. This assumes that the major challenges regarding material costs and qualification, print speed and quality as well as integration of the AM processes in standard software will be addressed, which I firmly believe to be the case.

As we look forward to the next decade, we expect a period of consolidation in the AM industry. Several 'traditional' manufacturing companies will start to make plays in the AM space and increase in M&A activity will occur. We expect that a reset of the frothy markets of the last 2 years will drive this consolidation of companies with only those with viable long term business profitable growth sustainability being able to ride the wave. This will lead to the ultimate growth and expansion of the AM industry and will lead to 3D Printing being 'just another manufacturing technology' - I.e. the ultimate acceptance that we have all been looking for.

The current decade will likely see a transition from technology bets to an intense focus on measurable added value rooted in realistic production scenarios.

Vertical markets will be the first to feature sustainable AM success stories. While mergers will continue - technology-wise as well as company-wise - a genuine AM industry is about to rise.

In the past, the attention in polymer AM was clearly focused on FDM and powder-based printing processes. The biggest turnover in industrial AM production has however always been connected to resin-based 3D printing. The next decade will further reflect this economical fact: photocurable materials are quickly evolving into polymers fulfilling high-grade technical requirements for multiple industries. Individualized mass production will continue to play an ever-growing role in patient- and consumer-related products. At the same time, full series additive manufacturing of small and complex parts will grow tremendously in sectors such as electronics and connectors.

Production flexibility and risk reduction are essential for all industries even now and will remain so in the future.

Through the next decade, mass customization will become a standard for many more applications than we see today (e.g. medical devices and high-end sports equipment). As AM material and production costs continue to drop, we will likely see some supply chain disruption as parts printed locally become more cost-effective than those shipped from global manufacturing hubs. We will also see an expansion of the AM materials portfolio, with the availability of new AM alloys, polymers, and hybrid/metamaterials. Advancements in additive hardware will enable printing with minimal to no human involvement, and many printers will enable freeform fabrication that builds parts from all directions instead of stacking layers in the z-axis.

For the next decade, I see two trends: the first one is the acceleration of R&D in the development of new AM capabilities, which will result in exciting technologies that will offer higher throughput, dedicated materials for specific applications, higher accuracy, and repeatability, or in other words, better compatibility for real production needs. 2021 was a big leap for many companies that raised funds/decided to go public when part of the capital is targeted for developing new products. The second trend is the adoption of AM in new applications in non-standard/traditional industries such as construction, food, fashion, space, and others'.

If the 2010s were the decade 3D printing grew up, the 2020s will be the decade it goes public. Just in the past 24 months alone, there has been a flood of capital into the industry that is driving both a stark acceleration of new platform developments, as well as stimulating M&A activity, and there shows no sign of stopping. I would argue that this renewed investment interest in the technology has been spurred by the significant degree of positive press demonstrating how 3D printing has provided solutions to critical part shortages and supply chain disruptions, but unlike the investment hype wave of 10 years ago, this second wave is sustainable with so many 3D printing technologies capable of being deployed in direct production or production support applications. The next ten years will be an exciting time for technology vendors and investors, with a wave of public offerings ahead (several successful private vendors such as Formlabs already publicly stating their interest to IPO) alongside a consolidation amongst new entrant and legacy vendors through M&A.

An additional trend we expect to see at Rethink spurred on by the increased exposure of AM as a result of pandemic supply chain disruption is set to drive explosive growth this year and for the decade rides off the back of this new wave of awareness; financial investments in technology vendors. Once again 3D printing is a front-of-mind technology when discussing market disruption and factories of the future, and this has led to a wave of acquisitions, investments, and IPOs. With such an influx of capital, we are already seeing an acceleration in time-to-market for new technologies and platforms, as well as M&As amongst legacy vendors. With several more highly successful AM vendors publicly stating their intention to go public, whether, through a traditional public offering or a SPAC, we should expect the trend of M&As and IPOs to continue strong into 2023 and beyond, with not all likely to be sustainable.

Over the next decade, we predict that AM will play a vital role in the pursuit of sustainability, supporting the global shift towards greener methods of manufacturing. This trend will help support economic and environmental goals set by governments around the world. Methods of AM will continue to be driven by market pull, such as the Net-Zero Carbon applications, particularly in transport and heavy industry.

On the applications front, the demand will continue to grow for larger parts, such as titanium bulkheads in aerospace, and large castings that compete with AM alternatives (both powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition). This will widen the supply chain, reduce the lead times for development of new platforms, and ultimately continue to offer reductions in cost.

With additive manufacturing growing into an ever more established production technique, we are already seeing companies successfully integrate this powerful technology into their workflow to complement their existing manufacturing methods. Soon, we will be seeing the creation of geographically independent, yet globally and digitally connected, production sites, which will be able to enter simultaneous serial manufacturing thanks to the digital production capabilities of 3D printing.

Additionally, there will be a stronger focus on quality and reliability in serial production than ever before. As more and more companies enter into serial production, it will become necessary for there to be a higher level of quality assurance and trust in the efficiency and capability of the additive manufacturing process; therefore, it will become a top focus of companies in this industry to make every step as reliable as possible. Finally, and as a result of the previous point, there will be a growing level of automation in the industry, eliminating human error and making the entire process more efficient and easier for both producers and customers.

I strongly believe we will finally see mass production made with AM technology, and not only for custom products or high added value products, but for serialized products. For that, we still have some challenges to be addressed, such as first-time quality and final part price.

Options for AM materials are already growing, with metal and high-temperature polymers in FDM printing being developed. Improvements in AM have already prompted a movement from prototyping to a main manufacturing method but we anticipate AM being used not only as a replacement for traditional manufacturing but as a whole new supply chain approach in the coming years. AM will be integrated into a holistic and secure platform where individual steps of 3D printing are combined into one process, from ordering the part, to delivering it to the customer. Advancements in AM software have improved quality control and now allow us to predict warping and excessive thermal stress before printing, minimizing printing defects and wasted materials. Simulation can be used to get the most out of materials, allowing designers to create shapes that would never be possible without 3D printing, developing new products that score with topology optimization and weight reduction.

The next decade of manufacturing will bring major transformations in digitized processes and applications implemented by global factories. The emergence of a more comprehensive digital ecosystem will propel the entire additive manufacturing industry forward by making small-lot production, including a batch-size of one, truly cost-effective for more consumer-oriented products. As a result, expect to see a democratization of manufacturing and localization that will better serve customers.

The portfolio of plastic materials available for 3D Printing will have no limitations. Part quality and throughput will continue to increase proportionally. Due to lessons learned from supply chain disruptions, 3DP end-use parts will be the go-to only viable choice for many OEMs from automotive to medical. 3DP OEMs will offer fully automated end-to-end systems and technology solutions that keep the digital thread from design all the way to post-production and inspection of any 3D printed part.

New materials and material composites, lower pricing, and mature post-processing options will make it more viable to integrate 3D printing into production cycles. As the technology keeps developing, it provides an ever more competitive alternative to injection molding for low-volume plastic parts.

Even more exciting, advanced material composites, combined with the ability to produce highly complex geometries, will open up new manufacturing possibilities that have been impossible to unlock with traditional technologies (this is already happening!).

AM/3DP technology use cases and market size have been extremely expanded, but the application of AM/3DP for end-use part manufacturing in the machinery industry still has a way to go to full maturity.

In other words, apart from the use purpose of 3D prototyping, education, and R&D, many industrial companies are working to use and utilize it as alternative technology against their traditional production methods such as cutting processing and injection molding, but the thing is that 3D printing output speed is still a stumbling block compared to those methods.

Therefore, to target traditional production methods, the development of differentiated 3D printing technology is indeed needed to be prepared urgently, and it is likely that the AM/3DP market will be maintained for the next decade.

To prepare for this, almost all 3D printer manufacturers have been investing a lot of time and money in the development of the fastest 3D printing technology, but it is still difficult to get high-precision and repeatability at the same time.

The thing is that we, Carima have developed the C-CAT(Carima Continuous Additive Technology), which is the world's fastest 3D printing technology that improved productivity by at least 20 times compared to the existing DLP technology, as one of the global 3D printer manufacturers. And we successfully demonstrated it in the formnext 2021. We aim to modernize it and commercialize new 3D printers with that technology in the next 1-2 years.

The C-CAT is the fastest 3D printing technology that enables DLP 3D printers to output 1cm per minute (60cm per hour) with high-precision and reproducibility. Our R&D team has improved the damage generated at the output to minimize release forces, and significantly lowered release energy compared to the existing process. With that improved C-CAT, more stable continuous additive manufacturing has become possible.

As I mentioned earlier, improving the 3DP working process and more robust 3DP technology development are absolutely necessary to secure a portion of the existing plastic or rubber part production industries. For that reason, based on our C-CAT and bespoke manufacturing, we plan to lead the era of mass customization for end-use products by accelerating the development of new 3D printer that can output various parts across industries such as glasses, shoes, consumer goods, and automotive interior and exterior parts, with printing at a speed of several tens of centimeters (CM) per hour.

Carima at Formnext 2021. Photo by Michael Petch.

I am quite certain that within the second half of the coming decade, additive manufacturing will become an important, legitimate (regulated and having its own standards), mainstream manufacturing method. It will improve the way products are being made, as in many cases it will complement traditional manufacturing methods, and for other products, it will be the enabling technology and main way to manufacture. Replacing traditional mass manufacturing with additive manufacturing requires proper justification that can be cost, environmental considerations, supply chain, improved functionality, etc. (there is no necessity to prioritize these different possible justifications). It will take time until OEMs design their products in a way that can justify the migration from traditional to additive manufacturing. This will happen with the improvement of technologies and progress of design for additive manufacturing education. Many initiatives will fail due to poor justification, and over time, a growing number of applications will prevail.

Additive manufacturing will be capable of processing more currently used standard industrial materials and probably, some proprietary materials made for additive manufacturing will be qualified to be used for products manufacturing.

Additive manufacturing will enable distributed manufacturing, thus improving supply and value chains, adding value to customers, and supporting the well-being of our planet.

Based on existing trends, I expect that breaking into the mainstream will continue by identifying more low volume - high mix products that will gradually replace existing (not customized) mass-manufactured products. This is an exponential process that will significantly accelerate over time. As has already been indicated in different articles, a good step towards becoming a mainstream manufacturing method, additive manufacturing must adapt itself to address the huge pain of spare parts inventory, by a holistic solution of digital inventories backed up by distributed local digital manufacturing.

Additive manufacturing will become an integral part of advanced PLM that will be deeply IoT and I4.0 oriented.

Over the next decade, I predict that full-color 3D printing will be picked up by small to medium-sized businesses, as printers such as our 3DUJ-2207 become more cost-effective as well as more conveniently sized for an office space.

Automation is another exciting technology that I see becoming commonplace across the whole printing sector, as the expectation for shorter delivery times grows and with it the need for a 24/7 runtime.

Dr. Alvaro Goyanes Goyanes, Co-founder & CEO,
In the next decade, 3D printing will be fully integrated in hospitals and pharmacies to prepare medicine for some challenging to dose medicines and for clinical and preclinical studies. One of the revenue streams for big pharma companies will be selling ink cartridges with drugs to prepare personalized medicines on demand close to the patients. This will increase personalization of the medicines increasing acceptability and effectiveness, reducing side effects.

AM will find its place as the unique and only production technology in selected use cases. There will be a common understanding that certain parts must be produced additively because of lot size, need for customization, need for on site production on demand. This standardization of AM as the preferred production method is seen today in mobility, aerospace, dental and medical, but it will spread into other verticals and become the new normal of "how we produce" certain components.

New Technology: One thing is clear - technology evolution won't stop now. We'll not only see continued incremental improvements to existing technology platforms, but completely new platforms and technology sets.

Intent Based Design: Partially to enable the rapid deployment of new technology platforms, and to improve speed to market for new ideas we're going to become increasingly less reliant on CAD and other design tools to communicate our intent but instead focus on semantics that can capture our pure intent. This intent will in turn be used by a myriad of software tools, esp generative designs, to determine the final shape under the influence of other parameters such as available machines and materials.

Full in-process AI: Transposed, intent based design means that findings from the latter part of the process (for example observed measurements in the additive process or in testing) can influence new design versions automatically, or change parameters. This creates a full end-to-end in-process rather than just limiting in-process technologies to particular machines.

People commonly tend to overestimate what they can achieve in 1 year and to underestimate what can be achieved in 10 years. 3D Microfabrication will be an innovation driver. Size matters - particularly on the small scale. And material matters, too. We will see a plurality of applications maturing from basic to applied research until they eventually reach industrial-grade maturity with a steep technology readiness level development (TRL). Start-ups in particular will identify niches early on and make them grow. A vast choice of materials will emerge and reach industrial grade, may it be biomaterials such as bioinks, and biodegradable materials or technical materials beyond high-performance polymers, including glass and ceramics. Multi-material 3D printing concepts will also become industrially applicable. The computational design abilities and the ease of use of Two-Photon Polymerization will shorten the development cycles from a design sketch to a ready-to-use product from years to weeks.

The use of multi-material, multi-functional metallic, ceramic, and polymeric products that are enabled by improved inkjet printhead capability, will develop further end-use applications as design teams become more aware of how functional fluids can offer production solutions and provide some significant advantages to manufacturing challenges.

Similarly, the adoption of inkjet as a manufacturing technology in the numerous coating applications currently conducted by analogue techniques, will deliver multiple benefits, from production efficiencies to far more sustainable production processes.

Indeed, sustainability is at the heart of these technological developments, as AM and 3DP manufacture delivers both reduced energy use and material waste through the highly precise jetting of fluids and inks across its many applications.

Consolidation will be key in the coming years. The landscape of companies in 3D printing will most definitely undergo a complete transformation in the next decade. Technology will evolve towards high-capacity solutions that will lead to more autonomy in the hands of the final customers. I expect that, during this 10 year period, AM can really fulfill the promises that have been outlined in recent years to become the main manufacturing technique for creating end-use parts.

AM will become less special, perhaps even boring. Boring is good for series production and series production is good for AM. We'll be happy, free, less confused, and lonely - simultaneously.

Machines - More diversification as the industry learns about binder jetting, directed energy, and the other ways to make layers.

Materials - Our two hopes here are: 1) A deeper understanding of how feedstocks work in the different processes and 2) The advent of more advanced polymers to push the performance envelope in polymer AM. (We see a shift to higher-value materials, much like metal AM.)

Digital - Improved software is on the horizon; it will be integrated across the AM workflow and smarter, perhaps even artificially intelligent. Machine Learning will become a standard tool for the industry to learn, adapt and overcome recurring types of issues.

People - As more people learn AM and appreciate the importance of MfAM/DfAM, the skills gap will be minimized; the existing workforce will continue to learn, and they will be supplemented with new grads coming out of trade schools and colleges for whom AM is already a tool in the toolbox.

Other than AM's clear advantages to other manufacturing methods in terms of sustainability, we will see it compete and replace technologies that are commonly used today. Additive will become the dominant mass-manufacturing technique. The complete automation and digital workflow that is possible with polymer additive manufacturing, in particular, will see it replace high volume, serial production techniques that require both high resolution and high productivity at low cost. Our own Fine Detail Resolution technology will have an impact in this space, but it is also true of other technologies such as Laser ProFusion which will move the industry closer to tool-free injection molding.

The second innovation that we expect to see is a wider industry move towards digital warehousing and on-demand production for spare parts. It will allow companies to dramatically reduce the costs associated with their after-market operations while creating new businesses focused on providing parts and services manufactured locally for a host of consumer and industrial products.

Over the coming decade, we believe that we can also expect further consolidation in the market to a few larger players. But alongside this, will come much better interoperability, which will bring increased competition to the market, by making it much easier for manufacturers to move between, and mix competitive technologies based on their needs.

EOS 3D printed copper alloy Gaming CPU cooler. Photo by Michael Petch.

Even though I wished this was a 2022 prediction, it will probably take more than a year to get there. However, I am hopeful that we should see a normalization of diversity and have more people of color represented in key roles and at every level of any given organization.

In terms of technology, continuous improvement of post processes and materials more broadly should be expected. I wouldn't be surprised if AM in the next decade wouldn't look exactly like what we see today.

I hardly think we will see "big bang" application in the coming decade. Rather, I expect to see specific approaches to series production that will add up to huge industry success. A successful series production with additive manufacturing will require this specialization with respect to process parameters, machines, and material to boost 3D printing against conventional production. I expect to see new technologies! There are so many experts now working to overcome the challenges of the existing solutions. It will be an exciting decade.

The major technological trends will be in further development and improvement and increasing the technology readiness and adoption - the technologies that have already caught the attention of the market and already were developed. I don't see any significantly new technologies to emerge within the next few years and most likely it will be about consolidation, maturing, improving, entering the market with existing technologies. New technologies will find a new niche and it's about stable market growth and disrupting traditional technologies. Every group of technologies and machines will be focusing on a certain niche where it performs best. In the future, 3D printing technologies will be more narrowly specialized: tailored even more for certain industries and problems in different niches.

The next decade will bring the best opportunities for 3D printing to enter new emerging markets such as commercial space, drones and UAVs, robotics, urban mobility, and many others that will grow fast. They will be the main driver for the growth of enabling technologies such as 3D printing. This is where these new players will be able to win the competition over the old ones - by being more flexible to apply 3D printing. And apply new technologies that are more sustainable and allow to manufacture better quality: more lightweight parts customized on demand that solve the supply chain issues in addition.

There is this synergy between the emerging markets and enabling emerging markets such as 3D printing and new hardware emerging markets such as the ones that I just mentioned. These markets still grow at a very impressive rate from 20 to 30 percent and they will altogether reach a trillion Dollar in the next decade and obviously, the 3D printing market will continue to grow at the same speed and we will have a significant piece in this market.

The past year was characterized by acquisitions and consolidation processes since the space is extremely fragmented. We believe that this will continue over the next couple of years. Even though additive manufacturing has been around for about half a century now, we are currently recognizing an incredible maturing of the technology and the ecosystem around it.

Especially during the pandemic and in the face of climate change, additive manufacturing could position itself as a technology that can address the challenges posed extremely well. In terms of supplementing existing production processes in order to meet volatile surplus demand and on demand, on site production and in terms of lightweight construction and resource efficiency. What is still lacking however are the possibilities for automation and broader application opportunities due to the lack of new materials and standardization certification. These elements will be the focus of the industry for the next decade and are necessary to really push AM into a viable mass production technology.

With the increased adoption of AM there will also be a growing demand for skilled workers and AM-specific education while we already see the first AM-focused courses in schools and universities, the whole engineering mindset will shift towards more resource efficiency and sustainable engineering. This also will include the development of enhanced software solutions.

The price of parts produced by LPBF will significantly drop to compete with low to mid-volume casting and machining applications while maintaining the high quality and benefits of AM that we're all accustomed to today (and plus more). Mass manufacturing of AM parts will become commonplace.

Many predictions of having a 3D printer in every home have yet to come to pass, but the steady and quiet rise of distributed manufacturing with 3D printers at the household scale is undeniable. 3-D printing filament is now classified as an "Amazon Basic" along with batteries and computer paper. The technology I think will tip the scales for distributed manufacturing over the next decade is distributed recycling and additive manufacturing (or DRAM for short). Several open source technologies - from recyclebots that make filament to direct waste 3D printers - have matured that allow us to use 3D printers in our own homes to recycle waste plastic into valuable products. DRAM saves people real money. It allows consumers to make custom products for less than the sales tax in the US (6%) on conventional consumer products ranging from skateboards and toys to syringe pumps and arthritis aids. As more companies take advantage of the economics and make more DRAM technologies available to their customers, we can expect to see DRAM follow the growth curve of consumer 3-D printing.

The impact that Additive technology will have on the future is the most exciting yet inconceivable thought. I believe the most critical and overarching theme that AM will continue to show revolutionary outcomes is in the response to sustainability strategies for our planet. The possibilities are infinite. Creating more on-demand local production, slashing transport emissions, and combatting production waste is only just the beginning. At Roboze, we look forward to supporting the innovators of tomorrow that will change our future for the better.
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The Roboze ARGO 1000. Photo by Michael Petch.

The coming decade will see AM mature in its role within the constellation of digital manufacturing. This will enable new innovative business models to take advantage of the suite of digital solutions. These solutions will be predicated on software platforms that will be modular, interoperable, and highly sophisticated. While it may, in part, drive multiple hyper-specialized solutions providers, it will push incumbents to focus on developing sticky, end-to-end offerings. We have seen this play out before in the personal computing industry (1980s - 2000) as well as in the smartphone industry (2000s - Present).

This decade will also see a significant move towards the edge. When we think of edge computing or point-of-use manufacturing, all of these have been enabled by significant advances in technological capabilities coupled with its increased and affordable access downstream. With these factors in constant rise, I truly believe this is the decade in which distributed manufacturing can be truly realized. Manufacturing at the edge is well on its way to becoming a norm; the FDA recently released a discussion paper seeking input from industry actors to help guide its formulation of policies and regulation of 3D printed point-of-care solutions.

Data will play a vital role in extracting maximum value from additive manufacturing. Information about process control, demand/supply trends, supply chain flexibility, and carbon emissions will increasingly feed systems that are able to digest these large data and obtain actionable insights.

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The future of 3D printing - additive manufacturing experts forecast the next decade

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What is the future of 3D printing? In 2022 3D Printing Industry will mark our first decade of reporting on additive manufacturing - we're looking forward to a second decade, and so are the 3D printing experts we asked to help predict the future here.

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Linda Crampton taught science and information technology to high school students for many years. She enjoys learning about new technology.
An Exciting and Promising Technology

3D printing is an exciting technology that is rapidly increasing in popularity and affordability. A few years ago, 3D printers cost many thousands of dollars. While devices with advanced capabilities are still expensive, consumer-oriented printers are now affordable for many people. These devices can create a wide variety of useful, artistic, and fun objects.

The most exciting aspect of a home 3D printer is that it's so versatile. Some examples from the huge range of items that can be printed include jewelry, ornaments, tools, cups, vases, cookie cutters, napkin rings, and even items of clothing. Artists can create sculptures and parents-or children-can create toys. Special 3D printers can create edible items and are available in consumer versions as well as professional ones.

A model of the object to be printed must be created in a 3D art program. Information from the model is then sent to the printer. People can create their own unique object designs. Alternatively, they can download designs from websites. It's not necessary to have artistic skills in order to make use of the printers.

Pens that create 3D objects are available for purchase and cost considerably less than a printer. People are finding creative uses for the pens. They are an interesting device for creating three-dimensional art and sculpture, although the resulting objects don't look like those created by a printer.

An Introduction to 3D Printing

3D printing is becoming very useful and important in medicine and manufacturing. This article looks at facts about the technology that are relevant to consumers.

How Do 3D Printers Work?

The first step in the creation of a 3D printed object is to design the object. This is done in a 3D art, CAD (Computer-Aided Design), or animation program. The computer model is then exported as an STL file.

A second program, known as a slicing program, reads the STL file and converts it to G code. This code tells the printer to produce the object in a series of horizontal layers. The printer then prints these layers one at a time, starting with the bottom layer.

The range of printing media available for professional printers is increasing rapidly. Most 3D printers aimed at consumers are plastic extrusion or FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) printers, however. High-end FDM printers are available, but the less expensive ones are most likely to be purchased by consumers.

The printers create objects by melting plastic filament and then extruding the hot liquid onto a platform. The plastic solidifies almost immediately after it's released from the extrusion nozzle of the printer onto the build platform. The nozzle moves in different directions to create the object, and the platform moves downwards as the object grows in depth. Each new layer of plastic that is extruded fuses with the one below. This process is sometimes known as additive manufacturing.

Some 3D printers are now in the price range of popular desktop printers that print with ink. If you're tempted to buy one of these 3D printers, identify the features that you give up in exchange for the relatively low price. In addition, consider the ongoing cost of plastic media purchase.

3D Printers for Consumers

Consumer-oriented FDM printers are dropping in price and are becoming more affordable. It's no longer necessary to spend thousands of dollars to buy a 3D printer for the home. In fact, there are a number of printers that cost under USD $1000. Some models cost only a few hundred dollars. The cheaper models usually print smaller objects than the bigger ones, however.

In addition to the price, another thing to consider when buying a 3D printer is its ability to create thin layers. The thinner the layers, the less obvious they are in the printout and the smoother the appearance and feel of the object. The thinness of the layers is known as the resolution of the printer. Generally, the higher the resolution, the more expensive the printer.

Since the technology is advancing rapidly, yet another factor that a purchaser should explore is the media used by affordable printers. Though plastic is still the most common one for hobbyists, some printers can use metallic filament.

Schools may have a modestly-priced 3D printer, including the last one where I taught. These can can be fun and educational for students, especially when the students don't have one of the printers at home.

People who work with 3D printers predict that within a few years FDM printers will become the equivalent of today's inkjet printers-popular, inexpensive, and able to produce items of good to very good quality.

Filaments That Mimic Natural Materials

Like the item that's created, the code that tells a printer how to create a particular 3D object is often referred to as a model. Free models are available for the different computer operating systems. It's not necessary for someone to create their own models unless they enjoy the process and want to create unique designs. A person should probably look for reviews for any model website that they decide to use, however.

The file format and the license for an object should be checked carefully before code is downloaded. The license may allow an object to be created for personal use but not for a commercial one.

One site with a large number of downloadable models is Thingiverse. The site is currently run by a 3D printer manufacturer. The models are free, and the community is active. The site says that people who upload code are encouraged to make their design a Creative Commons one. I haven't downloaded or used anything on the website myself, but it's a fun site to explore.

It's important to note that websites often change over time. All sites related to 3D printing should be fully investigated to determine the nature of their current offerings before they are used and to discover the rules related to any downloadable items.

Making an iPhone Case With a 3D Printer

Buying a 3D Printer: A Poll

Some 3D printers have a sleek and modern design. The mechanism is hidden, as in a microwave oven. In other printers, as in the one above, the parts are clearly visible and there is no attempt to make the printer attractive.

Drawing With a 3D Pen

For some people, even the cheapest 3D printer is too expensive. Comparatively inexpensive products known as 3D pens might enable more people to create three dimensional objects and have fun at the same time.

Multiple companies make the pens. The basic idea behind most of them is to plug the device into an electrical outlet or a USB port and then feed plastic filament into the opening at the end. The pen heats the filament and extrudes the soft material from its "nib". The plastic then solidifies.

The pens enable people to draw with extruded plastic on a flat surface or in the air. Both one-dimensional objects with a raised surface and true 3D objects can be created.

At least some of the manufacturers provide free stencils that can be downloaded. A person can draw over the stencil with the pen. The tracing can then be moved into an upright position. Different tracings can be attached to each other with the pen in order to create a complex object.

3Doodler Pen Versions One and Two

The 3Doodler was the first 3D pen created (as far as I know), but it now has multiple competitors. The video above shows some of the objects that it can create. New versions can use other materials besides plastic in the printing medium, including metal and wood.

Plastic in the Environment

As much as I love to read about the exciting advances in 3D printing technology, one thing worries me. All of the consumer-oriented printers that I've seen have used ABS plastic as a printing medium.

ABS plastic, or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, is a tough, impact-resistant material that has many useful applications. Like most plastics, it degrades when it's exposed to ultraviolet light. This is a very slow process, however.

Plastic pollution is a serious environmental problem. The thought of people discarding unsatisfactory objects created by their 3D printers is scary. The problem may become worse as the printers become more popular.

Consumers need to be encouraged to recycle their plastic or to use a more environmentally friendly material for printing. Objects made from ABS plastic can be heated and extruded into filament to be used again. Some companies sell devices that can do this to consumers.

ABS or PLA Plastic

The 3Doodler and some 3D printers can use either ABS plastic or PLA plastic as their "ink". ABS plastic is made from petroleum. PLA (polylactic acid) plastic is made from corn or soybeans and is biodegradable. Some people choose PLA filament for their printer for this reason.

However, being biodegradable doesn't mean that PLA plastic can be thrown into a landfill and left for microbes such as bacteria and fungi to break down, as the term implies. The microbial decomposition of PLA requires exposure to a high temperature, light, and oxygen for two or three months, conditions that are only found in a commercial compost center.

ABS plastic has better properties than PLA plastic with respect to the creation of 3D models. It's less brittle, more bendable, less sticky, and less susceptible to drooping when the temperature rises. The 3Doodler maker recommends that people start with ABS plastic and then try PLA plastic later.

Printed Zombies and False Teeth

New resins for 3D printing are appearing. One with a texture resembling rubber was demonstrated at a recent CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Items printed with the resin can be compressed and then return to their original shape once the pressure is removed.

The Future of 3D Printing

Some people predict that a 3D printing revolution will take place in the near future. The printers are rapidly gaining acceptance in manufacturing and have exciting applications in medicine.

In the future, people may make more of the products that they need at home instead of buying them in a store. Consumer printer technology seems to be advancing more slowly than manufacturing and medical printer technology, however.

Some Requirements for Success

The current state of 3D printing is certainly interesting and provides great scope for creativity. In order to become a more mainstream technology, though, the technology involved needs to be improved.

3D printers for consumers need to have at least some of the following features in order to be successful. They should be able to:

create useful items more conveniently or more cheaply than the same item made by other methods

create high-quality objects

make improved versions of objects manufactured by other methods

make objects that couldn't be created in any other way

3D printers aimed at consumers should also be easy to use and relatively inexpensive to buy and operate. The problem of finding strong but environmentally safe printing media also needs to be solved. I'm optimistic about the future of 3D printing, though. The technology is very promising as well as exciting.

Two 3D Printing Resources

The two news sites mentioned below maintain pages that link to the latest news about consumer and advanced printing. They could be useful as well as interesting.

3D printing news from ScienceDaily

News about the printing method from phys.org

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters. © 2013 Linda Crampton
Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on March 16, 2014:

Thank you very much for the lovely comment, Glen! 3D printing technology is very exciting. I'm looking forward to the the future of the technology very much. It has so many applications.

Glenn Stok from Long Island, NY on March 16, 2014:

This is the most in-depth article that I have found on 3-D printing, well done, Alicia. I have been following the technology for quite some time.

With all my research the one thing I've been lacking was an understanding of the methods used for creating the digital files, known as the STL files. You explained all this very well in this article. And now I feel I have a much better knowledge.

It's going to be an amazing future without limitations for creative people who design products but who don't have the funds for expensive 3-D printers. As you explained, people can create an online store to sell products printed by fulfillment companies such as Shapeways.

Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on May 26, 2013:

Hi, johnooo. It is exciting technology, and regenerative medicine is even more exciting! It will be interesting to see what the future holds with respect to manufacturing. It would be nice if the technology helps everyone in some way.

John R Wilsdon from Superior, Arizona on May 26, 2013:

Nice to know about downloadable models for 3d at Thingiverse. This topic gets me so excited; almost as much as regenerative medicine. We live in a truly remarkable time. It would be nice to be able to compete in manufacturing with low wage countries when the price of these printers comes down - after all, we could all become cottage manufacturers - but I fear the countries over there will simply order printers, take them apart, and copy them. After all, what is to stop them?

Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on May 19, 2013:

I would love to go to CES! I agree, rose-the-planner - the technology is wonderful, but it is good to wait for any problems to be solved and for the price to come down before we purchase a new device. Thanks for the comment!

rose-the planner from Toronto, Ontario-Canada on May 19, 2013:

I found your article on 3D Printers very insightful and interesting! It's amazing how technology is so expensive when it first comes out and then drastically drops in price as technology evolves. That's the thing with technology it changes every day. I have been to CES in Las Vegas on several occasions with my husband and it's incredible seeing all the latest gizmos and gadgets with exorbitant price tags. I always think it's best to wait so that all the kinks get ironed out of new products and hopefully the price comes down as well. Great article! Thanks for sharing.

Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on May 19, 2013:

Thank you very much for the vote and the share, Kathryn! 3D printing is definitely awesome technology. It will be very interesting to see what the future holds.

I hope that you have a great Sunday, too!

Kathryn from Windsor, Connecticut on May 19, 2013:

This is just too awesome! Thanks for sharing this with us. Some of what they come out with nowadays is astounding! Voted up and shared.

Have a great Sunday!

Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on April 28, 2013:

It makes me think of Star Trek too, pick807, especially as one popular 3D printer is called the "Replicator"! Thanks for the comment.

pick807 on April 28, 2013:

This technology makes me think of Star Trek!

Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on April 26, 2013:

Thanks for the visit, wabash annie. Technology often advances so fast that it's hard to keep up! I think that computer technology is very interesting, so I try to keep up to date with the latest information. It's sometimes difficult to do this, though!

wabash annie from Colorado Front Range on April 26, 2013:

Alicia, I think I am keeping up with some technology but, after reading this hub, I realize I need to work harder at learning. I'm not at all familiar with 3D technology so appreciate your information ... now I need to do my part. Thanks much.

Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on April 26, 2013:

Hi, Bill. It's interesting to hear about the use of 3d printers where you work. I agree with you - I think that this technology is going to become very important. Thanks for the visit and the comment.

Bill De Giulio from Massachusetts on April 26, 2013:

Alicia, the company I work for has started using this technology in a limited fashion to create models instead of having them made. This is a big technology breakthrough. We're going to hear a lot about this in the near future. Great job.

Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on April 26, 2013:

Hi, Deb. Yes, 3D graphics programs and printers would be good for people who want to work at home. Technology advances are providing many great opportunities for home-based workers!

Deb Hirt from Stillwater, OK on April 26, 2013:

These would be great for people that want to work at home, or have to work at home. It is another good avenue to make money and provide jobs for those that are physically unable to leave the house.

Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on April 25, 2013:

Hi, drbj. I&a

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3D Printing: Exciting Technology Advances for Consumers

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Linda Crampton taught science and information technology to high school students for many years. She enjoys learning about new technology. 3D printing is an exciting technology that is rapidly increasing in popularity and affordability. A few years ago, 3D printers cost many thousands of dollars.

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The 3D printing market is bursting with value. At a market share of $51.77 billion, this tech derived from the processes of additive manufacturing is experiencing a heyday, and for good reason. 3D printing has a lot to offer the efficiency and sustainability of modern business.

Yet even with the burgeoning success of this technology, many may find it hard to imagine all the uses of additive manufacturing across industries. From streamlining product design to the integration of non-traditional materials, 3D printing has the potential not just to cut costs and enhance efficiency but to save human lives.

The future of business success may just be dependent on 3D printing tech. Here's what you should know.

3D Printing in Modern Business

3D printing has been a transformational technology of the modern era, used to build better products with a wide range of materials. It is a manufacturing process defined by its use of digital 3D models made real by overlaying materials bit-by-bit through additive construction. For such a simple concept, the possibilities enabled by 3D printing technology are widespread.

In manufacturing, healthcare, and technology, 3D printing has already been applied to build better devices for a swath of needs. From aerospace parts to human organs, these innovations are transforming outcomes across industries.

Here are a few real-world examples.

In Manufacturing

3D printing is taking off, and it could be taking you with it. The new Boeing 777X, for example, uses two GE9X engines, each of which incorporates over 300 3D printed parts. Because additive manufacturing allows for the more efficient composition of parts in one smooth process, these engines are lighter and more fuel-efficient than anything previously possible. By applying 3D printing to their manufacturing process, Boeing was able to reduce costs by 10% while lowering fuel consumption of the 777X by 12%.

In Healthcare

3D printing is also one of the new powerful technologies shaping the future of healthcare. The implications of this tech have been demonstrated in the recent developments out of Tel Aviv University, where a team of scientists successfully printed a 3D replica human heart using the patient's own biological materials. 3D printing means patient cells can be used to construct new organs, making for safer transplantations. As this tech continues to develop, we'll see massive strides in organ replacement without the need for expensive long-term care in an attempt to mitigate bodily rejection.

In Tech

The technological implications of 3D printing are being discovered all the time. Because of the nature of additive manufacturing, materials and alloys that could never exist in nature are being designed and implemented into smart components. For example, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Additive Manufacturing Initiative created materials through 3D printing that shrink rather than expand when heated. The result can mean products like dental fillings that resist cracking with the potential for innumerable future innovations.

With applications like these for 3D printing in modern business, the sky's the limit on what is now possible. But are the benefits really worth the investment in this tech?

What 3D Printing Tech Offers Efficiency and Sustainability

Like two sides of the same coin, efficiency and sustainability are both products of effective additive manufacturing processes. This technology is already bringing about cost savings through streamlined part manufacturing, energy efficiency, and material quality. As we move into 2021 and beyond, these benefits will only grow, making for a faster, cleaner future.

The innovations in the Boeing 777X construction alone have proven that travel can be both faster and cheaper through additive manufacturing. With parts up to 50% lighter, emissions of this airplane are falling to 29% below the CAEP/8 limits for engines. As this tech continues to improve, the impact of greenhouse gasses on the environment can be significantly reduced, leading to a sustainable future for everyone.

And the best part is that 3D manufacturing does not have to come at an economic impact. In fact, the reduction in waste and materials that comes with additive manufacturing is a saving in its own right. Add to this the importance of environmental awareness when considering consumers, and you have a recipe for economic success atop efficiency and sustainability. With as many as 87% of Americans willing to purchase from a company that advocates for causes they care about, integrating sustainable additive manufacturing can be a marketing boost.

The Future of 3D Printing in Business

As additive manufacturing continues to redefine the future of production as a whole, businesses can look now to the benefits this technology offers to efficiency and sustainability. From airplane engines to human hearts, 3D printing is a game-changer for a healthy and environmentally-friendly industry the world over.

While it is impossible to gauge the scale at which this tech will take over production, continued innovation of 3D printers will certainly have profound implications on a wide range of markets. Business leaders looking to produce an edge over their competitors would do well to explore the implications of integrating this technology today. In the future, everyone might just be using it.

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3D Printing Technology - The Future of Business Efficiency and Sustainability

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The 3D printing market is bursting with value. At a market share of $51.77 billion, this tech derived from the processes of additive manufacturing is experiencing a heyday, and for good reason. 3D printing has a lot to offer the efficiency and sustainability of modern business.

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The manufacturing process itself also requires far fewer resources. In conventional production operations such as milling, 85 percent of the blank is simply cut away, generating a great deal of expensive waste. Industrial 3D printing, however, is quite the opposite as most of the residual powdered material can be reused.

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Cutting-edge technology developments, evolving value chains and market innovations are pushing 3D printing into the mainstream arena according to the latest exclusive research from Smithers

According to the new Smithers report The Future of Global 3D Printing to 2027 this market is set for explosive growth over the next decade. It will rise from $5.8 billion in 2016 to $55.8 billion by 2027, an aggressive annual growth rate of 23.0%. The 3D printing market is beginning to transition into a maturing business environment and has earnt an important position as a design and prototyping tool, and in the production of complex tooling and moulds.

The market continues to experience substantial success among hobbyists and home users, dominating the number of 3D printers delivered in 2016 (233,000 printers versus 63,000 units in industrial/commercial applications), and in the total number of 3D printers installed. However, the combined value of the industrial/commercial sectors is overwhelmingly larger ($5.4 billion versus $0.4 billion in 2016), due to the much higher cost of industrial/commercial 3D print hardware, higher raw materials costs and larger spending on services.

Evolution of printer and materials technologies

The most common 3D printing raw materials are the commodity thermoplastic polymers:

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)

Polylactic acid (PLA)

Polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified (PETG).

These materials, made in huge quantities by the global chemicals and plastics industry, are readily available, relatively inexpensive, and easy to handle and process in fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing equipment.

Currently, the most readily available metallic raw materials are aluminium and bronze powders, selected grades of maraging steel and of stainless steels, a few aluminium alloys, cobalt-chromium compounds and a limited number of titanium alloys. Private industry and independent research agencies are investing substantial R&D resources to expand the envelope of metals for 3D printing.

The pace of raw materials development for 3D printing will accelerate dramatically over the coming years. Raw materials for 3D printing will become more uniform and of a higher, more reliable quality. These materials will be generally more accessible and affordable, and improvements in materials formulations and processing techniques will make them more user friendly.

Developing value chain

With the advancing technology and sophistication of the 3D printing marketplace, value chains are evolving to meet the growing and diverging needs of the rapidly developing markets. Currently, most industrial/commercial 3D printing installations function as a stand-alone unit operation, not intimately integrated into the overall manufacturing environment and workflow. For many companies, 3D printing remains something of a lab curiosity, still far from achieving its potential to transform product design and manufacturing processes or, ultimately, the structure of value chains and the marketplace.

Companies with a deep experience of incorporating 3D printing principles into their design and manufacturing workflow - companies like Airbus, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing - are now developing integrated manufacturing systems that seamlessly incorporate 3D printing into the factory environment and workflow.

The industry will likely devise constructive solutions to potential business transformations. While traditional second tier part suppliers and logistics companies may see their business diminish over time, these changes will open up significant opportunities, particularly for contract manufacturing providers.

Widespread Innovations

Leadership in the global 3D printing marketplace will continue to reside in North America and Western Europe. Asian companies will manufacture an increasingly large share of 3D printing machines, especially the low-cost, lower capability machines favoured by the hobbyist/DIY segments, and by casual school and commercial users.

Widespread innovation is expected across the forecast period, both in terms of 3D printing technologies and equipment, and in terms of raw materials and end uses. Widespread adoption of 3D printing processes will enable the dramatic transformation of value chains and supplier-customer relationships.

Many of these innovations will address the natural evolutionary pressures that affect any new technology: increases in production speeds, process efficiency and reliability, reductions in machinery and systems costs, and improvements in product quality and uniformity.

Smithers exlusive research reveals the industry can expect:

3D printer and process innovations to focus upon progressive improvements and refinements to existing processes, and less upon radical new technologies

A broadening of the range of commercially important metals and plastics to be made available in forms suitable as 3D printers

Companies in the industrial and commercial sectors will increasingly view 3D printing as a toolbox of technologies and production techniques to be commercially exploited and integrated.

These changes in the scope and direction of 3D printing innovation will create substantial opportunities for the industry in terms of 3D printing materials and processes, applications and end user development; and in terms of the value chains and relationships across the 3D printing business environment.

The full impact of these technology changes, innovations and evolving supply chains are analysed in-depth in Smithers report The Future of 3D Printing to 2027.

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Reasons Why 3D Printing is Reaching Mainstream | Smithers

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Cutting-edge technology developments, evolving value chains and market innovations are pushing 3D printing into the mainstream arena according to the latest exclusive research from Smithers According to the new Smithers report The Future of Global 3D Printing to 2027 this market is set for explosive growth over the next decade.

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This production process offers a range of advantages compared to traditional manufacturing methods. These advantages include those related to design, time and cost, amongst others.

3D printing allows for the design and print of more complex designs than traditional manufacturing processes. More traditional processes have design restrictions which no longer apply with the use of 3D printing.

3D printing can manufacture parts within hours, which speeds up the prototyping process. This allows for each stage to complete faster. When compared to machining prototypes, 3D printing is inexpensive and quicker at creating parts as the part can be finished in hours, allowing for each design modification to be completed at a much more efficient rate.

Print on demand is another advantage as it doesn't need a lot of space to stock inventory, unlike traditional manufacturing processes. This saves space and costs as there is no need to print in bulk unless required.

The 3D design files are all stored in a virtual library as they are printed using a 3D model as either a CAD or STL file, this means they can be located and printed when needed. Edits to designs can be made at very low costs by editing individual files without wastage of out of date inventory and investing in tools.

The main 3D printing material used is plastic, although some metals can also be used for 3D printing. However, plastics offer advantages as they are lighter than their metal equivalents. This is particularly important in industries such as automotive and aerospace where light-weighting is an issue and can deliver greater fuel efficiency.

Also, parts can be created from tailored materials to provide specific properties such as heat resistance, higher strength or water repellency.

Depending on a part's design and complexity, 3D printing can print objects within hours, which is much faster than moulded or machined parts. It is not only the manufacture of the part that can offer time savings through 3D printing but also the design process can be very quick by creating STL or CAD files ready to be printed.

The production of parts only requires the materials needed for the part itself, with little or no wastage as compared to alternative methods which are cut from large chunks of non-recyclable materials. Not only does the process save on resources but it also reduces the cost of the materials being used.

As a single step manufacturing process, 3D printing saves time and therefore costs associated with using different machines for manufacture. 3D printers can also be set up and left to get on with the job, meaning that there is no need for operators to be present the entire time. As mentioned above, this manufacturing process can also reduce costs on materials as it only uses the amount of material required for the part itself, with little or no wastage. While 3D printing equipment can be expensive to buy, you can even avoid this cost by outsourcing your project to a 3D printing service company.

3D printers are becoming more and more accessible with more local service providers offering outsourcing services for manufacturing work. This saves time and doesn't require expensive transport costs compared to more traditional manufacturing processes produced abroad in countries such as China.

As this technology reduces the amount of material wastage used this process is inherently environmentally friendly. However, the environmental benefits are extended when you consider factors such as improved fuel efficiency from using lightweight 3D printed parts.

3D printing is being used in the medical sector to help save lives by printing organs for the human body such as livers, kidneys and hearts. Further advances and uses are being developed in the healthcare sector providing some of the biggest advances from using the technology.

Like with almost any other process there are also drawbacks of 3D printing technology which should be considered before opting to use this process.

While 3D Printing can create items in a selection of plastics and metals the available selection of raw materials is not exhaustive. This is due to the fact that not all metals or plastics can be temperature controlled enough to allow 3D printing. In addition, many of these printable materials cannot be recycled and very few are food safe.

3D printers currently have small print chambers which restrict the size of parts that can be printed. Anything bigger will need to be printed in separate parts and joined together after production. This can increase costs and time for larger parts due to the printer needing to print more parts before manual labour is used to join the parts together.

Although large parts require post-processing, as mentioned above, most 3D printed parts need some form of cleaning up to remove support material from the build and to smooth the surface to achieve the required finish. Post processing methods used include waterjetting, sanding, a chemical soak and rinse, air or heat drying, assembly and others. The amount of post processing required depends on factors including the size of the part being produced, the intended application and the type of 3D printing technology used for production. So, while 3D printing allows for the fast production of parts, the speed of manufacture can be slowed by post processing.

3D printing is a static cost unlike more conventional techniques like injection moulding, where large volumes may be more cost effective to produce. While the initial investment for 3D printing may be lower than other manufacturing methods, once scaled up to produce large volumes for mass production, the cost per unit does not reduce as it would with injection moulding.

With 3D printing (also known as Additive Manufacturing) parts are produced layer-by-layer. Although these layers adhere together it also means that they can delaminate under certain stresses or orientations. This problem is more significant when producing items using fused deposition modelling (FDM), while polyjet and multijet parts also tend to be more brittle. In certain cases it may be better to use injection moulding as it creates homogenous parts that will not separate and break.

Another of the disadvantages of 3D technology is the potential reduction in human labour, since most of the production is automated and done by printers. However, many third world countries rely on low skill jobs to keep their economies running, and this technology could put these manufacturing jobs at risk by cutting out the need for production abroad.

Another potential problem with 3D printing is directly related to the type of machine or process used, with some printers having lower tolerances, meaning that final parts may differ from the original design. This can be fixed in post processing, but it must be considered that this will further increase the time and cost of production.

As 3D printing is becoming more popular and accessible there is a greater possibility for people to create fake and counterfeit products and it will almost be impossible to tell the difference. This has evident issues around copyright as well as for quality control.

Get Further Advice On 3D Printing

Need help with determining whether 3D printing is the right process for you?

Contact our team of world-leading experts with over 20 years of experience in the additive manufacturing field.

Our technology experts help to ensure our customers apply the correct technology process depending on each individual or company requirements:
contactus@twi.co.uk

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What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of 3D Printing?

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This page has been created to help with the manufacturing selection process, explaining each of the advantages and disadvantages of 3D printing.

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Skip to main content

3D printing (also called additive manufacturing when done in an industrial setting) has been steadily increasing in popularity over the past ten years. The 3D printing industry was valued at $13.7 billion in 2020, according to a recent Mordor Intelligence report, and it's projected to reach $63.46 by 2026. That's a compound annual growth rate of nearly 30 percent.

New materials, more advanced technologies, and cost-effective printing techniques have convinced many manufacturers that 3D printing is the future of part production. Let's explore some of the latest 3D printing innovations in manufacturing today.

How 3D printing paves the way for innovation in manufacturing

3D printing empowers product teams to create high-quality products faster and at a fraction of the cost of other techniques. While injection molding requires manufacturers to design and create expensive tooling before producing parts, 3D printing enables them to simply send a digital design file to the printer.

This level of speed and affordability gives manufacturers unmatched flexibility when it comes to prototyping and production. Manufacturers can easily alter designs to keep up with consumer trends without rendering existing tooling obsolete. Product teams can also offer increased customization, eliminate time-consuming assembly steps, reduce storage costs, and produce cost-effective low-volume runs.

3D printing technology is also compatible with a wide variety of materials, making it much easier for product teams to find a material that meets their physical and chemical requirements. In addition to popular thermosets and thermoplastics, some 3D printers can also print with composite filaments, photosensitive resins, and more to produce parts with complex geometries.

New and innovative 3D printing solutions

The 3D printing possibilities are endless, and additive manufacturing is already a driving force behind innovation across several industries.

The healthcare industry: 3D printing has plenty of exciting applications in the medical industry. 3D printing's relatively low cost combined with high levels of customization and the ability to print parts with hollow internal geometries makes additive manufacturing an ideal choice for producing light, strong prostheses. For example, Fast Radius helped Coapt design and print components for their second generation of COMPLETE CONTROL, a system that helps amputees fully control their prosthetic arm's movement via an electrical pattern recognition system.

The pandemic also introduced many new 3D printing innovations in healthcare, from mass-producing face shields to printing ventilator parts. Other 3D printing medical innovations include patient-specific surgical models and a variety of dental applications like antibacterial dental implants, dentures, impression trays, and more.

The automotive industry: Many manufacturers in the automotive industry turn to 3D printing to create parts for car interiors like customized sports car seats. Others use additive manufacturing to cost-effectively produce obsolete spare parts for vintage cars or create contoured seats that fit customers perfectly. Even Formula One race cars leverage 3D printing for their parts.

The aerospace industry: In the aerospace industry, aviation firms are just starting to incorporate 3D printing in their manufacturing processes. 3D-printed parts are cheaper and often lighter than conventional parts, offering greater fuel efficiency without sacrificing strength, heat resistance, or structural integrity.

The energy industry: 3D printing allows energy companies to quickly produce parts at a lower price point. 3D printing solar panels can cut manufacturing costs by 50% while also improving their efficiency, and 3D printing turbine blade molds can reduce transportation costs and eliminate the labor-intensive process of manually creating molds. Plus, companies can print discontinued parts, extending their equipment's lifespan.

The sporting goods industry: Sporting goods manufacturers can create highly customized products for athletes, improving their performance and providing more protection and comfort. For example, 3D printing custom helmets with lattice structures improves ventilation and impact absorbency while minimizing weight. Other 3D printing innovations include snowboard bindings that match riders' boards, baseball glove inserts that improve reaction time and gameplay, and custom bike saddles that offer the ideal balance of comfort, stability, and weight.

Partnering with Fast Radius

3D printing is already transforming the manufacturing landscape due to its speed, affordability, high level of customization, and ability to produce complex geometries. As the technology continues to mature, manufacturers will develop new and innovative 3D printing solutions.

If you need help getting started with 3D printing, consider working with an experienced additive manufacturing partner like Fast Radius. When you partner with us, our team of experienced professionals will help you through the entire production process, from design to fulfillment. We also stay up to date on the latest 3D printing technologies to help you future-proof your business and take advantage of all that additive manufacturing has to offer. Contact us today.
For more information on the costs of 3D printing, 3D printing filaments, and more, visit our resource center.
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How 3D Printing Drives Innovation in Manufacturing | Fast Radius

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Skip to main content 3D printing (also called additive manufacturing when done in an industrial setting) has been steadily increasing in popularity over the past ten years. The 3D printing industry was valued at $13.7 billion in 2020, according to a recent Mordor Intelligence report, and it's projected to reach $63.46 by 2026.

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Nowadays, you will not surprise people with the word " Nanotechnology ", yet many people do not even realize the great impact nanotechnology has on our daily lives. Nanotechnology is modern science, engineering, and technology, which is conducted at the nanoscale (1-100 nanometers). One nanometer is equal to a billionth of a meter. To give you a clear example, a single sheet of newspaper is 100,000 nanometers thick. You should know that atoms and molecules behave completely differently at the nanoscale.

Nanotechnology is an expanding field. Many talented engineers and the best scientists work hard making materials at the nanoscale. When you present content about nanoscience, it has to be informative and understandable to people, as the topic is not that easy. Luckily, it is not a problem to order a professional custom paper, starting with an essay about Lady Macbeth and ending with the latest nanotechnology.
Let's have a glance on how nanotechnology can impact our lives:

Faster and more powerful computers, which consume less power. Modern computers have longer-lasting batteries. Circuits, which are made from carbon nanotubes, aim to maintain computer power.

People get access to much faster, more accurate, and functional medical diagnostic equipment. Have you heard about the technology called "Lab-on-a-chip", which enables testing in real time and speeds up delivery of urgent medical care? All nanomaterial surfaces, which are used for producing modern implants resist any kind of infection.

Pharmaceutical products contain nanoparticles, which improve their absorption within our bodies. They are also used to deliver chemotherapy drugs to the affected cancer cells.

Nanotechnology helps to improve vehicle fuel efficiency. The vehicle parts which are made from nanocomposite materials are lighter, stronger, and more chemically resistant comparing to metal.

Nanoparticles in fabrics are stain, water, and flame resistance. They do not increase such properties of fabrics as weight, thickness, or stiffness.

Water filters (15-20 nanometers) are able to remove all viruses and bacteria. This is an innovative cost-efficient water treatment systems. Many countries need urgently to get the quality of drinking water improved

Carbon nanotubes make our sports equipment stronger and the weight of it lighter.

Modern sunscreens, which are made from nanoparticles, absorb light more efficiently, including the dangerous ultraviolet range.

Cosmetics industry suspend and encapsulate various ingredients into nanospheres and nanoemulsions. Specialists claim that they help increase their penetration into our skin. You might not know but many cosmetic products use nanomaterials in some forms. For example, L'Oreal has developed an anti-wrinkle cream, which contains polymer nanocapsules for better delivery of active ingredients into deeper layers of skin.

Drink bottles are also made from plastics, which contains nanoclays. It gives good resistance to permeation by oxygen and moisture.

In medicine, nanosensors help to identify particular cells/substances in the body.

These are just a few points on how nanotechnology impacts our lives. New nano-achievements appear almost daily. It is up to you to trust this schiece or avoid it as much as possible.
Is nanotechnology safe?
Nanotechnology has the huge potential to transform people's lives for the better. We start using cheap, lightweight solar plastics, which makes solar energy widely available. Nanoparticles can clean up toxic chemical spills, as well as air-borne pollutants. Specialists claim that nanomaterials may be used in space exploration.

Despite these positive sides, nanotechnology has a shadow side. It is a new science, and we do not know about its long-term effects of influencing nanoparticles into the environment. At the moment, nanotechnology is unregulated. Companies even do not have to label the products, which contain nanoparticles. In fact, there are no recognized standards for producing and handling nanomaterials.

Many people are suspicious about the potential effects of nanomaterials on our health, planet, and ecosystems. Some studies claim that certain kinds of nanomaterials are quite toxic to algae, invertebrates, and fish. Nanomaterials can be even transferred across many generations in animals and plants.

We have to stay informed about this new technology. People should share what they know with others. The more people know about nanotechnology, the more likely that manufacturers will take into consideration health and safety standards.

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How Can Nanotechnology Impact Our Lives?

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Nowadays, you will not surprise people with the word " Nanotechnology ", yet many people do not even realize the great impact nanotechnology has on our daily lives. Nanotechnology is modern science, engineering, and technology, which is conducted at the nanoscale (1-100 nanometers). One nanometer is equal to a billionth of a meter.

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Dr. Raj Shah, Dr. Steve Nitodas, Mr. Nicholas Douglas and Mr. Nathan Aragon

In its natural form, energy has contributed significantly to humanity's progress over the years. However, due to an unchecked increase in pollution, new alternatives to fossil fuels need to be developed. Currently, new research into fuel additives, including those with nanotechnology, such as nanofluids, show promise in reducing pollution and offer sustainable fuel options. The purpose of this article is to explore how nanoparticles function as fuel additives for improving fuel efficiency and controlling pollution.

The impact of nanoparticles as fuel additives has shown serious improvements but also implications for the energy sector. The studied nanoparticles included several elements, such as zinc, aluminum, and boron metalloids. These nanoparticles were then emulsified with various fuels, primarily diesel, and used for testing in standard engines ¹. Fuels infused with nanoparticles show improved calorific value and cetane number of diesel and biodiesel fuel. However, viscosity, flash point and density of fuel can be slightly increased. In addition, the concentration of nano fluid additives must be kept under an upper limit to avoid higher CO emissions.

As for the efficiency of the engines, researchers found that nano-additives improve fuel and engine efficiency. Both brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), which is the rate of fuel consumption per unit of power used, and brake thermal efficiency (BTE: how well an engine converts heat from fuel to mechanical energy) were improved by varying margins. For example, zinc oxide (ZnO) additives exhibited a decrease in BSFC from 0.278 and 0.272 kg/kWh, and an increase in BTE from 28.8 to 29.96 kg/kWh when the particle size doubled ¹. These results show promising evidence of efficient engines with nanoparticle fuel additives in normal diesel engines.

Alumina (Al ₂O ₃) additives also provide enhancements to fuel combustion and efficiency in engines. Alumina additives blend with biodiesel and other renewable fuels to increase efficiency in engines. When under combustion, alumina nanoparticles form into aluminum (I) oxide and then aluminum metal. ² In both stages, oxygen released goes to fuel combustion, contributing to an increase in complete combustion, therefore, leading to more efficient engines. Specifically, alumina additives work to improve brake thermal efficiency and brake specific energy consumption (BSEC). Researchers found a decrease in BSEC from regular diesel fuels, with a difference of about 10 MJ/kWh at 25% engine load ². This difference diminishes as load increases due to higher fuel demand for optimal performance. For BTE, significant improvements on engine performance were demonstrated. In testing, differences in BTE of approximately 5% between diesel fuels and alumina-infused biodiesels were observed, increasing as load increased. ² TF20- an alumina additive at 20 parts per million- showed the largest increase in BTE for the alumina-based biodiesels, as compared to the diesel fuels ². Since alumina nanoparticles have conductive and radiative properties, their addition to fuels improves heat transfer throughout engines that lead to complete combustion of fuels. ² Also, researchers noted alumina nanoparticles' high surface area-to-volume ratio as an explanation to improved performance. A high ratio indicates higher reactivity and potential to store energy. ²

Throughout the study of nanoparticle-infused fuels, Biodiesel presents itself as one of the leading alternative fuel additives 3,4. Biodiesel comes in various forms that exhibit certain characteristics. While naturally produced, biodiesel creates significant problems when in diesel engines; these include an increased viscosity, engine blockages, and an increase in NO x emissions ⁵. To improve its quality, nanoparticles can be added to the fuel. Nano-based additives differ in composition, including metal-based additives, cetane number improvers, and ignition promoters ⁵, and differ in how they improve a fuel (biodiesel in this case). For example, metal-based nanoparticle additives, like cerium and cerium-iron, accelerate the rate of combustion and decrease fuel consumption ⁴. An increased rate of combustion allows for a powerful engine, requiring less fuel for cars to run. As cetane number improves, nanoparticles added to fuels lower the ignition delay- the time lag between injection and start of combustion within an engine ⁵. This lower ignition delay coincided with improved cylinder combustion characteristics that lead to the reduction of the combustion duration.

Biodiesel performance depends on the blend of biodiesel, the feedstock, and the petroleum diesel characteristics ⁶. Another form of biodiesel is the soybean biodiesel that presents an alternative to regular diesel or petroleum-based fuels. Soybean biodiesel blends with nanoparticles, along with regular diesel at varying concentrations, to create an efficient fuel for use in combustion engines (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Steps involved in the fabrication of a nanofuel ⁷

Specifically, tests regarding BTE at various loads showed an increase in BTE when a blend of biodiesel and zinc oxide nanoparticles were used ⁷ (Figure 2). For each test, compression ratios changed to compare BTEs at varying positions in the engine, which included an 18.5:1 biodiesel-to-nanoparticle ratio (Figure 3) and a 21.5:1 biodiesel-to-nanoparticle ratio. BTE increase of up to 20.5% was observed ⁷. Also, researchers saw a decrease in BSFC as the load of nanoparticles increased. Overall, these tests demonstrated that zinc oxide nanoparticles at 50 ppm (SBME25ZnO50) provided an overall enhancement to fuel performance when used in engines.

Figure 2: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles ⁷.

Another goal of the use of nano-additives in fuels is to reduce combustion emissions, primarily nitrogen oxide (NO x) and carbon dioxide (CO ₂) emissions. In the analysis of biodiesels, researchers have found that biodiesel has the potential to be environmentally friendly, burn cleanly and lower levels of carbon monoxide ⁸. For their tests, different blends of biodiesel-diesel and alumina nanoparticles were utilized. Using the blends, researchers measured carbon monoxide emissions through testing for volume of carbon monoxide at brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) for the nanoparticle fuel blends. When compared to 100% diesel, there was a general decrease in percent volume of carbon monoxide emissions as BMEP increased ⁸. Considering the demand for alternative fuel sources, alumina-infused biodiesel blends could present a great option as an alternative fuel source, in terms of reducing significantly some form of emissions. Another promising additive for diesel and biodiesel is graphene-based nanoparticles. Graphene oxide (GO) has shown a lower sooting tendency, whereas graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) has exhibited better emission reduction for NO, CO and hydrocarbons ⁹. Both GO and GNP are attractive fuel additives for improved emission control without any consequences on the filterability and injector wear.

Nanoparticle-infused fuels show promise in combating emissions of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Through catalysis and catalytic properties of these additives, engines improve their performance and emit lower amounts of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Titanium dioxide (TiO ₂) nanofluids showed reduced emission rates when blended with mustard oil biodiesel ¹⁰. Different particle sizes of TiO ₂ were infused with biodiesel to perform the tests, with sizes ranging from 100 to 300 parts per million (ppm). TiO ₂ nanofluids enrich biodiesel fuels with oxygen, leading to more efficient fuel combustion and lower emissions. For carbon monoxide emission rates, tests showed an initial decrease of up to 0.04% at 25% load capacity ¹⁰ from regular diesel. From tests, TiO ₂ at 300 ppm saw the largest decrease in emissions by volume ¹⁰. However, as load increased, so did the emission rates by volume. While still lower than diesel, increased load requires more fuel and results in more carbon monoxide emissions. ¹⁰

In conclusion, nanoparticles as fuel additives present great potential to reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency. Nanoparticles, particularly zinc oxide nanoparticles, enhanced engines through improving complete combustion, reducing both carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, and decreasing the amount of fuel used in processes. Throughout various studies, brake thermal efficiency and brake specific fuel consumption were shown to improve when working with nanoparticle fuel additives in biodiesel-diesel blends. The future of nanoparticle fuel additives brightens with new improvements to engines and biodiesel, as well as with the creation of nanoparticles with enhanced chemical, thermal and catalytic properties.

Dr. Raj Shah is a Director at Koehler Instrument Company in New York, where he has worked for the last 25 years. He is an elected Fellow by his peers at IChemE, CMI, STLE, AIC, NLGI, INSTMC, The Energy Institute and The Royal Society of Chemistry An ASTM Eagle award recipient, Dr. Shah recently coedited the bestseller, "Fuels and Lubricants handbook", details of which are available at
https://www.astm.org/DIGITAL_LIBRARY/MNL/SOURCE_PAGES/MNL37-2ND_foreword.pdf
A Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from The Penn State University and a Fellow from The Chartered Management Institute, London, Dr. Shah is also a Chartered Scientist with the Science Council, a Chartered Petroleum Engineer with the Energy Institute and a Chartered Engineer with the Engineering council, UK. An adjunct professor at the Dept. of Material Science and Chemical Engineering at State University of New York, Stony Brook, Raj has over 300 publications and has been active in the petroleum field for 3 decades. More information on Raj can be found at
https://www.petro-online.com/news/fuel-for-thought/13/koehler-instrument-company/dr-raj-shah-director-at-koehler-instrument-company-conferred-with-multifarious-accolades/53404
Dr. Steve (Stephanos) Nitodas is currently a member of the Faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering at Stony Brook University, NY. His expertise lies in the synthesis and applications of nanostructured carbon and polymer nanocomposites. He has served as Coordinator/ Principal Investigator in five (5) EU funded research projects of 4.2 million Euro total budget, and he has been involved as Co-Principal Scientist in thirteen (13) other funded research projects. Dr. Nitodas has worked for several years in the nanotechnology industry, possessing significant know-how related to transfer of knowledge from academia to the industry and the setup of startup companies.

Nicholas Douglas and Nathan Aragon are part of a thriving internship program at Koehler Instrument company and students of chemical engineering at State University of New York, Stony Brook, where Dr. Shah currently heads the External advisory board of directors.
References
¹Norhafana, M., et al. "A Review of the Performance and Emissions of Nano Additives in Diesel Fueled Compression Ignition-Engines." IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 469, 2018, p. 012035., doi:10.1088/1757-899x/469/1/012035.

² Venu, Harish, et al. "Combined Effect of Influence of Nano Additives, Combustion Chamber Geometry and Injection Timing in a DI Diesel Engine Fuelled with Ternary (Diesel-Biodiesel-Ethanol) Blends." Energy, vol. 174, 1 May 2019, pp. 386-406., doi:10.1016/j.energy.2019.02.163.

³ Khan, Saddam, et al. "Nanoparticles as Fuel Additive for Improving Performance and Reducing Exhaust Emissions of Internal Combustion Engines." International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 5 Feb. 2020, pp. 1-23., doi:10.1080/03067319.2020.1722810.

⁴ Dwivedi, Gaurav, et al. "Impact Analysis of Biodiesel on Engine Performance - A Review." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 15, no. 9, 14 Sept. 2011, pp. 4633-4641., doi:10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.089.

⁵ Db Ganesh, "A Review On Nanoparticles As Fuel Additives In Biodiesel", 22 Dec 2018

⁶ U.S. Dept. of Energy. "Biodiesel Fuel Basics." Alternative Fuels Data Center: Biodiesel Fuel Basics, U.S. Department of Energy, afdc.energy.gov/fuels/biodiesel_basics.html.

⁷ Gavhane, Rakhamaji S., et al. "Effect of Zinc Oxide Nano-Additives and Soybean Biodiesel at Varying Loads and Compression Ratios on VCR Diesel Engine Characteristics." Symmetry, vol. 12, no. 6, 22 June 2020, p. 1042., doi:10.3390/sym12061042.

⁸ Prabu, A. "Nanoparticles as Additive in Biodiesel on the Working Characteristics of a DI Diesel Engine." Ain Shams Engineering Journal, vol. 9, no. 4, 8 July 2017, pp. 2343-2349., doi:10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004.

⁹ Nivin, Chacko and Thangaraja, Jeyaseelan "Comparative evaluation of graphene oxide and graphene nanoplatelets as fuel additives on the combustion and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fuelled with diesel and biodiesel blend", Fuel Processing Technology, vol. 204, July 2020, p. 106406.

¹⁰ Pandian, Amith Kishore, et al. "Influence of an Oxygenated Additive on Emission of an Engine Fueled with Neat Biodiesel." Petroleum Science, vol. 14, no. 4, 2017, pp. 791-797., doi:10.1007/s12182-017-0186-x.

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Nanoparticles' role in improving fuel efficiency and reducing emissions - Nanotech Magazine

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Dr. Raj Shah, Dr. Steve Nitodas, Mr. Nicholas Douglas and Mr. Nathan Aragon In its natural form, energy has contributed significantly to humanity's progress over the years. However, due to an unchecked increase in pollution, new alternatives to fossil fuels need to be developed.

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Supplying Semiconductor Chips to Kickstart U.S. Innovation

In this interview, we speak with SkyWater Technology about the current state of the semiconductor industry, how nanotechnology has helped to shape this sector, and their new partnership which aims to increase the accessibility of semiconductor chips for start-ups and research groups across the Unite

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Fuel and Nanoparticles - Do they Improve Engine Efficiency?

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In this interview, we speak with SkyWater Technology about the current state of the semiconductor industry, how nanotechnology has helped to shape this sector, and their new partnership which aims to increase the accessibility of semiconductor chips for start-ups and research groups across the Unite

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You're going on holiday. Off the plane and checked into your hotel, you don the wrinkle-free shirt you packed so you wouldn't have to do any ironing. Grabbing your scratch-resistant sunglasses and your sunscreen you dash to the hotel pool, not forgetting to pick up your camera phone so you can send that boastful photo home. Poolside, you relax listening to summery tunes on your MP3 player, before taking a plunge into the cool refreshing water.

As you soak up the sun, nanotechnology is probably the furthest thing from your mind. Yet throughout every step of your trip you've unknowingly encountered it. From the nanoparticles that coated the surface of your plane to reduce drag, to the way the hotel pool was cleaned, nanotechnology was there. It boosted your sunscreen's ability to reflect harmful ultraviolet radiation, rendered your shirt with that just-ironed look and armoured your designer shades against unwanted scratches. Your gadgets also used nanotechnology to store your snaps and songs on their respective hard-drives and flash memory.

Nanotechnology is an inescapable part of modern everyday life, both on holiday and at home. "There are things we've been using for a long time which contain nanosize components, like the lasers in DVD and CD players," says Milo Shaffer, head of the London Centre for Nanotechnology. Yet most of the time it goes unnoticed. "On the whole people aren't very aware of the nanotechnology all around them," Shaffer explains.

So if you stretch out an arm you'll almost certainly be able to grab something that employs nanotechnology. But you might also be breathing in nanoparticles that have been around for many years. Ultrafine particles (UFPs) are airborne nanoscale materials that originate from many sources, including traffic pollution. UFPs can deposit in your lungs with the potential to cause respiratory problems including asthma and lung disease.

Although not all nanotech is the result of human activity, evolution has had at least a 3bn-year head-start when it comes to manipulating materials on the smallest scales. "Nature is all about nanoscale structures. It starts with the cell," explains Julian Vincent, a former biologist and now professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Bath. "Biology plays around with the molecular scale all the time, it's the level at which all biological reactions occur," he adds.

Silk is a prime example of naturally occurring nanotechnology. "Silk is strong because of the way its molecules are aligned into a set of cross-links," says Vincent. Kevlar, used in everything from flak-jackets to frying pans, was constructed by engineering its constituent molecules in a similar fashion.

Mimicking nature's nanotech is becoming big business. Teams of researchers have turned to geckos and mussels in order to develop adhesives that bind to dry and wet surfaces alike. They've drawn inspiration from nanofibres in the geckos' foot hairs, which allow the lizards to cling upside down on inclined surfaces, and the nanoscale structures used by mussels to "glue" themselves to rocks despite being underwater.

Similarly, non-reflective materials have been improved by imitating the nanostructures found in the wings of cicada insects. Their wings contain small projections, spaced about 200 nanometres (a nanometre is equivalent to one billionth of a metre) apart, which allow 98% of light to pass through them. Nanostructures are also responsible for the brilliant white colouring of the cyphochilus beetle. The arrangement of molecules within the beetle's scales scatter almost all incoming light. Mimicking this molecular arrangement in made-made materials would eliminate the need for potentially toxic pigments, which are often currently used to create white paint and paper.

Plants too are big exploiters of natural nanotech. Nanostructures on the surface of lotus leaves repel water which carries away dirt as it rolls off the leaf, allowing the lotus to remain spotless despite growing in muddy water. This "lotus effect" is the basis behind self-cleaning windows. But rather than shedding water, beetles in the Namib desert are using a series of alternating waxy and non-waxy nanostructures to capture precious moisture from the early morning fog. Applying the idea to buildings could allow them to trap moisture for use inside.

Whether in your office, home or while sunning yourself on holiday, it is impossible not to encounter technology based on the manipulation of the very small. Many technologies in the modern world rely on nanostructures, often inspired by evolution in the natural world. But there is much untapped potential left to explore. "The overlap between the way nature solves these problems and the way we do, using technical solutions, is only 10-20%," Vincent explains. "I'd like to see a world where we can truly utilise the tried and tested methods nature has employed," he says.

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You're going on holiday. Off the plane and checked into your hotel, you don the wrinkle-free shirt you packed so you wouldn't have to do any ironing. Grabbing your scratch-resistant sunglasses and your sunscreen you dash to the hotel pool, not forgetting to pick up your camera phone so you can send that boastful photo home.

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Nanotechnology is a common word these days, but many of us don't realize the amazing impact it has on our daily lives. According to the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative, nanotechnology is "science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers." One nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or 10-9 of a meter. For comparison, a sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick. Scientists are discovering that atoms and molecules behave differently at the nanoscale.

It is also a rapidly expanding field. Scientists and engineers are having great success making materials at the nanoscale to take advantage of enhanced properties such as higher strength, lighter weight, increased electrical conductivity, and chemical reactivity compared to their larger-scale equivalents.

Below are 10 ways nanotechnology impacts our lives on a daily basis.

1. Faster, smaller, and more powerful computers that consume far less power, with longer-lasting batteries. Circuits made from carbon nanotubes could be vital in maintaining the growth of computer power, allowing Moore's Law to continue.

2. Faster, more functional, and more accurate medical diagnostic equipment. Lab-on-a-chip technology enables point-of-care testing in real time, which speeds up delivery of medical care. Nanomaterial surfaces on implants improve wear and resist infection.

3. Nanoparticles in pharmaceutical products improve their absorption within the body and make them easier to deliver, often through combination medical devices. Nanoparticles can also be used to deliver chemotherapy drugs to specific cells, such as cancer cells.

4. Improved vehicle fuel efficiency and corrosion resistance by building vehicle parts from nanocomposite materials that are lighter, stronger, and more chemically resistant than metal. Nanofilters remove nearly all airborne particles from the air before it reaches the combustion chamber, further improving gas mileage.

5. Nanoparticles or nanofibers in fabrics can enhance stain resistance, water resistance, and flame resistance, without a significant increase in weight, thickness, or stiffness of the fabric. For example, "nano-whiskers" on pants make them resistant to water and stains.

6. Water filters that are only 15-20 nanometers wide can remove nano-sized particles, including virtually all viruses and bacteria. These cost-efficient, portable water treatment systems are ideal for improving the quality of drinking water in emerging countries.

7. Carbon nanotubes have a variety of commercial uses, including making sports equipment stronger and lighter weight. For example, a tennis racket made with carbon nanotubes bends less during impact, and increases the force and accuracy of the delivery. Nanoparticle-treated tennis balls can keep bouncing twice as long as standard tennis balls.

8. Most sunscreens today are made from nanoparticles that effectively absorb light, including the more dangerous ultraviolet range. They also spread more easily over the skin. These same nanoparticles are also used in food packaging to reduce UV exposure and prolong shelf life.

9. Many drink bottles are made from plastics containing nanoclays, which increase resistance to permeation by oxygen, carbon dioxide, and moisture. This helps retain carbonation and pressure and increases shelf life by several months.

10. Thanks to nanotechnology, a huge variety of chemical sensors can be programmed to detect a particular chemical at amazingly low levels, for example, a single molecule out of billions. This capability is ideal for surveillance and security systems at labs, industrial sites, and airports. On the medical front, nanosensors can also be used to accurately identify particular cells or substances in the body.

On the Horizon

These are just a few of the thousands of ways that nanotechnology impacts society. Important nanotechnology achievements seem to be announced almost daily. For example, researchers at George Washington University have discovered a way to draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into high-yield carbon nanofibers that can be used in manufacturing.

"Such nanofibers are used to make strong carbon composites, such as those used in the Boeing Dreamliner, as well as in high-end sports equipment, wind turbine blades, and a host of other products," says chemistry professor Stuart Licht, who led the research team.

The process is powered by a hybrid system consisting of solar cells and a thermal energy collector that draws very little energy. Licht estimates that if the process was scaled up to cover a physical area less than 10 percent of the size of the Sahara Desert, within a decade it would reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels.

When asked about nanotechnology's greatest potential for improving the state of the world, Markus Antonietti, director of Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, responded it was the purification of air and water.

"The technology already exists to fix the atmosphere," he says. "But there also needs to be a focus on education and getting information to the public at large. Most people still don't know about these technologies. The best part is that all of this could happen immediately, if we simply spread the information in an understandable way. People don't read science journals, so they don't even know that all of this is possible."

Mark Crawford is an independent writer.

Learn how integration of engineering, science and nanotechnology is addressing fundamental problems in biology and medicine at ASME's NEMB Conference.

Scientists are making innovative new materials at the nanoscale to take advantage of their enhanced properties such as higher strength, lighter weight, electrical conductivity, and chemical reactivity.

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10 Ways Nanotechnology Impacts Our Lives

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Nanotechnology is a common word these days, but many of us don't realize the amazing impact it has on our daily lives. According to the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative, nanotechnology is "science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers."

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Nowadays, you will not surprise people with the word " Nanotechnology ", yet many people do not even realize the great impact nanotechnology has on our daily lives. Nanotechnology is modern science, engineering, and technology, which is conducted at the nanoscale (1-100 nanometers). One nanometer is equal to a billionth of a meter. To give you a clear example, a single sheet of newspaper is 100,000 nanometers thick. You should know that atoms and molecules behave completely differently at the nanoscale.

Nanotechnology is an expanding field. Many talented engineers and the best scientists work hard making materials at the nanoscale. When you present content about nanoscience, it has to be informative and understandable to people, as the topic is not that easy. Luckily, it is not a problem to order a professional custom paper, starting with an essay about Lady Macbeth and ending with the latest nanotechnology.
Let's have a glance on how nanotechnology can impact our lives:

Faster and more powerful computers, which consume less power. Modern computers have longer-lasting batteries. Circuits, which are made from carbon nanotubes, aim to maintain computer power.

People get access to much faster, more accurate, and functional medical diagnostic equipment. Have you heard about the technology called "Lab-on-a-chip", which enables testing in real time and speeds up delivery of urgent medical care? All nanomaterial surfaces, which are used for producing modern implants resist any kind of infection.

Pharmaceutical products contain nanoparticles, which improve their absorption within our bodies. They are also used to deliver chemotherapy drugs to the affected cancer cells.

Nanotechnology helps to improve vehicle fuel efficiency. The vehicle parts which are made from nanocomposite materials are lighter, stronger, and more chemically resistant comparing to metal.

Nanoparticles in fabrics are stain, water, and flame resistance. They do not increase such properties of fabrics as weight, thickness, or stiffness.

Water filters (15-20 nanometers) are able to remove all viruses and bacteria. This is an innovative cost-efficient water treatment systems. Many countries need urgently to get the quality of drinking water improved

Carbon nanotubes make our sports equipment stronger and the weight of it lighter.

Modern sunscreens, which are made from nanoparticles, absorb light more efficiently, including the dangerous ultraviolet range.

Cosmetics industry suspend and encapsulate various ingredients into nanospheres and nanoemulsions. Specialists claim that they help increase their penetration into our skin. You might not know but many cosmetic products use nanomaterials in some forms. For example, L'Oreal has developed an anti-wrinkle cream, which contains polymer nanocapsules for better delivery of active ingredients into deeper layers of skin.

Drink bottles are also made from plastics, which contains nanoclays. It gives good resistance to permeation by oxygen and moisture.

In medicine, nanosensors help to identify particular cells/substances in the body.

These are just a few points on how nanotechnology impacts our lives. New nano-achievements appear almost daily. It is up to you to trust this schiece or avoid it as much as possible.
Is nanotechnology safe?
Nanotechnology has the huge potential to transform people's lives for the better. We start using cheap, lightweight solar plastics, which makes solar energy widely available. Nanoparticles can clean up toxic chemical spills, as well as air-borne pollutants. Specialists claim that nanomaterials may be used in space exploration.

Despite these positive sides, nanotechnology has a shadow side. It is a new science, and we do not know about its long-term effects of influencing nanoparticles into the environment. At the moment, nanotechnology is unregulated. Companies even do not have to label the products, which contain nanoparticles. In fact, there are no recognized standards for producing and handling nanomaterials.

Many people are suspicious about the potential effects of nanomaterials on our health, planet, and ecosystems. Some studies claim that certain kinds of nanomaterials are quite toxic to algae, invertebrates, and fish. Nanomaterials can be even transferred across many generations in animals and plants.

We have to stay informed about this new technology. People should share what they know with others. The more people know about nanotechnology, the more likely that manufacturers will take into consideration health and safety standards.

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How Can Nanotechnology Impact Our Lives?

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Nowadays, you will not surprise people with the word " Nanotechnology ", yet many people do not even realize the great impact nanotechnology has on our daily lives. Nanotechnology is modern science, engineering, and technology, which is conducted at the nanoscale (1-100 nanometers). One nanometer is equal to a billionth of a meter.

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Nanomaterials are of great interest because they have a lot of potential to create new and innovative products across many areas. By more directly steering the reactions and interactions between atoms at the nanoscale, nanomaterials can be produced and their properties can be steered in unusual ways. For example, this could result in better medicines, cosmetics, and construction materials or greener energy.

This can have a significant, positive impact on the life of European citizens. Several scientists have won the Nobel prize for work related to nanomaterials, the latest being in 2016, when three European researchers were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry for their work on nanomaterials.

At the same time as having better technical functions, the change in properties of nanomaterials may also mean that these materials might influence humans and the environment differently compared to chemicals that are not in nanoform.

Scientists and regulators want to understand how nanomaterials may impact human health and the environment, and whether the current ways of assessing the safety of chemicals are applicable to nanomaterials, or whether modifications are needed.

The EU has funded many research projects aimed at both unlocking the promise of nanomaterials, as well as ensuring that these new materials are safe for people and the environment. This work takes place in collaboration with the chemical industry as well as regulators around the world.

To date, EU-funded research projects on the environmental health and safety of nanomaterials have resulted in over 500 articles published in peer reviewed journals. A partial listing of such publications can be found at NanoSafety cluster publications and Open Science publications pages.

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Why are scientists interested in nanomaterials? - ECHA

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Nanomaterials are of great interest because they have a lot of potential to create new and innovative products across many areas. By more directly steering the reactions and interactions between atoms at the nanoscale, nanomaterials can be produced and their properties can be steered in unusual ways.

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Nanotechnology: a small solution to big problems

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Invisible particles that fight cancer cells, faster microprocessors that consume less energy, batteries that last 10 times longer or solar panels that yield twice as much energy. These are just some of the many applications of nanotechnology, a discipline with all the ingredients to turn into the next industrial revolution.

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What will the metaverse mean for the hotel industry?

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Despite its infancy, the metaverse has already opened some avenues to the hotel industry, from attracting and up-selling guests, to improving events at hotel locations and improving the guest experience.

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Free Open-Source Hotel Booking and Reservation System

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Metaverse impact the future of the hotel industry. Why? Because pandemic has increased the demand for digital technologies.

And, now metaverse will take this to next level. It will transform the hotel industry and enhance the guest experience.

It will bridge a physical gap. People can use their avatars to visit a hotel property and check their rooms and amenities available virtually.

Anyone can create an avatar (which is their virtual identity) and walk through a metaverse hotel, which has been designed to look exactly like the real thing.

Thus, creating an interactive hotel room experience or genuine local areas experience will work in the hotel's favor.

Let's first understand what metaverse is, afterward we will understand why the hospitality industry should adopt it.

And its impact on both customers and hoteliers.

The word 'Meta' comes from a Greek word meaning beyond and 'Verse' comes from the word Universe

Through metaverse, you in the form of an avatar(your character created by you) can connect with people in a digital world.

In simple words, Imagine yourself meeting your friends and family but not in reality rather in a virtual 3D world.

Similarly, you can visit Disney land, cook, study, shop for clothes, but all these in an artificial world.

This artificial world is created for social interactions.

You only have to sit in a corner of your room wearing smart glasses or a special headset.

Wearing smart glasses is the first step towards metaverse. It will allow you to interact with others and record audio and video with just a touch.

Wearable technology like smart glasses will become gateways into the metaverse.

It allows you to interact with the world around you, and record audio and video with just a touch, which is your first step in this journey.

Next, we have is Virtual reality, through which you can explore a new world and where you can share experiences.

Augmented Reality, will help you enhance the experience you are sharing with people in the digital world by adding virtual effects through photos and videos.

People are becoming tech-savvy, and their expectations are becoming high.

So, considering these factors, the adoption of metaverse will take hospitality to the next level.

Let's look at how it will.

The booking process begins with the start of research about the hotels and their rooms in the location where one wants to travel.

So, if using metaverse, then customers can gain various information about the hotel they want to book a room from.

Travelers can turn into their digital character(avatar) and virtually take a 3D tour of the resort or the hotel property and experience their look and feel.

Consequently, they can easily know the size of their room, its decor, windows, and balcony view, the look of the hotel, and the amenities accessible.

This was not possible through static images.

Thus, it increases guest confidence in decision making which ultimately increases bookings and conversion rates.

Moreover, this service could keep you ahead of your competitors and give your guests control of their upcoming travels.

Many times people visit a hotel for one or two days to attend parties, weddings, birthdays, farewell, and more.

But, until Metaverse comes into the picture, it was not possible for people to allow guests to participate in the celebration virtually.

Even if they are not physically present.

For instance, imagine a guest raising a toast for his success, and the hotel places him in the metaverse virtual world.

Where his friends and family are also present to cheer him up.

Images and videos will not create the effect that a metaverse can create.

Use it, to attract guests to your hotel by promoting local places of interest.

For instance, the famous cafe in the town, the nearby waterfall, local markets to buy products.

Let's use metaverse to make them feel what's like to visit wonderful tourist destinations.

For instance, going to a waterpark, looking and different rides, and enjoying it.

The hoteliers can work remotely with the help of the horizon workroom.

It works across both virtual reality and the web, and lets teams connect in the virtual room.

You can work on new ideas, share files and documents, hear updates, socialize, or simply have better conversations that flow more naturally.

Apart from this, you should not worry about the privacy of the documents and discussions that happen in the workroom.

Because it will not use your conversations and materials to inform ads on Facebook.

Additionally, regarding images and videos, you share here, Facebook and third-party apps do not have access to, view, or use them.

Finally, others cannot see your screen on Workroom unless you choose to share it.

Moreover, to make everyone feel safe in the Workroom, a company like Facebook has set up community standards and VR policies.

Everyone has to sign-up for these standards and policies, and if any violation is happening then connect with the team admin he will take further action.

Such as removing the team member from the team. Moreover, it is also possible to report and remove the entire team, in case of violation.

Metaverse impact every business. So, why not think of ways to take advantage of it.

It will create a digital world treat help in the transformation of the hotel industry.

Through its help hoteliers can show 3D virtual tours of their hotel, its rooms, and nearby attractions in local areas to attract guests.

Moreover, if hoteliers are physically apart they still can set meetings and share ideas by being present in the form of an avatar.

Please share views in the comment box.

If you want to learn about the functionality of QloApps then you can visit this link: QLO Reservation System - Free Open-Source Hotel Booking & Reservation System

In case of any query, issue, or requirement please feel free to raise it on QloApps Forum

Moreover, you can raise a ticket to connect with our experts for any assistance.

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How does metaverse impact the hotel industry? - QloApps

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Metaverse impact the future of the hotel industry. Why? Because pandemic has increased the demand for digital technologies. And, now metaverse will take this to next level. It will transform the hotel industry and enhance the guest experience. It will bridge a physical gap.

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The use of Metaverse in the different sectors is rising day by day. With the new dimensions that the continuous Metaverse development is allowing us to enter, it is becoming the next big thing every day. Although the use of Metaverse technology has garnered interest in various sectors, the field that has captured the most attention among the various sectors is the gaming industry. The industry not only adopted the metaverse way earlier but also retains the craze among people to date. Through this article, let's look at how the metaverse powers the future of gaming.

Metaverse: An Overview

Although the Metaverse isn't a fully operational concept, it is a concept of an online, 3D-connected virtual space, connecting users in all aspects of their life. Let's consider your daily life routine - work, travel, socializing, friends, family, and many more. Now let's consider all these activities done online. That's Metaverse for you.

Want to know where it all started? If you have heard of Neal Stephenson, you know the answer! This renowned author first introduced the concept in his book Snow Crash. Now it isn't much Science fiction anymore. It is nearly a reality we would have too soon to live in or accept; this is a topic to debate. Although, any technology that's yet to come has given us a certain freedom to ease our lives and is just an extension of our minds. Every idea was churned in someone's mind. So it doesn't matter what Reality is; when the Metaverse is out there, there is no such thing as technology that will replace a human's mind, contradiction aside. Let's get right into it.

The Metaverse is a persistent, 3 Dimensional, digital universe concept that combines multiple different virtual spaces altogether. The big tech companies are already leading the way in fully connecting and developing the Metaverse. One of the most significant aspects of the Metaverse is how it will digitalize and affect our lives. To make this more elaborate, once the Metaverse is fully operational, the next time we plan on meeting our friends, we will make plans in the Metaverse, not through meeting at a place. Get it? That's right, a total digitalization of even the most minor aspect of our lives.

That's kinda scary combined with the excitement of how it could be. Talking about the current scenario, the tangible and intangible connections have become increasingly more advanced. The NFTs, blockchains, crypto, and gaming haven't been much farther. They are all in the same ecosystem as the Metaverse and would probably be the core of what Metaverse is about.

Let's get into the Gaming aspect of it a little further.

If you want to get into the core of Metaverse technology, first and foremost, you need to understand what augmented Reality is; that's what drives Metaverse. We can simply think of Augment reality as integrating user and digital information. The integration has to be in real-time.

AR provides the user with sound, visuals, and other sensory information through glasses or phones. This data is superimposed on the device to create an experience in which digital data alters how the user perceives the real world.

The onset of the Metaverse is that its expansion will make things like gaming, organizing meetings or events, and studying easier.

What powers the Metaverse?

AR and VR Techs

VR and AR are also called Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, respectively. For those new to these terms, Augmented Reality is an immersive real-time use of information in texts, images, and sounds overlaid in a real-world environment. Virtual Reality is entirely digital, where all the texts, photos, and sounds are digital.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

Here's what IBM defines blockchain to be: Blockchain is a distributed, immutable ledger that makes it easier to record transactions and track assets in a business network. The asset can be anything tangible, an object, or a substance. For example, it can be copyrights, intellectual properties, or patents.

Let's make it simpler: the business runs on pure information; the faster and more efficient it is, the better the business will perform.

How does blockchain work?

Once a transaction occurs, it is recorded as a block.

The blocks are linked such that the current block has a connection with the block that appeared before it.

Transactions are recorded or placed in an irreversible chain named "Blockchain."

Let's get to cryptocurrency, sometimes called crypto, is a form of any currency that exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions. Cryptography doesn't have any regulating authority or central issuing but instead uses a decentralized system to record transactions and issue new units. Put, cryptocurrency is a digital payment method without relying on banks to verify such payments.

Internet of Things:

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of things or any object embedded with technologies such as software sensors. The technologies facilitate the connection of data to different devices via the internet.

There are a few technologies that make IoT possible; some of them are:

Access to low-cost sensor technology

Machine Learning and Analytics.

Conversational Artificial Intelligence,

Connectivity.

Cloud Computing Platforms.

Access to low-power sensor technology.

How are Metaverse and Gaming related?

The universe Metaverse makes it a leading technology for the gaming industry to tap into. Although gaming involves immersive gameplay, just by looking at a flat, high, resolution screen, imagine what an entire universe adapted to your Reality could do to your experience in having an immersive and as close to Reality as possible during gameplay.

That's right, creating immersive gameplay by suiting your environment is just what the Metaverse's potential could do if unlocked. Breaking the previous two-dimensional screen and taping it into today's virtual reality world makes it near-real gameplay.

It not only provides a space where the person can have immersive gameplay but also an opportunity to access Web3, crypto, gaming, meeting with teams, and much more. The Metaverse is at an adolescent age, where we are just talking about how the Metaverse can power the gaming industry.

What does gaming in the Metaverse look like?

The gaming industry is one of the leading industries tapping into Metaverse's powers and what it has to offer. The primary reason for the gaming industry to tap into the metaverse industries is that it creates very immersive gameplay for the users to experience. To do so, the solutions come from something called Metaverse. As we explored earlier, Metaverse uses the combination of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in hand to create first-hand immersive gameplay.

Gaming together

It is given that Metaverse is a social platform and a platform where multiple people can play on the same platform or the same concept called multiplayer can be immersed in the Metaverse, which is among the primary reasons to create immersive gameplay.

Earn while Playing

It is probably one of the most important aspects of a crowd puller for gaming in the Metaverse. Players can make several profitable actions while playing together as a team. At the same time, in the Metaverse, some of which include selling their assets to other users in exchange for numerous things like money or cryptocurrency, even that matter.

Metaverse in the future would become the pinnacle of earning money for digital earners and primarily gamers. It would become the center of digital playing and earnings and contribute hugely to the country's economy.

Game Assets

What are assets? An asset refers to a thing, object, or any substance that means something or has value. To put it simply, game assets refer to the numerous objects like skins or anything that would make of good value in the game that would enhance one's respectability if one had that, or would enhance their gameplay if they had that particular object. Or it could be an Object that is unique to the game that only one person owns. Or it could be a player's knowledge about something that could make up the definition of an asset.

Some notable players in the Metaverse Gaming industry.

Epic Games

Fortnite, ever heard of the game? Well, of course, Epic Games is best known for its game Fortnite. With its increasing popularity, Epic Games recently announced a 1 billion dollar intention to create its metaverse-focused gaming.

Axie Infinity

It is an online gaming portal revolving around the Pokemon-Esque creatures known as Axie. It differs from the other standard online gaming communities because of the variation between the standard online gaming platforms and blockchain technology. How the Pokemon-Esque works is that players can collect Axies as their virtual pets with those pet's goals to battle, breed, collect, and raise kingdoms for their Axies. The Ethereum-based game utilizes a design that allows players to own their virtual assets and rewards players who can reach an advanced level of playing.

The Sandbox

Sandbox is native to the Metaverse ecosystem. The players use a utility token of the platform, SAND, and play, build and control a virtual space and market their skills on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform is a community-driven platform where creators have the opportunity to monetize their gaming experiences and voxel ASSETS on the blockchain.

Meta

Formerly, Facebook was known as the OG of social media when the digital era of connecting and finding people on the internet started. Facebook creates a huge universe which is around the products it produces. They are on the top list of tech companies to have lastly invested in the Metaverse. Although new to this universe, they hold an impressive track record. To elaborate, they range from a range of products around which the company now revolves.

The future of Gaming and Metaverse

We cannot possibly know if the Metaverse would be a cutting-edge tech that would shape our world for the better or how big the impact of the Metaverse would be on the world's economy. Approximately 80% of the world today is said to run directly or indirectly on the internet, while 20% of things are already digital. Already nearly two hundred million users log on to Minecraft, Fortnite, to name some, and other numerous platforms daily. Primarily, these users are said to this to games, attend concerts, and much more, and people are seen to go further.

Let's go back to 2021 when Google unveiled its own Project Starline. Now, Starline was a project that uses machine learning, computer vision, and fabric-based multi-layered light fields to create a 3 Dimensional holographic video that does not require the use of some special tech to access. Google concludes that this technology leads to a 15% increase in eye contact, a 25% increase in non-verbal communication, and a 30% better conversation recall.

Gaming is primarily focused on immersive gameplay. Now, combined with the power of the Metaverse, the whole focus of gaming would shift and make it a different aspect of revenue income. NFTs, assets, portable game assets, the level of advanced immersive gameplay, and the earnings, along with numerous other aspects, would make Gaming and Metaverse a new Gaming era combined with the Metaverse.

Conclusion

Although the Metaverse isn't out there, we are looking at the probable ease that this could transform the internet, how it could start a new approach to how we accomplish things, and how bigger could play a role in the economics of the world.

It comes with its worries and its perks, some of them that would include how this could digitalize currencies or assets. To how it could create revenue for one. Metaverse is probably on the top of the list of the things that could shape our near digital future as we know it, along with it coming to the gaming aspect, which could shift the entire course of gaming in another direction.

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How Does Metaverse Power the Future of Gaming? -

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The use of Metaverse in the different sectors is rising day by day. With the new dimensions that the continuous Metaverse development is allowing us to enter, it is becoming the next big thing every day. Although the use of Metaverse technology has garnered interest in various sectors, the field that has captured the most attention among the various sectors is the gaming industry.

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Metaverse is soaring to new heights with each passing day. It's now mainstream technology and is the next big thing that will change the face of the digital world. By creating an immersive visual experience, Metaverse compliments emerging technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and 3D visualization.

Although Metaverse is for everyone and different industries are adopting it, the gaming industry adopted Metaverse earlier than others to unlock its full benefits. Players who were earlier interested in other genres of online games, such as multiplayer games, are frequently shifting their interest to the Metaverse.

But why there's so much hype around metaverse games? Can it replace the existing game formats? Let's discuss Metaverse and how it powers next-generation gaming to find answers to such questions.

Metaverse is a virtual world designed to connect worldwide users with a shared digital platform to interact and socialize. Companies building their metaverse projects leverage leading technologies such as 3D reconstruction, augmented reality, virtual reality, IoT, artificial intelligence, and blockchain to develop powerful versions of Metaverse.

The persistent nature of the Metaverse attracts people the most. It means that players do not require to switch on or exit the gaming platform, and it exists even after they finish playing their session. In addition, Metaverse creates excitement among players by providing virtual space for the digital replication of our real world.

Players can have a close-to-reality experience while playing games on the Metaverse platform. Like they can interact with other players, trade in-game assets, and even experience a physical sense of touch using haptic gloves and jackets. Note that in-game items in the metaverse games carry real-world value. It means that players can earn real money by selling their virtual assets in the Metaverse via NFTs.

Gaming before Metaverse

Before the advent of blockchain-powered games, players were much into multiplayer games. However, blockchain has significantly changed the face of online games. Its use cases like NFTs and cryptocurrencies amaze players with features like tokenization of gaming items and the facility to trade them to earn money in cryptos.

Depending on the specific rules of the games, players can either sell their assets or collect them until they yield rewards from the platform. People with an inclination towards real money games and crypto spaces are the ones who hailed the popularity of NFT games worldwide. Besides the yield, such games became prevalent due to the high-quality visual representation of real-life objects and impressive graphics.

Gaming after Metaverse

The recent evolution in the gaming industry has brought along the Metaverse games. Players are entering into the real of Metaverse to experience next-level gaming. While Metaverse can either be centralized or decentralized, gaming companies focus more on decentralized projects since the future is decentralized. Stick around to visualize the Metaverse games and help players understand how it works.

Characters in the Metaverse games are regulated through players' unique avatars, the virtual representation of real identities. These characters live in Metaverse exactly how people live in the real world.

Metaverse games are based on the play-to-earn concept that allows players to win virtual gaming items and sell them to earn real-world money.

Players can invite their social media friends, interact with other players inside the Metaverse, and collaborate to enjoy the games together.

Since Metaverse leverages technologies AR and VR to create a more organic experience, players feel a lifelike experience exactly how they feel in the real world.

Metaverse gaming platforms are interoperable, allowing players to move their gaming items from one space to another without any major change.

The latest development in the Metaverse has compelled gaming companies to switch to Metaverse games. To make the gaming experience more immersive, Metaverse game developers use new-age technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. Let's define the top technologies required to develop a gaming Metaverse:
AR and VR technologies
AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) create an immersive and exciting 3D experience that are the key technologies powering Metaverse development. AR morphs the real world and creates a virtual world using visual elements and characters. It supports smartphones and various digital devices so that users can enjoy on-the-go immersive experiences.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency
Blockchain technology helps develop decentralized Metaverse projects. It brings benefits such as digital proof of ownership, transfer of value, digital collectability, and interoperability. Cryptocurrencies, as real-world currencies, allow users to transfer value in the 3D immersive world of Metaverse.
Internet of things (IoT)
With the internet of things (IoT), Metaverse can collect, obtain, and utilize data from the physical world. It connects the virtual world of Metaverse to a large number of real-world devices so that objects in the Metaverse can switch the way they function based on changing weather or atmosphere.
3D reconstruction
3D technology is not new, but 3D reconstruction has increased highly due to the covid pandemic. Many real estate companies adopted this technology to take their potential buyers on a virtual property tour. Metaverse, being a new concept, has been using 3D reconstructing to complement other technologies that already exist on the Metaverse.

While Metaverse is still in its early stages, many companies have launched next-generation gaming platforms. Decentraland and Sandbox are examples of futuristic projects, and big tech giants like Microsoft and Facebook are coming with their unique Metaverse projects. Hence, we are likely to experience a much-enhanced version of Metaverse in the future.

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How Does Metaverse Powers the Future of Gaming?

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Metaverse is soaring to new heights with each passing day. It's now mainstream technology and is the next big thing that will change the face of the digital world. By creating an immersive visual experience, Metaverse compliments emerging technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and 3D visualization.

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The gaming industry is constantly growing. Nowadays, it has become easier for people to play games on their computers or mobile devices. As a result, playing games is no longer just a pastime but an entire industry with millions of customers. The big business players know it, too.

In our fast-pacing world, escapism has become the new trend. Spending time in digital worlds allows us to express ourselves in ways we don't get to in our everyday lives. Having such alternate realities available to us protects our selves from day-to-day worries. Immersing yourself in a game can be just the cure for a stressful day.

Photo by Minh Pham on Unsplash

It is even better when the immersing process can be intensified. That is where the metaverse enters the stage.

The metaverse is a virtual world that provides an environment where players can interact, form groups and teams, and socialize. The metaverse offers an area where people can rediscover themselves and others. It has plenty of benefits and advantages. In this article, we will cover some of the ways that it has impacted the gaming industry.

1. Connect with a Lot of Players Simultaneously

The metaverse impacts the video game industry with its ability to connect players regardless of location. As a result, users can interact and communicate with others in real-time formats that can trick your mind into perceiving them as in the real world.

They will be able to see how their character looks in different locations in the metaverse. In addition, it allows players to interact with others in different parts of the world without having any latency or lag time problems, which often occur when playing online games over traditional networks such as wired or wireless connections.

The metaverse has been seen as the future in gaming because it can help reach out to millions of people at once through. But unfortunately, the gaming companies know too well that this technological innovation is the future.

2. Creates New Opportunities for Game Developers

The metaverse will also help create new opportunities for developers and publishers. Since there are no boundaries when it comes to virtual reality, developers can now create worlds that are even more realistic than those previously created, especially with projects like metaverse VR.

Developers can use this technology to develop new players' experiences and improve existing games. It could be done by adding new elements to existing games or creating a new game based on them. It means that more people will be willing to invest their money in buying new games from different publishers who have come up with all types of new worlds. Everyone would want to explore and immerse themselves in some fantastic never-ending, and never-before-seen worlds.

3. Creates a Unique Environment for Each Player

Players can create unique environments with advanced graphics and design tools in the metaverse. In addition, they can use it to enhance their experience as gamers.

For example, one player might want to build an entire city inside their own space, while another might want to design an underwater scene full of fish and coral reefs. The possibilities are endless and are all up to the creator. They will be able to build and create to their heart's desire and then wander around their fabulous experiment.

4. Develop Characters to the Next Level

This innovation will allow the user to enhance their game avatar. For example, players could develop their characters through skill points earned during gameplay, allowing them to improve their character's abilities over time.

The games will allow players to build their characters and create their worlds by interacting with other users in these Vrs. Players could share stories, chat and even fight against each other as if they were part of a real-life battle!

The Bottom Line

The metaverse has a huge potential to change the gaming industry. There's no doubt that the gaming industry will continue to grow in the metaverse.

After all, it has the potential to revolutionize the gaming industry by bringing previously disparate experiences and stories together and allowing a player to move seamlessly between worlds, characters, and stories in a fluid way.

Moreover, it's great that some of the biggest companies are starting their virtual worlds, too. So the real benefit is that players and developers will have much more choice of games and worlds to enjoy.

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The Impact of Metaverse on the Gaming Industry - Daily Business

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The gaming industry is constantly growing. Nowadays, it has become easier for people to play games on their computers or mobile devices. As a result, playing games is no longer just a pastime but an entire industry with millions of customers. The big business players know it, too.

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LeewayHertz - Software Development Company

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Metaverse is a virtual upliftment of the existing internet technologies. There are various modes with which you can get access to Metaverse like general computers, augmented reality, mixed reality and VR technologies. Facebook is also a social media platform based on metaverse. Similarly, a VR company named Oculus in the year 2014 spoke of its plan to establish a 3-D social platform for the commercial purpose of connecting various services.

The construct of Metaverse is based on common standards of interfaces and communication rules between two different virtual environments. Experts and developers are collaborating to improve and create interoperable and decentralized metaverse platforms. Key components of developing an interoperable metaverse are:

High bandwidth decentralized network

These networks host the metaverse in a decentralized way beyond the control of any single company or authority. They also facilitate the decentralized transmission of data with real-time connections.

Open interoperable media standards

These standards include text, images, audio, video, 3D scenes and sequences, vectors to power 3D applications.

Open programming languages

HTML, WebXR, JavaScript, WebAssembly, WebGPU Shader Language, etc.

XR hardware

This includes smart glasses, Omni treadmills, haptic gloves, industrial cameras and scanning sensors to link with Metaverse.

Computing power

With the computing power, users can support data processing, AI and projection.

Payment gateways

Payment gateways help in digital currency exchanges and regulate crypto and fiat payments.

3D immersive simulations

3D immersive simulations are virtual ecosystems full of real-world immersive experiences.

One of the major sectors using Metaverse is gaming where people can engage in ways they never have before in a competitive game arena. They can have an immersive experience: instead of focusing on a flat screen, they can adapt to the environment around them. Consider a world where you can study, connect, work, earn money, and even attend concerts virtually. Metaverse may make it easier to attend business meetings, online concerts, and play games in the virtual environment, which is an expansion of the external reality.

The Metaverse is intended to captivate users and give them the impression that they are truly in the reality they have entered. Instead of a two-dimensional screen, it helps to take those collaborative possibilities to the next level by immersing users in a three-dimensional environment where they may interact more personally with the elements around them. It is a great technique to generate augmented reality when working with games, play-to-earn gaming with NFTs minting and trading, live game streaming, value exchange with crypto including a deeper connection with the overall world.

With virtual reality gaining major traction from various sectors of the world, Metaverse has a huge scope in the near future. Every tech-savvy person wants to explore the immersive digital universe with augmented reality and virtual reality devices. Metaverse is access to the parallel digital platform with the most realistic effects and sensory feedback. It is a shared platform with an immersive virtual world for the players represented using avatars. Players can interact with each other in real-time and can also create landscapes and game world objects. Let's explore some of the best examples of gaming Metaverse.

Decentraland

Decentraland is a blockchain Metaverse for gaming where players can play to earn. It is a social gaming Metaverse open to all for playing poker, blackjack, roulette and slots. People can play and earn tokens on the Decentraland platform.

Decentral Games and ICE Poker together introduced an open Metaverse gaming for their players. ICE is a mode of free play where players can earn by completing ICE poker daily check-ins, delegating NFT wearables to opposite players for a passive share of revenue, collecting wearables and minting new NFT wearables and trading them on the marketplace.

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is a decentralized gaming Metaverse full of interesting avatars, Axies, that players can own as pets. Players target to battle, breed, gather, raise and create kingdoms for their Axies. The gaming platform has a player-driven economy where players can solely own, buy, sell, and trade the gaming resources they earned during their skilled gameplay.

While Axie is an interesting game, it has the features of a social network along with earning opportunities.
The basic difference between Axie and a traditional game is that Blockchain technology design provides the ability to have player-owned economies and reward players who have reached advanced levels of the game.

The Sandbox

The Sandbox is a virtual ecosystem where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming skills in
the Ethereum blockchain via SAND, the platform's utility token.
Their vision is to offer an interactive and immersive Metaverse in which players can create virtual buildings and in-game objects interoperably and without a centralized authority. Sandbox targets to disrupt the traditional game developers like Minecraft and Roblox by offering creators complete ownership of their creations as non-fungible tokens and rewarding their participants with the utility token SAND.

Wrapping Up

Metaverse has the potential to revolutionize the way individuals connect with technology and people for various purposes like professional jobs, gaming, trading, regulating legal processes, game streaming, video conferencing, etc. Using Metaverse, gamers compete in an immersive environment. They earn by 3D game streaming, minting and trading the gaming NFTs. Metaverse has the ability to strengthen connections and relationships, reintroducing some of the human factors into those two-dimensional virtual interactions for people to work remotely and for the firms investing in remote options for their employees. It's a step forward, and it might surface even before you realize its power to uplift virtual reality.
Connect with our experts for Metaverse-related development services and extensive guidance on virtual reality.

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With Metaverse gaming, people compete in an interactive three-dimensional platform by incorporating focus, sensus and locus via VR tools.

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While initially many were many skeptical about digital assets competing with traditional, cryptocurrencies have become increasingly common. The trend started with a few big names in the cryptocurrency world, but new currencies are being introduced each and every year. However, the sudden appearance and popularity of new currencies have far-reaching consequences, starting with banks and ending with customers like yourself. Understanding where cryptocurrencies came from and how they interact with modern banking is essential if you're looking to keep your money safe and sound in the coming years.

What are Cryptocurrencies?

You've likely heard the term "cryptocurrency" being thrown around now and again, but what does it really mean? Simply put, cryptocurrency is a type of currency that exists entirely online. It does not have an actual physical form, but exists in a blockchain on a server, which stores data regarding transactions in blocks without personal identifying factors. They are not backed by a bank or other traditional lending institutions, and transactions are highly encrypted to keep personal information private, regardless of the transaction being made. Even so, they cannot be used for every purchase online. More often than not, they are bought as a form of investment rather than as a means to secure purchases from online shops.

The world of cryptocurrency made its first big debut with Bitcoin, which is credited as the first successful currency of this type. It was described as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, promising to decentralize and cut out any sort of middle man entirely. As Bitcoin rose in popularity, other cryptocurrencies came into the market as well, giving potential investors access to more options each and every year.

How Did Cryptocurrencies Become Popular?

While safety and security with online transactions was a definite selling point, it was investment possibilities that drew attention from the masses. For those who were unable to take advantage of traditional banking products, easy access to online cryptocurrencies gave another way for this group of people to invest. There are several benefits of investing in cryptocurrency, including:

Avoiding fees

Easy access to a wide range of investment opportunities

Direct control over investments

Because of these benefits, Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies rose from skepticism in 2009 to being a sought-after resource less than a decade later.

What are the Downsides to Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrencies might seem like a beneficial opportunity, but they are not without their drawbacks. Some of the big disadvantages to consider include:

Cybersecurity

Lack of regulation and supervision

Volatile value

Lack of inherent value

Infrastructure stability problems due to fast growth

How Does Cryptocurrency Compare to Traditional Investing?

As cryptocurrency investing gains popularity, more people are apt to choose the option that is more convenient. Therefore, many who might otherwise invest in a more traditional way have turned to cryptocurrencies instead. This means less business for banks and investment firms, which in itself has far-reaching consequences.

However, because the value of cryptocurrencies isn't backed by anything, investments can be highly unpredictable. That's one of the reasons why these currencies cannot take the place of a local bank. While they provide an investment opportunity, they can't offer stability, which is what you need when it comes to your cash. Furthermore, this currency can't secure mortgages, loans, or other services you'll need throughout life. This is why continuing to work with your local bank is important, even if cryptocurrency strikes your interest.

How Does This Affect Banking Customers?

While cryptocurrencies are new and exciting, they simply cannot meet the demands of consumers. Cryptocurrencies cannot be used to secure a mortgage, a car loan, or any of the other financial needs you may have. For these forms of financial support, working with your local bank is imperative.

Keeping your cash in a bank allows you to have easy access to funds whenever you need it, and it won't be tied up in a currency investment that could drop in value at any given time. While it might mean the minor inconvenience of driving to your branch now and again, you'll experience easier access to the services you need, along with better security for your hard-earned cash.

Learn More

In short, while cryptocurrencies are more convenient than traditional banking and investing options, they are simply not as secure as using your local bank. When you use your bank, you can rest assured that your cash will retain its worth and that the practices surrounding how your money is invested are highly regulated by federal law. All in all, if safety and security are what you're looking for, finding a local bank branch is the best route.

Getting caught up in the latest and greatest currencies, financing, and investing opportunities is easy, but making smart decisions about your future takes careful planning. There's no better place to start than by gathering information and working with experienced professionals, who have the know-how and expertise to steer you in the right direction.

Learn more about Blackhawk Bank by contacting us today.
Author: Learn more about Matt.
Read More From Common Cent$

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What is Cryptocurrency and How Does it Benefit Me?

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While initially many were many skeptical about digital assets competing with traditional, cryptocurrencies have become increasingly common. The trend started with a few big names in the cryptocurrency world, but new currencies are being introduced each and every year. However, the sudden appearance and popularity of new currencies have far-reaching consequences, starting with banks and ending with customers like yourself.

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The workplace of the 2020s already looks vastly different from what we could have imagined just a couple of years ago. Now, the metaverse promises to bring new levels of social connectedness, mobility, and collaboration to a world of virtual work.

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Robert Stevens is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, the Associated Press, the New York Times and Decrypt.

The metaverse is often couched in such futuristic terms that it's difficult to understand how you can get involved in it today. But the truth is, metaverse-like worlds have been around for decades and it's possible you will have already experienced some of them without necessarily being aware of it.

What is the metaverse again?

While Mark Zuckerberg's Meta (formerly Facebook) has its own ideas about the metaverse, the cryptocurrency community thinks blockchain technology is a perfect fit for this novel online world. Crypto games like The Sandbox and Decentraland offer early visions of how a creator-led, crypto- and NFT-powered economy could function. So, here's what you can do in the metaverse today.

Build, explore and play in virtual worlds

Games like Minecraft and Roblox have been providing metaverse-like experiences for the better part of a decade; both Second Life and Eve Online have been alive and kicking since 2003, and World of Warcraft sprang to life in 2004.

Second Life is one of the closest metaverse analogs due to its creator-led economy and sprawling sandbox world. You can do anything you like in Second Life, and some people have been documented to spend their lives in the game, living off the virtual land, harvesting the game's in-game currency, Linden dollars, and attending events.

Meet people from anywhere for work or play

There are plenty of hangout spaces in the metaverse. While you can certainly congregate in huge open worlds like The Sandbox and Decentraland, you can also play around with custom-built rooms on platforms like Spatial. These apps are purpose-built for events, conferences and meetings. You can log into Spatial with a Web 2 login like Google, or with a Web 3 login like MetaMask. Spatial's virtual worlds are separated into rooms; you can either visit pre-built rooms or create your own. Spatial's galleries support NFTs. You can move about Spatial's world on mobile, Steam, on a browser or through an Oculus VR headset.

Virtual reality is strong on one of Ball's criteria for the metaverse: presence. Strap on a VR headset, like an HTC Vive, Valve Index or Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest, and launch yourself into cyberspace. Meta (formerly Facebook) is building a social hub for its VR headsets, and Steam's VR software comes preinstalled with a virtual home. Games like VR Chat pre-dated crypto, and allow you to enter rooms full of other people wearing VR headsets, dressed in whatever avatar they like.

Companies like MetaHub are creating virtual hangout spaces for conferences and business events, and Decentraland hosted its first music festival in 2021 - although artists were doing that in Second Life long before it was cool. Hanging out is where the boundaries of the metaverse can start to blur and the marketing spiel begins to unravel.

Is Zoom a fundamental part of the metaverse because of its track record of connecting workplaces and sparking a work-from-home revolution? Or is it, as Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in his Meta keynote, an unconvincing alternative to reality that replaces in-person interaction with rows of faces on screens?

Create a 3D avatar that looks like you ... or not

In Somnium Space, an Ethereum-based virtual reality open world similar to Decentraland, you can import a Ready Player Me avatar created from nothing more than a selfie. Following Ball's framework, this fulfils the criteria of interoperability - the ability to take your digital assets with you no matter which platform or app you are using.

Invest in virtual land, NFTs or tokens

Of course, if you're not actually interested in parting with reality just yet, you could always invest in the buzzy virtual worlds instead. There are many ways of going about this. You could invest in NFT avatar drops, like those offered by Nike or Adidas. You could speculate on virtual land or in-game items, like those offered on Axie Infinity, Decentraland and The Sandbox.

You could also invest in the fungible tokens offered by those games, which function as in-game currency. If you're not sure in which token to invest, you could always invest in a metaverse index fund, such as the Metaverse Index (MVI) offered by Index Coop. The MVI rebalances its portfolio in accordance with the largest metaverse coins of the day.

If crypto isn't your thing, you could invest in the equity of virtual reality and metaverse companies. Meta is one company betting big on the future of virtual and augmented reality - an analyst on Seeking Alpha estimates that the company will have spent $70 billion on the concept between 2014 and 2023. Virtual reality and metaverse stocks, as well as private investments, are also on the table.

This article was originally published on Feb 7, 2022 at 10:44 p.m. UTC

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The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.

Robert Stevens is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, the Associated Press, the New York Times and Decrypt.

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What Can You Actually Do in the Metaverse in 2022?

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Robert Stevens is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, the Associated Press, the New York Times and Decrypt. The metaverse is often couched in such futuristic terms that it's difficult to understand how you can get involved in it today.

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It was that time When Metaverse was not even a popular concept; Facebook changed its name to Meta. This announcement created confusion for people all around the globe who were not very sound in the technical world.

Metaverse is not only changing just social media platforms but almost every other industry including the healthcare industry. Along with the Metaverse technology, the healthcare industry also utilizes various technologies such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, machine learning, Artificial intelligence and many more to enhance their services.

Importance of Metaverse In Medical Education

Current medical education gives restricted access to resources to practice the surgeries, part of the way since strategies on dead bodies are exorbitant for clinics, which likewise consider a medical student's educational expenses. In any case, with the utilization of Virtual Reality in clinical preparation, medical students can train in a reenacted climate with the end goal of immersive surgical training at an essentially lower cost.

Besides, the analysis of a virtual subject instead of a genuine body is practical and empowers students to turn out exclusively for their training purposes. The Virtual Reality-based corpse training sessions can meaningfully affect careful learners' specialized abilities, for example, accuracy and critical thinking abilities.

In the metaverse, the technology will likewise be used in complex surgeries, as medical specialists generally search for better techniques to take care of business with a higher achievement rate.

The dataset gathered through a patient's digital twin likewise permits medical specialists to anticipate a patient's recovery time, any potential complexities, and the necessary medicines for these treatments as a prudent step.

Besides, robot-assisted operations are ordinary now for undertaking complex methodology with exactness and adaptability. Virtual Reality is moderately new as a preparation and practice instrument for surgeries.

During the pandemic, the requirement for such a showing model became vital as clinical universities and nursing schools needed to end disconnected classes, causing enormous pain to all medical students. For sure, the metaverse can determine a significant number of these troubles looked at by the medical industry's education sector.

Step Into The Meta-Hospitals

Since the pandemic, the online medical conference has seen an uncommon flood since distant counsel is undeniably more advantageous for sicknesses and diseases requiring just visual assessment. Furthermore, as it's unimaginably trying for a few old patients to visit health specialists, the online consultations interview pattern will probably proceed even after the pandemic.

This requirement for remote monitoring and the continuous undertakings to involve Virtual Reality in the clinical business make it profoundly conceivable for these virtual discussions to move from video calling applications to the more vivid and advanced world of the metaverse.

Rather than depending on local online consultation benefits, the overall organization of medical specialists in the metaverse can overcome any issues among patients and clinical carers by offering quality clinical services or assistance that may not be open locally.

It might sound odd for grown-ups to select a platform with a digital avatar in a make-conviction world containing everything virtual. However, the ramifications of the metaverse are with the end goal that it vows to upset clinical processes.

For example, it can impart a patient's whole clinical history to their primary care physician, every last bit of it ordered and classified for reference in a manner that would save both the healthcare specialist's and the patient's time. In the meantime, the VR experience of the metaverse can likewise permit specialists to have a more definite gander at a patient's radiology reports through high-resolution 3D modeling.

In addition, the propelling innovation and versatile medical care contraptions, for example, an oximeter, pulse screen, and circulatory strain screen that can adjust with the web consider information assortment right from your home. As the eventual fate of medical services is data-driven, a patient's information can hugely work on the conclusion and therapy of their medical problems.

Assuming we discuss how the metaverse can impact the manner in which operation theaters work, its suggestions are extensive. For example, health specialists can lead live surgeries for preparing or contact experts for help in the instance of a crisis, with completely coordinated checking of fundamental signs and intrusive strategies.

In addition, it's generally expected to see small kids displeased with weariness or apprehension about facilities and medical clinics. All things considered, the metaverse can give a more lively encounter while visiting a healthcare specialist, which could assist with eliminating their concerns. Simultaneously, it could likewise make it simpler to teach youngsters the significance of cleanliness and smart dieting in a fun and intelligent way.

Use Of Virtual Reality For Patient Therapy

The metaverse can possibly furnish healthcare specialists with new restorative medicines. Today, healthcare specialists can treat individuals with acrophobia or glossophobia by slowly and more than once setting them in testing yet safe circumstances that assist them with preparing their psyches against these fears.

The utilization of Virtual Reality for the treatment of mental problems, for example, OCD and social nervousness has likewise turned into a well-known peculiarity.

The metaverse will likewise give a place of refuge to individuals who need direction through virtual care groups. Unfortunately, the problem with the ongoing care groups is an absence of communication between individuals.

Facebook communities and support groups habitually see individuals coming to pose an inquiry and afterwards stay idle. In any case, in the metaverse, these platforms can be more intelligent and engaging with voice support, community games, and so forth.

These psychological factors have demonstrated power in pain management, as healthcare specialists have seen that VR technology substitutes for narcotic use during twisted changing of consuming casualties.

Likewise, youngsters who went through a blood test drenched in a VR-improved mediation felt essentially less agony contrasted with kids who were diverted by customary techniques. While the act of variety and sound treatment goes back millennia, applying that to the VR experience for relieving a patient's psyche is an exceptionally ongoing practice that has borne productive outcomes.

Consequently, the medical services industry is probably going to connect with patients in the metaverse for more successful pain management.

Conclusion

Regardless of the security and privacy concerns revolving around the possibility of the metaverse, the healthcare specialists are good to go to use innovative headways for work on quiet consideration.

That is on the grounds that Web 3.0, which is the establishment for the metaverse, depends on blockchain technology and will include decentralized applications that help a decentralized crypto economy.

Besides, the VR medical care industry was valued at $1206.6 million in the year 2021 and is estimated to reach $11,657.8 million by 2028, making it obvious that a VR-based metaverse will play a vital part in reforming the medical care industry with additional mechanical headways. Considering that the Internet of Things is picking up speed, seeing more exposure in healthcare.

FAQs

Q. How are AR and VR used in healthcare?

Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) are not only empty buzzwords in medicine but also valid solutions in education, vein or surgical visualization, relaxing patients, curing PTSD, speeding up recovery in physical therapy - or even supporting medical presentations.

Q. How does technology help in healthcare?

Health information technology presents numerous opportunities for improving and transforming healthcare which include; reducing human errors, improving clinical outcomes, facilitating care coordination, improving practice efficiencies, and tracking data over time.

Q. What does the metaverse hold for healthcare?

The Metaverse provides a space where it is possible to 3D-model virtually anything, and real-world specifications can be replicated via digital twin technology. The use of AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) will change medical education and training as well as processes and procedures.

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Importance of Metaverse and Virtual Reality In the Healthcare Industry | HData Systems

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It was that time When Metaverse was not even a popular concept; Facebook changed its name to Meta. This announcement created confusion for people all around the globe who were not very sound in the technical world. Metaverse is not only changing just social media platforms but almost every other industry including the healthcare industry.

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The key technologies that power the Metaverse

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Multiple metaverses use various technologies to build immersive worlds. Read about the key technologies that power the Metaverse.

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Perhaps the biggest buzzword in global tech, business, and finance, the 'metaverse' has recently garnered considerable worldwide attention from everyone: business leaders and CEOs right through to your grandmother.

Facebook's rebranding of itself into Meta marked a significant shift in the Silicon Valley powerhouse's focus for the future - and other major tech players and businesses are following suit.

With Microsoft, Google, and Apple also investing massive amounts into the metaverse, it is no wonder that the metaverse is touted to be an $80 billion market by 2024. This will no doubt be further bolstered by the recent news that Qualcomm has announced the launch of a $100 million fund aimed at virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to jumpstart the metaverse. Furthermore, Gartner predicts that 25% of people with spend time in the metaverse for entertainment, shopping, work, social media and education by 2026.

But what is the metaverse exactly and what does it mean for our future society?

What is the metaverse?

It is easier to think of the metaverse in terms of how we described the internet during its infancy in the 70s and 80s. A new way of interconnected information and communication was being created slowly and nobody quote knew exactly what it would look like or how it would work. But here we are today, a digitally savvy interconnected global society benefitting from the internet that is reshaping our world every day.

The same is for the metaverse: it is certainly the 'next internet' but at this stage, nobody is fully aware of what it will look like when fully embraced by society. But we have a window into its early stages of development and this is what we know so far:

The metaverse is marking a broad shift in how we interact with technology. Like a 3D internet or cyberspace, it is a shared virtual space where physical and digital virtual realities converge. It is made possible by technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), head-mounted displays (HMDs), the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), spacial technologies, and 5G. However, it is device-independent, meaning that it exists constantly whether you are in the metaverse or not.

There is no single one metaverse

The metaverse is not owned by a single vendor, and uses a virtual digital currency and non-fungible token-enabled economy.

Currently, the metaverse refers to an open digitally-enhanced virtual space where users can work, play, and socialise through a personalised avatar. Think of it like a video game where instead of quests, users live their virtual lives as they usually do online but through an increasingly more immersive experience.

It is easier to refer to the metaverse as we do with the Internet. It is a type of virtual space (verse/universe) that will welcome users much like social media platforms have done in Web 2: creating an online profile and interacting with other profiles, etc. but this time it is in immersive 3D environments. As such, there will be multiple metaverses available for users to interact within. It is important to be aware that the term 'metaverse' refers to a virtual open space itself.

Popular metaverse platforms

Currently, there is an important distinction between metaverses: centralised and decentralised. This just means that centralised metaverses are owned and operated by a business, which implies that all data and assets users own are also controlled by this entity. Decentralised means that there is no single owner, and users interact with it through a public blockchain wallet.
Web3 decentralised metaverses
One of the most popular metaverses currently, The Sandbox is an Ethereum-based gaming metaverse where users can create, sell, use, and monetise their own virtual reality NFTs. Visually, it is very much inspired by the widely known video game, Minecraft. It uses its native crypto token, SAND, to power the in-game economy.

The Sandbox has become popular with a slew of celebrities and companies purchasing virtual land to build experiences or just own digital real estate. Recently, HSBC purchased NFT land in The Sandbox metaverse, joining other high profile signings including Warner Music, Snoop Dogg, Adidas and Ubisoft games.

Another popular metaverse running off the Ethereum blockchain, Decentraland allows users to buy and sell digital real estate while also playing games and interacting with other users in its virtual world. The metaverse platform allows for interactive apps and in-world payments using two different tokens for different purposes. LAND NFTs are used to facilitate the buying, selling, and proof of ownership of digital land, and MANA is the in-world cryptocurrency used to underpin the purchase of LAND and other virtual goods and services in Decentraland.

Cryptovoxels is another Ethereum-based virtual world that allows users to purchase items and land parcels using the Ethereum cryptocurrency. The metaverse is built to resemble the real world with streets and building infrastructure which users are able to purchase and build anything they like within. Users can even rent their land parcels out to other users, add or remove blocks, and embed audio, video, and images on their land parcel.

Somnium Space allows users to create fully independent, customisable and programmable VR experiences within its connected world. The Ethereum-based metaverse has an NFT marketplace where users can buy, sell and trade game-based assets. By integrating blockchain technology, users can monetise their VR experiences to create a world in their own image.
Centralised metaverses
Meta's (previously Facebook) Horizon Worlds is a social VR application that allows users to create and explore virtual worlds in an interactive manner. Users engage with both content consumption and creation. The virtual world has ready-to-use VR building components, animation effects and sounds to help users create: over 10,000 worlds have already been created by over 300,000 users to date. It also allows users to play games with each other and interact.

Roblox is an online platform and storefront where users are able to select and play online games made by other users. So, the fun of Roblox is that you can enjoy playing games made by other creators or you can take a turn at creating your own. The platform boasts over 200 million user-generated online games. And brands are getting in on this: Nike has created Nikeland, a virtual space based on Nike's real-world headquarters for users to connect, create and share experiences through the use of Nike's game creation tools on the Roblox platform.

What is all the hype about?

Well, the impact that the 'new internet' will have on society (judging from the original) is going to understandably be a game-changer for how we live our lives. The internet was first script/text-based, then visual media (images and videos) was incorporated and now, VR and AR will take it to a level of immersion previously dreamed about by futurists.

The evolution of the web.

No doubt, technology companies are generating much of the metaverse hype because they have a vested interest as they will create technologies to augment and enhance our physical and digital reality. But hype aside, the possibilities are seemingly endless thanks to the convergence of these technologies that have radically improved in recent years.

According to Gartner, activities previously siloed into separate environments will soon occur in the metaverse, including:

Purchasing outfits and accessories for online avatars

Buying digital land and constructing virtual homes

Participating in a virtual social experience

Shopping in virtual malls via immersive commerce

Using virtual classrooms to experience immersive learning

Buying digital art, collectables and assets (NFTs)

Interacting with digital humans for onboarding employees, customer service, sales and other business interactions

The hope is that the metaverse will provide collaborative, consistent, decentralised and interoperable business opportunities and models that will allow companies to drive digital business.

Industries currently benefitting from the metaverse

Gaming

Currently, video games are perhaps the best example of what the metaverse looks like in operation. Games like Fortnite and Minecraft are open-world virtual environments that users experience through a customisable avatar where they are able to interact with other players in real-time and even purchase items like weapons and clothing using the Fortnite currency (obtained by using real money).

The important difference, however, is that in the metaverse users will actually own their items as an NFT and will be able to use them across other metaverses as long as they run on the same blockchain. In this sense, these games are precisely what the metaverse is: an entire online community operating in a shared virtual space/verse interacting, socialising, and buying/selling virtual items.

But there is some confusion around the interoperability of NFTs across metaverses. There are bold claims that all NFTs can work across other metaverses but this currently isn't the case. Some NFTs can already interoperate across platforms, like images, but when it comes to 3D assets, things get complex. A lot of development goes into 3D assets and some game developers use different elements, meaning that currently, it is very difficult for complex digital assets to interoperate across metaverses. Also, there are IP implications around these assets which cause issues with interoperability.

Retail and fashion

VR and AR are already transforming the way we shop for items online. These technologies create a unique and immersive digital shopping experience where shoppers can virtually try on items and browse catalogues in a virtual space.

The metaverse will enable the retail and fashion industry to take the digital shopping experience to the next level to create immersive interaction where users can virtually walk through shopping malls and clothing stores from the comfort of their own homes.

For example, the Metaverse Fashion Week recently took place in Decentraland, where major fashion brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabanna, and Cavalli (to name a few) showcased their Spring 2022 collections. Items were available for purchase as NFT assets which owners could redeem as physical products delivered to their homes.

Education

VR, AR, head-mounted displays (HMDs), the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), spacial technologies, and 5G are allowing for more immersive and interactive learning experiences without the need for infrastructure. The metaverse will allow learners from all corners of the globe to access educational content, thus eliminating hindrances derived from geography, social, cultural, and economic elements.

VR technology has already greatly assisted the teaching of hard skills and job simulations (like flight simulators for pilots), taking these skills to the next level far quicker and at a fraction of the cost. But VR is now also helping to teach soft skills like leadership and resilience during a time of remote learning where businesses are still required to upskill their employees.

Universities across the world are leveraging VR technology to provide remote access to higher education while still providing an immersive learning experience through virtual campuses. The University of South Korea recently held a virtual student entrance ceremony within Minecraft. The sandbox game has an Education Edition which allows teachers and students to interact through the game.

Hospitality

Global hotel chain Hilton has recently turned to VR technology to enhance employee learning and development through interactive and immersive virtual environments. Using the Oculus for Business platform, Hilton team members (from management through to front-line staff) aim to develop hospitality skills in a virtual environment that simulates real-world scenarios to improve services.

What the metaverse future might look like

According to Brian Trunzo, Metaverse Lead at Polygon Studios (creators of NFTs, games, and various metaverse projects for the Ethereum sidechain), "...anything that can become an NFT will become an NFT".

This means that retailers will jump on the metaverse NFT bandwagon and begin developing catalogues of NFTs that will exist solely inside the metaverse. This will lead to more branding and marketing opportunities where pervasive NFTs will be marketed to metaverse users.

The future of finance will likely change with the metaverse creating user-generated financial ecosystems that are decentralised. This will lead to interesting opportunities for new ways to redeem virtual to physical finances that will be leveraged by improvements to AR/VR that will change the way finance operates in both the virtual and physical worlds.

The future of the metaverse is inextricably linked to the future of our modern society. We will no doubt see businesses and brands try to leverage the metaverse to impact both the physical and digital world. The convergence of today's technologies making the metaverse possible will continue to evolve, and so will the promise of the metaverse.

Let's team up

Are you looking to venture into the business of the metaverse? Our Web3 Venture and Innovation Studio Braveye can help you make your mark in the virtual future.

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Understanding the metaverse: what is it and how will it shape our future? - WeAreBrain Blog

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Perhaps the biggest buzzword in global tech, business, and finance, the 'metaverse' has recently garnered considerable worldwide attention from everyone: business leaders and CEOs right through to your grandmother. Facebook's rebranding of itself into Meta marked a significant shift in the Silicon Valley powerhouse's focus for the future - and other major tech players and businesses are following suit.

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Talk of the metaverse has been ubiquitous over the past several months. In 2021, internet searches for the term increased by 7,200 percent. In December, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared his ambition to "help bring the metaverse to life." A month later, Microsoft said that its proposed acquisition of gaming giant Activision provided "building blocks for the metaverse."

It's not just talk; private capital is also rapidly pouring in. In 2021, metaverse-related companies reportedly raised upward of $10 billion, more than twice as much as they did in the previous year. In the past 12 months, one company alone-Epic Games, maker of Fortnite-has not only raised $3 billion to fund its long-term vision for the metaverse but also announced a partnership with LEGO to build a metaverse for kids. The global value creation opportunity from the metaverse could be in the trillions.

What, exactly, is the metaverse? Right now, the interested parties cannot agree on any one definition. But most descriptions-including this particularly insightful take from venture capitalist Matthew Ball, who recently shared his thoughts on the promise of the metaverse with McKinsey -have some elements in common:

The metaverse encompasses immersive environments, often (but not always) using virtual- or augmented-reality technology.

The metaverse is "always on" and exists in real time.

The metaverse spans the virtual and physical worlds, as well as multiple platforms.

The metaverse is powered by a fully functioning virtual economy, often (but not always) built on cryptocurrency and digital goods and assets, including nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

The metaverse enables people to have virtual identities, presence, and "agency," including peer-to-peer interactions, transactions, user-generated content, and "world-building."

We believe that the metaverse is best characterized as an evolution of today's internet-it is something we are immersed in instead of something we look at. It may realize the promise of vast digital worlds to parallel our physical one. For marketers, the metaverse represents an opportunity to engage consumers in entirely new ways while pushing internal capabilities and brand innovation in new directions.

Now is the right time to adopt a test-and-learn mindset, to be open to experiments in the metaverse, and to move on quickly from failure and capitalize on success.

We do continue to see a healthy amount of skepticism about the metaverse, and companies may wish to exercise caution, since the promise may take some time catching up to the hype. But we believe we're at the cusp of a fundamental shift in how people use the internet. (See sidebar, "Six reasons the metaverse is here to stay.") Marketers would be remiss if they didn't start exploring what the metaverse can offer. Now is the right time to adopt a test-and-learn mindset, to be open to experiments, and to move on quickly from failure and capitalize on success.

Rewriting the rules of marketing for the metaverse

We may still be in the first wave of consumer engagement with the metaverse, but lessons are already emerging from companies that found early success. In some ways, the critical elements of marketing in the metaverse resemble those of designing authentic and compelling brand experiences in the physical world. But the application of these elements in the metaverse can be very different. Much as approaches for driving value online continue to evolve, the effective engagement of consumers in the metaverse will require its own evolving recipe for success.

Here's what this landscape looks like today and how organizations can think about their metaverse marketing strategies for the future.

Define your metaverse marketing goals. Why do you want to be part of the metaverse? If your brand's consumers are there, do you want to increase awareness among new audiences, position your brand and generate favorable sentiment, or promote loyalty? Is your goal to spark innovation in your marketing team? For the near term, the primary goal of brands shouldn't be driving sales directly, since sales of virtual items are still far smaller than sales of physical ones. What's more, today's metaverse audiences, especially on online entertainment platforms like Roblox, often skew younger, which brings both opportunities and risks.

Identify the platforms that provide the best opportunity and brand fit. Right now, Roblox, Fortnite, Decentraland, Minecraft, and Meta's Horizon Worlds are just a few of the metaverse games and platforms out there. Some will be better than others for specific purposes. There is ample opportunity to experiment with multiple platforms to see what works. For example, the luxury brand Gucci has conducted multiple brand activations to figure out where and how to connect with Gen Z. Last year, it drew 19.9 million visitors in two weeks when it launched a metaverse version of its real-world Gucci Garden on Roblox. Gucci has also partnered with the fashion-focused metaverse Zepeto, announced plans to launch a virtual world on the blockchain-based platform The Sandbox, and created assets for games including The Sims, Pokémon GO, and Animal Crossing.

Design experiences appealing to target audiences. Consumers tend to see brands in the metaverse as innovative, so the bar for delivering innovative experiences is high. Companies need to determine the ideal balance between native advertising, immersive experiences (including games, virtual stores, events, and sponsorships), and real-world activations to complement the metaverse. Take, for example, what the skateboarding retailer Vans did last fall when it launched the interactive skatepark "Vans World" on Roblox. To build brand awareness and appeal to the company's core demographic, Vans enabled visitors to virtually explore skate sites with friends. Visitors can also earn points through gameplay to spend on virtual sneakers and apparel items, as well as to build customized skateboards in a virtual skate shop. This has successfully engaged both existing and new fans-and has seen more than 48 million visitors so far.

Consumers tend to see brands in the metaverse as innovative, so the bar for delivering innovative experiences is high.

Experiment with money-making models. Direct sales may not be front and center on the metaverse right now, but that doesn't mean brands shouldn't be thinking ahead and planning to capture the future potential. Direct-to-avatar sales of virtual goods are already a $54 billion market, and some forward-thinking brands are testing different opportunities to generate revenues. Forever 21, for example, sells a beanie in Roblox for under a dollar. On the other end of the scale, Gucci sold a digital version of its Dionysus bag last year for $4,115-more than the price of the physical item itself. Nike is trying out unique NFTs with its recent release of Nike Cryptokicks (a virtual model of its Nike Dunk sneakers), designed by the creative studio RTFKT, which Nike acquired in December.

Just as online-to-offline sales conversions are the norm today, we can expect to see more metaverse-to-offline opportunities in the future, too. In April, Chipotle claimed it was the first brand to enable Roblox players to exchange digital currency for real-life rewards when it offered vouchers for burritos to the first 30,000 visitors to its metaverse restaurant.

Create, leverage, and partner for new metaverse capabilities. For the metaverse, as for any new venture, brands should assess the skills they will need, identify which they already have and which they must acquire, and appoint someone to lead the development and execution of a coherent strategy to capture value. Brands should also aim to work with and learn from others, including the independent developer and creator communities that are active on the platforms already.

Roblox, for example, has hundreds of thousands in its developer community who are actively developing a range of experiences and learning how to make money from them. Last November, NASCAR partnered with Badimo, the developers of the popular Roblox game Jailbreak, to add a branded vehicle to the game for a ten-day event. During that time, gamers visited Jailbreak 24 million times-a 30 percent increase in the number of concurrent players. Creative, branding, and marketing agencies are also rapidly launching new service models and metaverse capabilities, including their own virtual studios.

Furthermore, celebrities and influencers are increasingly attaching their names to metaverse initiatives. In some cases, they're deeply involved with the actual creation of new immersive media for the metaverse. Last year, for example, the rapper Snoop Dogg built his own "Snoopverse" in The Sandbox. A few months later, he released the first music video that takes place entirely within the metaverse. " The House I Built," like previous Snoop Dogg videos, features dancing, hanging out by the poolside, and driving nice cars. But this time, it's his digital double enjoying the lifestyle.

Proactively plan for risks to the brand. There are many cautionary examples of brands that exposed themselves to risk by engaging directly with consumers online without having prepared for the rapid feedback loops of the internet or the potential virality of social media. In the metaverse, the risks can be even higher, since these events are live in real-time and more immersive. Brands would do well to establish basic rules of engagement-detailed policies and enforcement practices they can follow later-for customer experience, intellectual-property management, user safety, data privacy, and misinformation, for example. Already, in some cases things have not gone according to plan. One global electronics brand launched a new line of products with great fanfare on its metaverse venue, but disappointed fans had trouble gaining access and had to virtually "queue" outside the venue.

Rethink how you measure marketing success. Measuring the returns on marketing spend is always critical, but the appropriate metrics for the metaverse may not be what you expect. Digital marketing typically focuses on metrics such as the number of visitors, conversions, "likes," and shares, as well as the cost of acquiring customers. With the metaverse, marketers may need to define new engagement metrics accounting for the unique behavioral economics at play (such as the "scarcity" of NFTs, which are supposed to be unique). For example, the online food delivery company Deliveroo deployed virtual drivers to make virtual deliveries in Nintendo's popular Animal Crossing game, including promo codes to activate in real life. Within the first hours of play, it racked up three million in-game interactions with players.

With the metaverse, marketers may need to define new engagement metrics accounting for the unique behavioral economics at play.

Tread carefully but firmly

Clearly, the metaverse already gives companies ample opportunities for brand building and marketing. The current technological limits and modest level of mainstream adoption are not likely to be major obstacles for experimenting, learning, and finding success with marketing in the metaverse.

A few questions will shape its longer-term evolution. Marketers should be aware of these as they shift their focus and marketing budgets to the metaverse:

How will interoperability, or the ability to transfer digital avatars and assets across multiple worlds, work in the metaverse? What implications does that have for brands offering digital assets, such as virtual clothing, today?

How will the social contract and legal framework for the metaverse evolve? How will user safety be ensured, particularly for youth? Sensitivities around marketing to minors have always existed, but as generational shifts occur, they come into sharper focus in the metaverse. What additional responsibilities should brands take on for child safety?

How will first-party consumer data be stored, managed, and protected? How will data privacy laws apply to the metaverse in the future? And how can brands secure consent and source data to enhance their own consumer insights, especially in a world without cookies?

No matter how the metaverse evolves, levels of innovation and consumer adoption will probably accelerate. When you consider how quickly platforms are evolving and the new use cases emerging, it's clear that brands will have incentives to go on testing and learning. It will also be imperative for marketers to secure the talent required to keep up with rapid new developments in areas such as augmented and virtual reality, consumer journey analytics, and social commerce.

Finally, the metaverse has great future potential beyond marketing. To create value throughout the enterprise, companies must take the time to think through the potential strategic implications of the metaverse for sales, operations, production, R&D, and HR. Organizations and brands that plan and execute now will benefit most from the future of the metaverse.

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Marketing in the metaverse: An opportunity for innovation and experimentation

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Talk of the metaverse has been ubiquitous over the past several months. In 2021, internet searches for the term increased by 7,200 percent. In December, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared his ambition to "help bring the metaverse to life."

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Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi has always attracted big crowds. This January, when he had his debut concert in the metaverse, 20 million people logged in at once, crashing the servers. The event was held on PartyNite, one of India's first metaverse spaces. With this, Mehndi became the first Indian artiste to join the likes of Travis Scott, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, who have all had concerts in the metaverse.

In May, media and entertainment (M&E) major Zee inaugurated its Technology and Innovation Centre in Bengaluru, which brings together the relevant skills and resources to help it enter the Web 3.0 universe. Called 'Zeeverse', it is expected to be launched early next year. "Our metaverse will not only facilitate a new way of consuming and engaging with content, but also create new interactive social and commercial experiences within. It will combine the physical and digital experiences for our audiences," says Nitin Mittal, President of Technology and Data at Zee Entertainment Enterprises. In June, telecom major Airtel launched a metaverse multiplex-a 20-screen platform where it plans to offer content from leading OTT partners.

It's not just media and telecom companies that are flocking to the metaverse. GSK Consumer Healthcare's antacid brand ENO, for instance, has created India's first-ever stand-up comedy event there to celebrate 50 years of its presence in India.

For the entertainment industry specifically, the metaverse provides a unique opportunity to imagine new forms of collaborative content. "India's M&E industry will be worth Rs 4.3 lakh crore by 2026, according to a report by global consulting firm PwC. The metaverse could soon become a stunningly virtual real world, with individuals accessing new immersive experiences," says Ranga Jagannath, Senior Director of Growth at Agora, a real-time engagement platform based in Santa Clara, California.

From gaming to music and movies, there are already several instances where the metaverse has been leveraged by the M&E sector. Sreeram Ananthasayanam, Partner at Deloitte India, explains the primary reason behind this adoption. "Almost 27 per cent of the global population is born after 1997. Known as GenZ, this cohort is largely digital native. With an average online time of 8-9 hours per day, it is estimated that they will constitute 40 per cent of the workforce by 2030 and about 8 per cent of their disposable income would be spent online, wherein experience would be a key differentiator in customer engagement," he says, adding that their digital proficiency "dictates that the entertainment industry leverage innovative channels to effectively reach out to them, and technologies like the metaverse fit the bill".

However, creating a metaverse experience isn't easy and requires advanced technologies and investments. For instance, PartyNite took two and a half years in the making. "A lot is going on under the hood which enables the platform today, such as blockchain, communication layer, AI-based avatar creation system, AI-based animations and many more," explains Rajat Ojha, its CEO and Founder. Echoes Ashish Pherwani, EY India Media & Entertainment Leader, "Creating an immersive metaverse virtual experience is a complex process as it is a convergence of six technology layers. These layers are AI and spatial computing, IoT and haptics, cloud platform, blockchain and cryptocurrency, extended reality and wearables, and high-speed network infrastructure."

Yahoo Creative Studios, the branded content studio at Verizon Media, produced an immersive set for singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt, turning her into an avatar. Using motion capture technology, it brought her performance to life in the metaverse. "We have state-of-the-art studios... [that] are equipped with smart stages and volumetric capture capabilities, enabling us to deliver first-in-class virtual production and immersive experiences for the metaverse," says Zoe Cocker, Head of Brand and Yahoo Creative Studios, ANZ. Along with the technology, the metaverse also requires high-bandwidth connectivity to deliver a seamless experience.

Metaverse as a technology is still in its infancy; yet it has witnessed keen interest across the entertainment industry in India. The industry is carefully analysing the shift as many of the investments into the space are stuck because of a lack of clarity on the regulatory framework. Industry players say that the government often comments on these new-age technologies, which creates anxiety among Web 3.0 players. "Whether it's NFT or metaverse, it creates anxiety because the government is still not taking a firm stand," says Kamal Gianchandani, CEO of PVR Pictures and Chief of Strategy of PVR Ltd. Because of this uncertainty, the ecosystem hasn't fully evolved, he adds. Another big constraint, he explains, is that the monetisation piece is not very clear. "Our business is pay-per-view. We're not like a streaming platform, which will take a subscription fee and then offer you all the content. Hence, it is important that we should have the ability to charge consumers for every visit, for every view. [The metaverse] has not evolved to that extent where you are in a position to do that."

Plus, to experience the full potential of the metaverse, one has to wear virtual reality (VR) headsets like the Quest from Meta, which are priced on the higher side. That's a reason why Indian companies are working towards bringing metaverse experiences on web browsers and even smartphones.

"A true metaverse is immersive and three-dimensional. But this requires specialised hardware, which may not be accessible to all our consumers just yet. So we are creating our metaverse to be experienced in two dimensions as well," says Zee's Mittal.

Industry leaders are also worried about the security of the content. But even with so much to worry about and seek clarity on, the entertainment industry is attracted to the metaverse in just the same way a kid is charmed by a shiny new toy.

@nidhisingal

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How the Metaverse Will Drive Innovation in Entertainment

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Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi has always attracted big crowds. This January, when he had his debut concert in the metaverse, 20 million people logged in at once, crashing the servers. The event was held on PartyNite, one of India's first metaverse spaces.

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Did you miss a session from MetaBeat 2022? Head over to the on-demand library for all of our featured sessions

Here's a hot take: The metaverse is not what Mark Zuckerberg says it is. It's not a place or alternate reality we will all migrate into. It's not a game. It's not a land grab (although that is happening). And it's not just a massive branding opportunity (although there are lots of opportunities for brands to thrive).

The truth is, the metaverse is a decentralized system that has a lot in common with peer-to-peer services like Napster, Skype, and BitTorrent. Oh, and Facebook and Meta do not.

Wait, what?

Decentralized peer-to-peer networks are where all the technologists gather and create the architecture that fuels innovation. And that's true for the metaverse as well.

I'll give you two examples that are relevant for understanding the metaverse (full disclosure, I had the pleasure of working with both companies earlier in my career).

Founded in 2003, Skype was part of a wave of technologies (including BitTorrent, Kazaa, and Napster) that connected individual computers in an automated, trustful way. These networks were optimized for bandwidth and reduced the bottlenecks for tapping into popular content. Why was Skype able to rise above the competition as a key player in the market? Peer-to-peer technology. It created a network of nodes that enabled an always-on hyper-efficient community and a connected network. This meant it wasn't tied to the limitations of any telecom carrier.

Of course, when Skype moved to the Azure platform, the core technology changed. But when it first arrived, Skype was revolutionary and unlocked an incredible burst of innovation that continues to make our lives better today.

Or take Spotify. Like Skype, it used peer-to-peer technology to store and distribute content. Decentralization let the service acquire millions of users and deliver great audio, and the service eventually became ubiquitous. The fingerprints of world-changing peer-to-peer decentralized innovation and disruption are all over the internet.

And that brings us back to the metaverse

The real promise of the metaverse is new data-rich experiences and services that are faster, better, and cheaper, whether that's in finance, virtual socialization, business meetings, healthcare, or anything else we can imagine. The metaverse will encompass all these use cases, and they will all be decentralized. In fact, decentralization is not just a feature of an open metaverse, it's a core tenet that will avoid bottlenecks and enable interoperability that traverses wall gardens.

For the last 20 years, we've seen peer-to-peer or decentralized technologies start off as marginalized technology built for geeks by geeks, whether that be file sharing, peer-to-peer music or crypto mining. But these technologies need to be seen through the context of time and how they've improved the user experience, whether that's enabling free calls and video or enabling instant-on music services like Spotify.

The next generation of peer-to-peer services will enable even greater participation of users who, in a decentralized metaverse, can work directly with each other and trust the network for things like money transfer and social media rather than relying on a centralized operator or service. We're looking at you, Meta and Facebook.

Napster was a decentralized network with a central index. And that's what Facebook is trying to build. Napster was at the center of the network and it failed. Whereas BitTorrent, a truly decentralized network, is a self-managing and self-governing technology that powers a rich ecosystem that has endured.

History shows that open networks win

The architecture of the metaverse will be more like that of BitTorrent - or better yet, blockchain.Blockchain is decentralized and truly distributed. We don't even know who created the ledger. There is no central index. And blockchain has already unlocked an explosion of innovation that will only grow in the years to come.

You may be tempted to roll your eyes at blockchain or crypto or NFTs, but don't think of those as fully formed products yet. They're prototypes of the operating system for how we're going to move forward.

And just in case you think the peer-to-peer decentralized connection is still a stretch, consider who invested in the original technologies and who's investing in the same space today: Tim Draper. He was a big backer of peer-to-peer technology in companies like Skype, and he also believes that blockchain and bitcoin solutions are better, faster, cheaper than fiat currencies. Same guy, different year, natural evolution.

We wouldn't have free video calling if we didn't have peer-to-peer. We wouldn't have instant music anywhere in the world without peer-to-peer. And we wouldn't have cryptocurrencies without peer-to-peer. Even the Internet wouldn't exist without it! All these technologies that we now take for granted have their genesis in decentralization.

And the metaverse is just the next step on that journey.
Faisal Galaria is the CEO of , a technology company specializing in AR. He is also a former executive at Skype and Spotify.
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The metaverse will fuel massive innovation (and Facebook isn't the metaverse)

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Did you miss a session from MetaBeat 2022? Head over to the on-demand library for all of our featured sessions Here's a hot take: The metaverse is not what Mark Zuckerberg says it is. It's not a place or alternate reality we will all migrate into. It's not a game.

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Build digital product faster, smarter and scalable.

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In short it is said that in a nutshell, Metaverse can be described as an online 3D world where people and companies can connect with each other virtually. It is a combination of virtual and augmented reality and social media with online gaming, and cryptocurrency to create a completely Virtual "living" environment for its users.

With vast amounts of capital numerous technology giants continue to put their money in the creation of Metaverse with its limitless possibilities. The potential impact could be huge and many believe that it may be next big-scale technological breakthrough after the internet.

How can Meta think about the Metaverse?

In the company's conference 2021 Connect, Zuckerberg introduced viewers to his company's vision of the metaverse, which combines the 3D and 2D worlds into one virtual world.

Its metaverse will integrate the current Meta products, such as WhatsApp and Messenger however, it will also offer many new tools such as virtual offices, virtual homes and e-commerce possibilities for content creators and businesses. Meta's metaverse is a world of imagination users will have total imaginative control of their own virtual universes creating everything from houses with water views to space stations in which you can collaborate, chat with your friends, or even study.

In the Connect event, Meta announced its elusive "Project Cambria," yet to be launched as a premium VR headset which users are expected to use to enter the metaverse. Meta also plans to launch a smartwatch that could be connected to the latest VR hardware.

What is the reason Meta keen on creating the metaverse?

Zuckerberg has stated that Meta regards the metaverse as an essential element and will devote enormous amount of resources, money, and effort to bring it to existence. What is the reason?

"When I first joined Facebook it was a time when we used to type messages on sites. When phones were equipped that had cameras, the internet changed to be more mobile and visual. As the internet became faster video became a better method of sharing experiences. From desktops to mobile to web; from text to pictures to videos. However, this isn't the end of the story".

He views the metaverse as the next step in the way we interact with the internet and social media.

The company aims to build an environment where more people spend the majority of our time online and wants to play an integral part in bringing about this transformation by creating a brand new world that connects us. Metaverses will allow people to connect. Meta believes that this is the next step in creating tools that surpass apps and social media to improve our capacity to be connected with other people.

Some critics say the change in name to Meta is a strategy to distract from the negative press that Facebook has received in recent times like its involvement in the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, the company's misappropriation of personal data, as well as numerous security breach incidents. Yet, Meta has stated the name change is intended to better represent all that the company does, not only the social media application Facebook.

What are the motives behind financial gain? Could the profits of Meta's business grow exponentially due to the growth of an alternate universe? Yes, in short. Zuckerberg describes a virtual universe in which consumers do not just purchase hardware to connect to the metaverse, but they will also be able to shop for opportunities in the metaverse itself and will be able to purchase everything from new clothes for their avatars, to shopping at stores.

But the time of big gains in the metaverse are several years, if not even years from being. Many analysts believe that cryptocurrency could be a major factor in the world of metaverse commerce, however the way in which transactions take place remains to be seen at the moment.

What other companies think on the subject?

"The metaverse won't be created by one single company. It will be created by the creators and developers who will create new digital products and experiences that can be interoperable, and open an enormously bigger creativity economy than one restricted by current platforms as well as their rules," asserts Zuckerberg.

Microsoft, The epidemic taught the world that work from home isn't only feasible, but also effective and many workers appreciate the flexibility and convenience working remotely. There aren't many people eager to get back to work which is why it's no surprise that tech companies such as Microsoft are examining the possibilities that the metaverse can help remote workers.

Microsoft has also announced is planning for expansion of its gaming services into the metaverse realm possibly taking Xbox games to 3D space. 3D space in the near near future.

Zoom
Video conference platform Zoom has also said that it believes that it will play an important role to play in digital workplaces in Metaverses in the near near future. The CEO Eric Yuan mentioned in a recent interview that he views this as being just some time away however.

Amazon
With its huge market share in e-commerce, cloud computing and digital entertainment It's likely that the company is pondering what Amazon buying and consumption of media might be interspersed within the metaverse. As of yet the company has not released any statement on the subject.

Roblox
The online gaming platform Roblox is a major player in the realm of metaverse. You may not have been aware of it, but odds are that your children have. Roblox has created a virtual platform that lets users create the games of their choice. Even though playing these games is free but users can also purchase the Rubux virtual currency to buy add-ons to the games. The business is making a significant profit.

Roblox has already established an environment where users can build their own worlds and have proven that it's profitable, which makes it an important player to be watching in this area.

Epic Games
Company in the entertainment industry Epic Games, makers of Fortnite and Fortnite, sees immense opportunities in metaverse. On April 20, 2021 Epic Games announced an investment of $1 billion in financing, which included the investment of Sony Group Corporation, to create its metaverse concept to reality.

Nike
What is the reason a sneaker brand would like to be part of the metaverse? Nike, the sportswear giant Nike is looking ahead to the day when people might be inclined to purchase virtual items for example, like Nike activewear, to match their avatars. If you and your pals shoot virtual hoops, then you'll need to look stylish when you're doing it. Nike has filed trademark requests to sell virtual goods bearing its logo and its brand.

But, it also brings up the question of how trademarks and counterfeit products will be controlled in the metaverse in the future, with Nike making preemptive steps to safeguard itself before the metaverse becomes a reality.

How do you gain access to the metaverse?

Are you ready to leap into this new and exciting world? Don't be too fast, the metaverse, as imagined by Zuckerberg is a long way away. According to his estimates, a lot of the metaverse-related products Meta is developing will not be available for at least the next 10 to 15 years. However, when (or when) the metaverse does come to fruition how will we gain access to it?

Hardware will play an important part in metaverse access as users purchase their own VR headsets to take them from their living rooms to their virtual world. While Facebook already owns the Oculus headset, and has teased the release of the next version of its headset in 2022, there's a several other companies sporting its very own VR headsets, like Samsung as well as HP.

Users will put onto their headset anytime they wish to access the metaverse using their internet connection. However, there's likely to be less engaging ways to experience the metaverse for people who don't own a costly headset.

What will it mean for our way of life?

But, can the metaverse turn into a digital utopia, where we can communicate with people from all over the globe instantly, while watching performances and playing board games? Or, is it more likely that the metaverse isn't going to reach a critical mass?

It's also a matter of human connections. While we're out and about or at work in solitude, it's a very real and powerful feeling that millions of people experienced throughout the course of the epidemic. Does a cup of coffee in the metaverse compete with having a chat with friends in the nearby café? The feeling of loneliness and isolation can have a significant impact on the metaverse as there is nothing like an embrace, a handshake or smiling.

What will it mean for our work practices?

If there's a thing that the epidemic has proved that people aren't content with their 9-5 work schedules and long commutes. Many people are opting to work remotely and are looking for companies that permit working from home, or abandoning the traditional path to work for entrepreneurs or freelance opportunities.

If you're looking to to work from any location around the globe The metaverse may transform the way we work together for business and especially at a global scale. From virtual offices and interviews to virtual office spaces, there's many things that can be accomplished online instead of in person. The metaverse can turn boring team meetings and transform them from 2D to 3D and let you put yourself inside your virtual office, and feel like you're sitting next to your coworkers.

If the metaverse could be integrated with modern technology and office software and software, then you can easily create the PowerPoint presentation you've made offline and then present it to colleagues at the metaverse's boardroom. You could also give an avatar friend the file to download at their own pace at home.

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In short it is said that in a nutshell, Metaverse can be described as an online 3D world where people and companies can connect with each other virtually. It is a combination of virtual and augmented reality and social media with online gaming, and cryptocurrency to create a completely Virtual "living" environment for its users.

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When Cathy Hackl's son wanted to throw a party for his 9th birthday, he didn't ask for favors for his friends or themed decorations. Instead, he asked if they could hold the celebration on Roblox. On the digital platform, which allows users to play and create a multitude of games, Hackl's son and his friends would attend the party as their virtual avatars.

"They hung out and played and they went to other different games together," she says. "Just because it happens in a virtual space doesn't make it less real. It's very real to my son."

The futility of throwing an outdoor pandemic-friendly event in January wasn't the only reason Hackl's son lobbied for a digital event. Roblox might be unknown to many over the age of, say, 25, but the 13-year-old platform is booming. Available on most desktop and mobile platforms, it is simultaneously a venue for free games, a creation engine that allows users to generate new activities of their own, and a marketplace to sell those experiences, as well as side products like outfits for a personalized avatar.

It's also part of the "metaverse." Once a niche concept beloved of tech enthusiasts, the idea of a centralized virtual world, a "place" parallel to the physical world, has careened into the mainstream landscape this year, as epitomized by Facebook's decision in October to rebrand as Meta. Millions of people are spending hours a day in virtual social spaces like Roblox and Fortnite. Interest in purely digital ownership-and the technology that proponents believe can ensure the security of persistent virtual experiences-has spiked dramatically, with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies making headlines. Virtual productivity platforms are growing too, with Facebook and Microsoft announcing new ways to collaborate online. Nike is even, analysts say, preparing to sell virtual sneakers. Hybrid offices, video-based education and online social communities are just a few of the ways in which more of our lives-for better or worse-is spent in digital spaces.

People like Hackl have already been heading in that direction for years.

After she was introduced to VR in the late 2000s, Hackl says she "pivoted really hard" into it. She reoriented her media career toward cinematic virtual reality work and then moved onto work with headset manufacturers, eventually serving as a "VR evangelist" for the HTC Vive headset. Today she says she's known as the "godmother of the metaverse."

For many younger people, like her son, such a pivot isn't even necessary: they're growing up with the expectation that a large part of their future will exist in the metaverse. It might be time for the rest of us to get on board-whether we like it or not.

Metawhat?

The word "metaverse" is often traced to Neal Stephenson's 1992 dystopic, cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, and many see a more recent inspiration in the dazzling warren of experiences at the heart of Earnest Cline's 2011 novel Ready Player One. However, the metaverse is far from the stuff of sci-fi. It's not even new.

Online communities have existed since at least the mid-1980s, and grew in the 1990s with chatrooms, AOL instant messenger and the first social media sites. The game World of Warcraft became a persistent social scene for millions in the early 2000s, and communities have continued to sprout up within and around games. Today, logging onto Fortnite, joining a chat with friends over a console platform and launching into a game with them is, especially to younger generations, just as social an experience as most other physical interactions.

Whether in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) or simply on a screen, the promise of the metaverse is to allow a greater overlap of our digital and physical lives in wealth, socialization, productivity, shopping and entertainment. These two worlds are already interwoven, no headset required: Think about the Uber app telling you via location data how far away the car is. Think about how Netflix gauges what you've watched before to make suggestions. Think about how the LiDAR scanner on newer iPhones can take a 3D scan of your surroundings. At its core, the metaverse (also known to many as "web3") is an evolution of our current Internet.

"You've got your goggles on, 10 years from now, but they're just a pair of sunglasses that happens to have the ability to bring you into the metaverse experience," says John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity, maker of a video game engine that is increasingly used to develop immersive experiences on other platforms. "You're walking by a restaurant, you look at it, the menu pops up. What your friends have said about it pops up."

For Riccitiello, the most exciting part of the metaverse is what it might mean for our relationships.

The idea that we might be able to "feel like we're together when we're not," he argues, could likely lead someone to create a company on par with Facebook and Apple.

Banks and investors are taking note.

"There's clearly a kind of a desire to move that direction," says John Egan, CEO of L'Atelier BNP Paribas and an investment analyst focusing on emerging technologies. "This metaverse concept gives us the opportunity to create any universe that we've ever imagined."

More than a social network

Hackl's son wasn't alone in having a birthday party on Roblox over the past year; the 16-year-old creator of the Roblox game Math Obby, who goes by the username 0bid0, threw himself a party to which he invited not just friends from school and Twitter, but also fans of the game. "I couldn't manage to make plans in real life because of the pandemic, so I took the chance of building a cool place to host the virtual event," he tells TIME.

Kids are not the only ones wading out into the metaverse breakers. Paul Tomlinson, 41, has worked remotely for years, living in rural Maine with his family and managing tax and financial-processing software for a firm that works with municipal and state governments. There's "nothing sexy" about the job, he says, but it does involve needing to have eyes on a large amount of data at once. A few years ago, this meant his desk had four different computer monitors on it. The cumbersome office setup was already a difficult and messy solution, but add in a disruptive (but adorable) cat and it became untenable.
Read more: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the Fusion of Virtual and Physical Worlds
Tomlinson had always been interested in virtual reality, but it wasn't until he tried the Oculus Quest headset and was introduced to a productivity app called Immersed that he found the answers to his work conundrum. Immersed pairs with your computer and, in the headset, sets up a workspace that allows for multiple virtual screens that you can arrange or size in whatever way you choose. And, crucially for Tomlinson, it's very difficult for cats to mess with virtual desktops.

"Within a week, I took the monitors off of my desk," he says. "It just made my life so much better."

For more than two years now, he has almost exclusively used virtual reality for his 40- to 50-hour work weeks: "Unless it's a business-critical meeting, I typically don't take off the headset."

Immersed VR has already netted millions in investment dollars and partnered with Facebook, Microsoft and Samsung in various roles. And for companies developing headsets, the COVID-19 work shake up provides an opportunity to do just as Renji Bijoy, Immersed VR's founder and CEO suggests, making the case that VR is less of a novelty and more of a quality-of-life tool.
Read more: Here's What Meta-Facebook's New Parent Company-Plans to Do
Few companies want that narrative shift more than Facebook, now Meta. Dodging damaging leaks, deflecting international calls for antitrust action and shrugging off its own stalled attempts to launch a decentralized digital currency, the social network, which owns the VR brand Oculus, has leaned far into the future that it promises to provide. Late in the summer, Facebook announced Horizons Workrooms (through the use of its Oculus Quest) as an alternative to the Zoom meetings that have become commonplace to many remote workers. (Facebook declined multiple requests to provide comment on this story.)

For now, spending any part of a workday in the metaverse still seems like a far-off dream for most of the global workforce. Tomlinson recognizes this. His coworkers took a while to adjust to the fact that he usually appears in group video meetings as an avatar, and his family is "not as enamored" as he is. Still, he sees himself as a "pioneer," of the future, and is comfortable in that role.

"I am an outlier, and it's a good thing that we have outliers who don't get bored easily," he says. "I have no hang ups about strapping boxes to my face for eight hours a day. I can do that."

Real money in the metaverse

A new kind of working from home is only part of what the metaverse can provide those out to make a buck. Case in point: metaverse entrepreneur Carrie Tatsu, 48. She has spent over 15 years making her living designing, marketing and selling avatars, pets and accessories for citizens of Second Life, a game that launched in 2003 as a blank-slate digital world where users could buy land and spend actual money on in-world customizable clothing. (If you think that sounds a great deal like the metaverse currently being touted by big tech, you would be correct.) Tatsu joined in a moment of dissatisfaction with her marketing job. Because she likes cats, she bought a pet for her avatar. The decision launched her career.

"I thought, well, you know, I think I can make a better cat," Tatsu says.

It didn't take long before she and her ex-husband set up a store, Zooby, and earned enough for her to quit her physical-world job to focus on creating Second Life pets and accessories full time. She quickly noticed the way other players were forging real connections to those virtual animals. "There was a paradigm shift in the way I looked at this," she says. "This wasn't like joining a video game and competing on something like a first-person shooter. This was a very emotional attachment to something that wasn't physical."

With Roblox, that kind of hustle has always been part of the game.

"You can imagine a future where I can go to the [virtual] hat store, and I have a very seamless experience to customize my hat I created, and now I can potentially then sell that hat to other people in the metaverse," Roblox Chief Product Officer Manuel Bronstein says. "We made it very easy for people to start monetizing those creations."

Many of those who are taking advantage of that potential are young users. Josh Okunola, for example, is a 17-year-old digital artist from Nigeria, currently studying in London, who has been playing Roblox since 2014. After a few years of exploring, he grew curious about the games' development tools and using his own artistic talent on the platform. In 2018, he netted his first Roblox paycheck-for $7-though he says his parents didn't believe it was real because, unable to withdraw it from PayPal, he could only spend it on digital goods.

With blockchain-based games, players can turn the time they spend into cryptocurrency. In the popular Axie Infinity, players buy, train and breed Pokemon-like creatures that are themselves NFTs, each one individually registered on the Ethereum blockchain. An active marketplace allows players to sell the creatures for cryptocurrency. Axie Infinity has seen a lot of international popularity during the pandemic; the Philippines has particularly seen a great deal of growth, with players of all ages using the game to earn money. You need to own three of these "Axies" before you can even play the game, and currently the lowest priced creatures on the marketplace are over $100.

These purely digital opportunities to make a living are inspiring a young generation to believe that the metaverse is the place to make their fortunes.

"Eventually I was able to cash out $1,000 from the platform," Okunola says of his Roblox art. "My parents were [in] shock because it was very rare to see a 16-year-old make that much in just a little time from a side hobby."

Reality Check

If there were ever any hope of weaning children off screen time, it was dashed by the pandemic. One German study published by DAK-Gesundheit found that usage of social media and video games was up by at least 60% in 2020 over 2019 among children between 12 and 17. Now imagine not just a screen, but a world.

Tatsu is the mother of two children and, despite having created a successful career in digital spaces, she insists that her children spend as much of their time as possible in the real world.

"It's so important for humans to be with humans in real life," she says. "And so I think that as kids grow up in this space, there will have to be outlets for people to engage, go smell a flower here, walk in on a trail, have a real conversation with your friend and throw a ball. I mean, even though you can simulate that, the simulation is not the same. And so I feel in some ways bad for my kids."

We all have far more to worry about in digital spaces than just time spent. The very probable idea that this is the direction technological innovation is heading does little to take into account whether it should be the direction we are heading.
Read more: Tim Cook on the 'Basic Human Right' of Privacy and the Technology That Excites Him the Most
If the metaverse is essentially an extension of the internet we currently have, one only has to think about the myriad problems that we have yet to solve in our online existence-hacking, catfishing, harassment, hate speech-to see how truly perilous a future on the metaverse could be.
Read more: The 5 Most Important Revelations From the 'Facebook Papers'
The consulting firm GlobalData notes concerns in how governments, notably the U.S., have been sluggish in their approach to cybersecurity concerns such as the rise of artificial-intelligence enabled misinformation, including videos known as deepfakes.

"These false images-again, going back to deepfakes-not only are used to trick users into giving away personal details, but also from a political perspective to convince them of something happening that has not happened or is just simply not true," Charlotte Newton, a thematic analyst at GlobalData, says.

"It's important to recognize that there are five really important problems we haven't yet solved in the mobile internet: data rights, data security, radicalization, misinformation and platform power," says Matthew Ball, author of the forthcoming The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything. "If the fundamental premise of the metaverse is that we will spend more of our time, labor, leisure, wealth, existence inside virtual worlds, then by definition, every one of those five problems is exacerbated. The amount of data captured and the importance of that data goes up, or the risks of data loss are intensified."

There's perhaps a reason many fictional touchstones for a metaverse, including Ready Player One and Snow Crash, take place in grim dystopias.

"There's no way the metaverse is going to help with things like income inequality, or food deserts, people who cannot buy groceries, disparities and access to health care," says science fiction writer Ted Chiang, on whose work the 2016 movie Arrival was based. "None of those things are things that you can deliver through the metaverse."

The Vision

True adherents would beg to differ. They believe that the metaverse has benefits for all, that it can expand access, opportunity, social networks and mental health-though even they have to admit that a lot of the good the metaverse can do is still speculative, and depends on a confluence of events, from hardware deployment to data infrastructure developments, on very fuzzy timelines.

What does exist for sure, argue proponents like Tatsu, is the already realized potential for the metaverse to increase empathy and inspire kindness.

"I think that when you're in a virtual space, they're usually smaller, they're usually more intimate. And I think that when we move into this world, where you really customize your avatar, you develop a more intimate relationship with the people you have online," she says. "Even though you're behind a screen or you're behind a headset, you still see somebody."

A few years ago, a surreal YouTube video made its way around the internet. In the middle of a standard VRChat session, which is itself a mosh pit of clashing avatars and frenetic voice chat, a user who was wearing a full body tracking suit apparently had a seizure. The episode underscored not only the actual distance between people in virtual spaces, but also the outpouring of concern for the person behind a red robot avatar.

Hackl sees the upcoming shift in technologies as a chance to shape a more inclusive mission and purpose. "I feel we're working on the printing press of the future," she says, "being able to preserve, let's say, a language that is soon to disappear. If you're able to retain not only in a flat video, you'll see the sound and you'll see the movement of lips and stuff. In a 3D performance capture and an actual 3D video, you'll be able to see a lot of the nuances of how the tongue moves, and the teeth move, and you'll be able to preserve the same dances as well as artifacts, stories, all sorts of things. I believe that that is something we're working on today to preserve those stories for the future."

To her, that future will be a better one, thanks in part to the metaverse.

"When I look at the architects of the internet, they were all men," Hackl says. "Being a Latina woman that is very publicly out there, I want more people like me. We need to see people like me, in these public facing roles, because you can inspire a lot more people to join and say, 'Hey, I am welcome in this metaverse world. I can build.'"

For those whose lives are already being lived partly in the metaverse-despite its pitfalls and risks-that building has begun.

Write to Peter Allen Clark at peter.clark@time.com.

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What Is the Metaverse and Why Should I Care?

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Once a niche concept, the idea of a centralized virtual world has careened into the mainstream landscape this year. Here's what to know

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The idea has been around in one avatar or another since the early 90s, popularised by video games and scene fiction novels.

It's only in recent years that the metaverse has gained mainstream momentum. Epic Games announced a staggering $1 billion in investment to build the metaverse, back in April 2021.

Meta followed soon after with its rebrand to Meta and a billion-dollar pivot towards its own metaverse platform. Other companies aren't far behind.

Niantic, the developers of Pokémon Go, has announced that it will use its fresh flush of $300 million investment to develop metaverse-like experiences.

Kucoin Labs has a new $100 million metaverse fund, and Morgan Stanley mentioned it as the next big investment scheme in an investor's note.

The examples are endless and suffice to say, the industry is extremely bullish on the metaverse. The technology advancements of the last one decade - blockchain, crypto, interoperability, and affordable VR - means that Neal Stephenson's dream of the metaverse is close to becoming a reality.

Here's why it matters more than you may think.

1. It could be the next internet.

Alongside a three-dimensional VR metaverse, there's another similar concept that's gaining traction: Web 3.0. Leslie Shannon, Nokia's Head of Trend Scouting, mentioned this in a VRARA Global Summit talk, speaking about the importance of the metaverse or a spatial internet.

Meanwhile, Deloitte already has a framework in place for the spatial web and Web 3.0, concepts closely linked to the metaverse.

Further, Mark Zuckerberg referred to the metaverse as an "embodied internet" in his Founder's Letter announcing Facebook's rebrand.

All of this points in one direction: the metaverse could be the next major online destination where global users congregate, engage, buy, sell, play, and work. It will start out as an alternative to social media and eventually come to encompass the world wide web as we know it.

2. Work and collaboration will consistently move into the metaverse.

Already in 2020, VR adoption for work, collaboration, and learning/education has increased.

Companies like Spatial that provide a VR alternative to Zoom saw a 1000 percent uptick in usage in this period, and Facebook came out with its own offering called Oculus for Business.

As companies recalibrate around employee expectations and requirements during the new normal, VR will be an important enabler. It will help workers transition to hybrid work and ensure that remote employees enjoy the same degree of engagement and access as their in-office counterparts.

In a recent survey, nearly 2 in 5 respondents said that they are very excited for AR/VR-enabled learning in the workplace. And, as Zoom fatigue sets in, the metaverse could be a compelling alternative for many.

3. There are exciting investment opportunities to be had.

The metaverse will inspire a bustling new economy at every level. For content creators and VR developers, it means another source of monetisation.

A crypto-based economy would also allow fairer incentivisation of content and regular royalties. Apart from this, venture capitalists are also eager to get in on the early action in the metaverse market and invest in promising startups. Any one of these startups could be your new Facebook, and early investors could shape progress for several years to come.

Once the metaverse is executed, there will be new opportunities through advertising, digital events, e-commerce, etc. - a $1 trillion opportunity by expert estimates.

Finally, let's not forget the job creation potential of the metaverse. Facebook announced that it would create 10,000 new job openings in Europe alone to build its vision for the metaverse.

Nike has started hiring for virtual material designers for its own " Nikeland" and there were 270 active vacancies mentioning the metaverse in October 2021. Professionals, in future, will find it difficult to ignore this trend.

4. The metaverse has major legal and regulatory implications.

Just like tech giants now dominate the global conversation around user privacy, data rights, cybercrime, and regulations, the metaverse could be the next minefield.

Right now, early WIPs of the metaverse suggest several risks while also being extremely exciting. NFT fraud is a very real possibility, land rights in the metaverse could be in question, and avatars - an extension of your real identity - open up challenging questions.

Today, even if you aren't a Facebook or Twitter user, it is difficult to avoid concerns around data privacy and misinformation. The same will be true for the metaverse a few years down the line.

That's why organisations, regulatory bodies, advocacy groups, and individual users need to consider this as a "big deal" to pre-empt similar or even more complex repercussions later down the line.

5. We are only an interoperability-leapfrog away from a true metaverse.

The most common argument for why the metaverse may not be such a big deal is that it is several years or even decades away.

In a recent US survey, one-third of respondents said that they have never heard of the metaverse and only 36% were interested in participation.

Those aged 30 and above (the majority of the working population) showed significantly lower interest than younger respondents.

But the metaverse may not be as far-fetched or far away as we think. In his Founder's Letter, 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg put forward an estimated timeline. He noted:

Our hope is that within the next decade, the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers

Given that Meta took eight years to go from 1 million to 1 billion users, we can expect the first iteration of the company's metaverse to be available sometime in 2023.

That's only about two years away, and all the foundational infrastructure is already in place in the form of a sophisticated global blockchain network, ergonomic VR design, scalable AI, and last-mile internet connectivity in most parts of the world.

This is precisely why the metaverse is such a big deal: because it is knocking right at the gates.

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5 Reasons Why the Metaverse Is Such a Big Deal - XR Today

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The idea has been around in one avatar or another since the early 90s, popularised by video games and scene fiction novels. It's only in recent years that the metaverse has gained mainstream momentum. Epic Games announced a staggering $1 billion in investment to build the metaverse, back in April 2021.

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Why is the Metaverse Important? - XR Today

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XR Today reports on the latest extended reality news from around the globe, including virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.

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Anyone who is even a bit aware of global development knows how this castle of opportunities evidently rests on the cocoon of technological prowess. How we live now, work, and entertain ourselves has transformed dramatically over all these years. If we turn the pages of our memory journal five years back, we will easily understand how far we have managed to come forward. Every aspect of our society has taken hundreds of leaps to reach the present reality where technology strongly dominates human existence. The latest technological innovations have pushed us towards a more liberal, independent, and open-source environment.

Today, we spend hours scrolling through social media feeds, indulge in blockchain-powered e-games, and virtually attend the music concert of our favorite pop singer virtually while sitting on our couch. 'Virtual' is the new big thing for tech enthusiasts who are unraveling the potential hidden behind the real world. Next-gen concepts like cryptocurrency, Metaverse technology, and Web3 are building their billion-dollar industry on the word 'Virtual.' People are using Metaverse as a resource to create an entire world in a virtual space outside the physical world. Metaverse hints toward a digital ecosystem where a cluster of virtual spaces come together to open new opportunities for work, entertainment, and earnings.

Interestingly, Metaverse is too wide in its scope to succumb to a single technological concept. One can say that Metaverse is an umbrella term that integrates multiple terminologies to support its core infrastructure. This is what brings us to the main character of this article- Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality or VR is one of the pillars that supports Metaverse and Web 3 clusters. VR technology plays a significant role in building the virtual space we love to explore in a Metaverse field. Going further, this article will talk about Metaverse technology, Virtual Reality, and the role of VR in Metaverse construction. Let's start building our knowledge:

What is Metaverse Technology?

Pinning a concrete definition to Metaverse at this stage will be a loose-end endeavour. This is because Metaverse technology is in the nascent stage of development at present as tech brains are still trying to figure out its full potential. Thus, it is hard to give a proper well-defined definition of the term. However, with the little progress we have made in the sector, it is sufficient to develop some understanding here.

The idea of virtual space was first seen in 1992 when Neal Stephenson released a science fiction novel called Snow Crash. The story depicted characters transitioning between physical and virtual worlds using VR displays. The story portrayed in the novel was unique and effortlessly garnered the attention of the masses. It was an engrossing experience for readers to cherish something unique, far from the usual.

The metaverse is a virtual space that allows users to work, interact, and connect with each other outside the real world. With its characteristic features, the technology aims to build an ecosystem that blurs the line between reality and the virtual. Metaverse uses blockchain technology, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality to give life to the virtual environment that runs within a digital cluster. Metaverse blockchain offers access to a 3D digital space that represents a simulated physical environment. Metaverse mimics real-world scenarios but with added features through VR and AR. Users can use metaverse wallet solutions to store their digital assets when exploring or trading in the virtual setup.

One can do anything and everything within a metaverse using 'Digital Avatars.' These are digital characters that represent humans in the virtual world. It is through these avatars that users can interact in a metaverse. Using avatars, they can go shopping, eat in restaurants, deal in real estate, socialize, play games, visit exotic monuments, etc. Users must use VR/AR gadgets such as headsets, handles, remote controls, etc., to connect and interact within a virtual setup.

One of the strongest blows to the popularity of Metaverse came when Facebook revamped its brand to Meta Platforms. The idea behind the change was simple. The company was indicating its seriousness toward Metaverse exploration in the near future. The news encouraged firms to step into the field and create innovative products. Experts began to learn metaverse concepts to develop new products for users and gain an edge over competitors.

While e-gaming remains one of the most popular incubators of Metaverse technology, other industrial fields have also shown active participation in this. Fields such as real estate, supply chain, transport, sports, music, and entertainment are actively adopting metaverse as a potential resource for growth. Platforms such as The Sandbox and Decentraland have unlocked new opportunities and engaging experiences for people.

Salient features of Metaverse

The six main features of metaverse technology are:

Digital identity

Metaverse allows users to represent themselves as digital avatars within the cluster. There is full freedom to express oneself as to whomsoever a person wants to in his/her digital identity. One can behave and act as per their will without any hindrance from the outside world.

Multiple device support

Users can access metaverse from anywhere and anytime. It works well on PCs, tablets, mobile phones, and other smart devices. Metaverse supports multiple devices to make it accessible for one and all.

Economy

Metaverse's own economic model relies on blockchain technology as the core infrastructural resource. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs allow users to trade, exchange and earn securely. The use of Decentralized Ledger Technology makes metaverse highly secure, transparent, and immutable for trading functions.

Digital community

In the metaverse, users can connect, socialize, and interact with each other freely. Sharing of experiences is one of the main characteristic features of a metaverse space. One can play games with their friends, relish a jamming session with their partner, or simply talk to strangers with similar interests within the virtual world using digital avatars.

Real-time experience

The metaverse is real-time persistent as it continues to work even after the participants quit. There is no pause in the process of experience. This is why metaverse is the next-gen experience.

What is Virtual Reality?

In simple words, Virtual Reality represents a system where technology is used to create realistic simulated environments. The technology puts users in a 3-D world where they get a fair chance to immerse and interact with their surroundings. It serves as a computer-created ecosystem with a diverse range of objects and scenes that bridge the gap between real and digital. The settings allow users to delve deeply into the digital surroundings, creating engrossing experiences for themselves. It is perceived using specially-designed devices called VR headsets or helmets.

Though it may sound unrealistic and difficult to digest, VR has origins dating back to the mid-1950s. There are reports that talk about one of the first virtual reality devices called Sensorama. It was a machine designed with an in-built seat playing 3D movies. The device released odours and created vibrations to offer real-like experiences to the users. As time passed, technological advancements started sprawling over the industrial domain. Subsequent evolutions in technology and software encouraged a progressive change in VR, its design, and its functionalities.

With Virtual Reality, Metaverse strives to create immersive experiences for users where they can give wings to their curiosity. It allows participants to see behind the veil of the physical world. Sometimes, people interpret Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality as one. This is wrong as the two concepts are unique and parts away to be considered synonymous. Virtual Reality constructs an immersive simulated environment for users to interact. The 3D experience involves images, videos, and audio to create a realistic digital environment. On the other hand, Augmented Reality does not create an individual digital setup; rather, it enhances the real-world experience by adding special features such as objects, images, and sounds.

Importance of VR in Metaverse

As mentioned earlier, Metaverse is an umbrella term that encompasses several other technological concepts to build its community. We cannot limit the scope of metaverse to a single aspect as it strives to offer users a whole load of features. It talks about creating a virtual space where users enjoy a more digital, independent, and user-friendly reality.

The whole idea behind metaverse is so vivid that it becomes impossible to achieve the objectives without involving a bunch of other resources. This is why Virtual Reality and Metaverse go hand-in-hand. The use of VR headsets to work and interact within a metaverse makes the latter an indispensable part of the virtual ecosystem. Without using VR as the much-needed catalyst, the next-gen Internet reality of metaverse will not be able to achieve its set goals.

The use of Virtual Reality will help strengthen the core infrastructure of Metaverse technology. As metaverse promises to initiate a shift from reality to a dynamic virtual world on Internet, the technology will rely on VR to offer the needed support for the transition. One cannot interact in a virtual world without donning a virtual reality headset. It is one of the basic requirements to enter the metaverse. Further, robust virtual reality software is required to design the online space within the virtual niche. VR software and VR headsets are the two vitals that support the working and creation of metaverse clusters.

Uses of Virtual Reality in Metaverse

Travel

Virtual Reality allows users to travel virtually to any place in the world. Users can visit monuments, eat delicacies from across the globe, and create digital memories through their digital identities. The experience is so vivid that it becomes difficult to differentiate between real and virtual.

Medicine

The technology can help the healthcare domain significantly. Medical students, doctors, and practitioners can use VR to perform digital surgeries on avatars as a practice. This helps sharpen their skills and eliminates the risks of mistakes during surgery.

Games

Indulge in an exciting match with your friends using VR headsets. The device allows players to relish a real-like gaming experience. They get a chance to play and practice extreme sports while sitting on the couch.

Education

Teachers can use VR-supported screens to create engrossing class experiences for students. While explaining a concept, teachers can give them a virtual display of the concept to build a better understanding of concepts. Virtual tours to difficult places like the moon or planets keep students' interest in the subject.

Virtual events

Virtual Reality allows users to attend a concert, sports gala, or other global events right from the comfort of their homes. It saves time and is also cost-friendly.

Military

Forces can use VR to facilitate training sessions for soldiers in a simulated combat environment. The setup is created similar to a real battlefield. The participants get exposure to real pressure and situations they might face on a battlefield later during the training sessions.

Conclusion

When we talk about the metaverse, it is inevitable to skip the topic of virtual reality. This is because the terminology provides the necessary foundational base on which metaverse operates. Virtual Reality is essential for the growth and expansion of the metaverse industry. The technology supports the vision of metaverse clusters by aiding in creating the 3D virtual world. With VR, users can immerse themselves in interactive experiences that are hard to access in the physical environment. The insane craze for metaverse technology is likely to push the popularity of VR tools as well, leading to innovative product launches in the sector.

In case you are willing to learn more about metaverse courses, Blockchain Council has something for you. The platform offers a metaverse course list for beginners and experienced professionals. The courses offer subjective knowledge, whereas the training sessions help to build practical knowledge.

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Anyone who is even a bit aware of global development knows how this castle of opportunities evidently rests on the cocoon of technological prowess. How we live now, work, and entertain ourselves has transformed dramatically over all these years.

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SUMMARY

The metaverse, rapidly gaining traction in 2022, could well change the way we interact with the world--and each other.

A lot has been said about the metaverse and its potential to enhance our lives in the future. While we know that metaverse is a virtual universe where you can interact, shop or even participate in events via your avatar, there is a lot more happening. We have already seen how technology, in general, has put forth solutions to almost all our problems. And the metaverse is only expected to augment our way of living further. Here are nine innovations from the metaverse that could have meaningful consequences in the real world:

Physical interactions in a virtual world: Many companies are trying to crack the intractability aspect of the metaverse. Strides have been made in the 'gesture-based casting and manipulation of virtual content' domain. This technology will allow users to undertake real-world actions like throwing, pinching, or even engaging with objects in the metaverse. (Image: AP)

Remote working potential: COVID-19 has already given us a sense of what working in a virtual environment feels like. Apps like Zoom, Teams, and the like have allowed people to continue their work from the security of their homes. Now, companies like Microsoft are working on creating a virtual workspace where people can perform regular office activities in the metaverse using avatars.

Virtual self-image: Meta is working on a technology that focuses on 'generating accurate and realistic clothing'. This technology will wrinkle and deform your avatar's clothing as they move. This will be made possible with the help of sensors that detect body movement and morph clothing accordingly. (Image: Reuters)

Clothing that lets you feel interactions in the metaverse: At the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a Spanish start-up, Owo, unveiled their metaverse jacket. The jacket is equipped with sensors that allow wearers to feel hugs or even punches in virtual reality. This can make it possible to feel the presence of loved ones, even though they are hundreds or thousands of kilometers away. (Representative Image; AP)

Share your view: Another patent that Meta is working on is 'spectator imaging'. This technology allows people to share their views of something with anyone else. Live concerts are the perfect example, where you can invite a friend or family member to experience the concert from the comfort of their home.

Sharing body movement data: Meta is working on a technology that will allow them to track minute body movements, right from a person's eyes to the different appendages of their body. This will enable a person to have an even more immersive experience in the metaverse. (Representative image: AP)

Bringing learning into the virtual world: A company called Pathway is working on creating a transparent whiteboard with an inbuilt camera. The 'eGlass' will capture the teacher's face and the notes on the whiteboard in the same video. This can then be streamed to students in the classroom and their homes for remote learning.

Table-top games in the virtual world: Tilt Five, a Silicon Valley-based gaming firm, is working on augmented reality (AR) table games via their proprietary AR glasses. The glasses will use tiny projectors to beam video onto a specialized gaming table, reflecting 3D imagery to the wearer. The glasses will also have applications beyond gaming in the future. (Representative image: Reuters)

Virtual learning in multiple languages: Hour One, a renowned provider of synthetic characters based on real-life people, is working on photo-realistic avatars that can read the text in 20 languages. This aims to help businesses turn scripts into video presentations that could be understood in multiple countries.

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Metaverse Innovations: A glimpse of what the virtual universe could look like in future

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The metaverse, rapidly gaining traction in 2022, could well change the way we interact with the world--and each other. A lot has been said about the metaverse and its potential to enhance our lives in the future.

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The Planetary Society * Aug 30, 2021

Your guide to advocating for space in a complicated world

Most people who love space and believe in exploration have probably heard this once or twice: "We shouldn't waste money on space exploration when there are problems to deal with here on Earth."

While public health concerns, social injustices, climate change, and other urgent issues are important to address, solving these problems doesn't depend on defunding space programs.

This can be a difficult conversation to navigate, so we've outlined a few ideas here that you can share when advocating for space.

Space spending pays off

If someone is arguing that public funds should be spent on solving the world's problems, they should know that money spent on NASA positively impacts the U.S. economy. We get the same kind of payoff for space spending in other countries. Spending on space supports highly skilled jobs, fuels technology advancements with practical applications, and creates business opportunities that feed back into the economy. This in turn grows the pool of public money that can be spent on solving the world's most pressing problems.

Space research directly impacts Earthly problems

When people apply themselves to the challenges of exploring space, they make discoveries that can help the world in other ways too. Studying how we might grow food in orbit or on Mars yields insights into growing food in extreme conditions on Earth, generating knowledge that can help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Medical research conducted on the International Space Station helps us understand the human body in new ways, helping save lives and improve quality of life.

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Studying space helps us understand our own world

Studying the cosmos gives us an important perspective shift. When we learn about what lies beyond Earth, it gives us context for understanding our own planet. Studying the other worlds of our solar system and beyond makes it clear that Earth is a precious oasis for life. When we sent spacecraft to Venus we saw how a runaway greenhouse effect turned the world from a habitable planet to an absolute hellscape. When astronauts travel into space they see just how thin and tenuous Earth's atmosphere is, appreciating the fragile balance in which we live. A cosmic perspective underscores the importance of protecting our planet's habitability and encourages investment in that effort.

Studying space may one day save us all

All the social and environmental progress in the world won't help us if an asteroid impacts the Earth. We have to explore space to find and study the asteroids and comets in our cosmic neighborhood if we want to make sure we can defend our planet if an object ever heads our way.

NEO Surveyor Artist's Concept The NEO Surveyor mission will look for asteroids and comets with orbits that come close to EarthImage: NASA/JPL-Caltech/The Planetary Society

Space is inspiring

Not every child who dreams of becoming an astronaut will get that opportunity. This is a sad truth that many of us know from experience. But to be inspired to aim for something so grand gives kids the motivation to study hard and gain skills in science, engineering, medicine, or other fields that benefit humanity and directly help overcome problems that we face as a species.

And inspiration isn't just for kids. When we marvel at the beauty of Jupiter's clouds or the mystery of Enceladus' oceans, we get an opportunity to appreciate the wonder and majesty of this cosmos that we inhabit. The idea that life might exist elsewhere in the universe reminds us that we might not be the only planet struggling to achieve balance, justice, and sustainability. And even in the bleakest of times, there's something beautiful about still striving to achieve something great and discover something that could change how we see ourselves and our cosmos forever.

The plumes of Enceladus The mysteries of the cosmos are waiting to be solved. What new insights will the future of exploration uncover?Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI / Gordan Ugarkovic

There's plenty of room at the table

There's no denying that there are many important issues facing humanity that need fixing. But to deal with those problems doesn't mean we have to stop looking up, stop exploring, and stop making discoveries.

Human civilization has astonishing capacity, and we can do more than one important thing at a time. If someone thinks that a particular issue should get more attention and investment, they can and should advocate for that. The problems we face don't persist because we're spending money on space science and exploration. And there's no reason to pit our aspirations against one another.

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Why space exploration is always worthwhile

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A toolkit to help you advocate for the value of exploring space even when there are important problems to be solved here on Earth.

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Space exploration isn't simply a sign of humanity's hubris or a brazen desire to find new places to live and new sources of wealth. If we take the risk of venturing beyond our terrestrial home, it's also to learn more about ourselves and our planet, improve life on Earth, and maybe, just maybe, find or create a new future for our children, says Walter Cugno, Vice President Exploration and Science Domain at Thales Alenia Space.
Why spend such vast sums of money on space exploration and missions to far-distant celestial bodies where most people will never go?

I'd answer that question with a quote from Goethe: "If you want to reach the infinite, then explore every aspect of the finite." Space is first and foremost a fantastic "playground" for scientists - an endless source of knowledge and learning that's helping answer some of the key existential questions about Earth's origins and our place in the Universe.

Space exploration allows us to prove or disprove scientific theories developed on Earth. Studying the solar system, for example, has brought us insights into such phenomena as gravity, the magnetosphere, the atmosphere, fluid dynamics and the geological evolution of other planets.

Scientists today are especially interested in dark matter and dark energy to better understand their role in the hidden mass and accelerating expansion of the Universe. This is the objective of the Euclid ¹ mission being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Does space exploration have any more practical benefits?

Many innovations in fields ranging from metals and alloys to biology and medicine are the result of space exploration. Some applications - like ceramic coatings in our kitchens, air purification systems, smoke detectors and scratch-resistant glass - are already part of our daily lives.

Materials tested in space, under unique conditions that are difficult to replicate on Earth, can help us to develop stronger, lighter, higher-performance products. One of the experiments conducted by French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet on the International Space Station (ISS ²), for example, involved testing innovative materials designed to prevent bacterial growth. These new materials have considerable potential for public health and safety applications in hospitals, public transport and the food industry. The current COVID-19 pandemic brings the importance of this kind of research into sharp focus.

Let me give you another practical example. Long-duration missions are tough on the human body. Astronauts suffer loss of muscle mass and bone density, as well as accelerated wear and tear on the circulation system. Monitoring them in space and after they return to Earth is a chance to learn about the effects of ageing and support research into conditions like osteoporosis.

Drawing on our experience in pressurised modules and orbital infrastructure, we're currently working on a habitation module that could be used in remote or hostile locations like polar bases, desert camps, military outposts and offshore oil and gas platforms.

So space is a crucible for innovation?

Yes, but it's much more than that. Space exploration is a driving force in our efforts to address the major challenges facing society today. It's educating us about our responsibilities to the Earth and its resources.

How is it doing that?

Astronauts have to survive on limited food, raw materials, sunlight, energy, water and oxygen. Most of the water consumed on the ISS, for example, is derived from urine and other recycled wastewater. So new techniques had to be developed to make sure it's completely safe to drink.

In 2015, for example, a Cygnus ³ cargo spacecraft carried a 3D printer into orbit to conduct tests under zero-gravity conditions. With this kind of printer, astronauts could eventually produce any spare parts they need directly aboard ship. In October 2020, a Cygnus craft delivered essential supplies to the ISS, including food, water, oxygen, propellant, and space parts. One of the many scientific experiments contained in the cargo module involves the testing of a drug that could be used for the treatment of leukemia. All these experiments being handled by astronauts inside the ISS will be re-used in the near future to improve not only the medical sectors, but many others as well.

The EDEN ISS project, meanwhile, aims to develop ways to cultivate food crops in extraterrestrial environments in order to provide food for the ISS and, eventually, for space exploration vehicles and planetary outposts.

Space travel is a great opportunity to test the circular economy. Based on the experience of astronauts, humanity can learn how to better conserve the planet's resources.

Space is the stuff of dreams for children and grown-ups alike. Extraterrestrial life and voyages through interstellar space have piqued the imaginations of novelists and filmmakers for decades.They seem to have a particular fascination with Mars. As a scientist, do you appreciate this more mythical aspect of space?

Yes, of course - and I love it. Like many other kids, I used to gaze at the stars on summer evenings and dream of voyages into space. I'm really lucky that my childhood passion has turned into a career.

I don't know if we'll one day inhabit Mars, or if science fiction will become science fact and confirm or disprove the tales of Aleksey Tolstoy, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick or Ray Bradbury. The Red Planet continues to fascinate, maybe because it's the closest contender for becoming a host planet - although it still takes seven to nine months to get there. In any case, this fascination with space exploration is helping drive great strides in our knowledge.

For example, the ExoMars ⁴ Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has been studying the composition of the Martian atmosphere for several years to look for traces of methane, a vital component of life, and determine whether it's of biological or geological origin. The TGO also serves as a communications relay between Mars and Earth. In 2022, an ExoMars spacecraft will be launched on a seven-month journey to the Red Planet. The aim of the mission is to land a a rover on the surface of Mars to search for signs of past life.

The Mars Sample Return mission ⁵, which is part of an international collaboration led by NASA, will bring back samples from the Red Planet to Earth.

How closely is Thales involved in these missions?

Through Thales Alenia Space, which is 67% owned by the Group and 33% by Leonardo, Thales is a pivotal partner in the most amazing missions to explore the solar system. The technologies we're developing give astronauts the autonomy they need to embark on long missions - missions that currently last over six months on the ISS and could last several years in the case of future crewed missions to Mars or other deep space destinations.

Moon exploration is also key, because it will serve as a forward base for human missions to deep space. Leveraging its long-standing experience in orbital infrastructures, robotics, space transportation systems and exploration, Thales Alenia Space has become a leading partner, providing 3 pressurised modules for the lunar Gateway space station. Gateway is one of the pillars of NASA's Artemis programme, which aims to land people on the Moon by 2024.

We are also providing the backbone of the spaceship that will take the next man - and the first woman - to the Moon, while studying an innovative human landing vehicle and future solutions to guarantee a permanent human presence on the lunar surface.

So space still inspires you?

It certainly does! Understanding the environment on other planets where humans may one day live, and studying our own biological systems and how materials behave when not influenced by gravity, are crucially important endeavours for our future - and space exploration is helping us to find answers to our questions.
1 Euclid is a science mission led by the European Space Agency, with Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor. 2 The International Space Station is an international collaboration between five space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe) and the CSA (Canada). Thales Alenia Space provided 50% of the Station's pressurised volume, equivalent to 40% of the entire ISS. 3 The Cygnus resupply craft regularly fly to the ISS carrying food, water, spares and science experiments. Thales Alenia Space makes the pressurised cargo modules for all Cygnus vessels. 4 ExoMars is a joint exploration programme between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos - with contributions from NASA - that aims to study the Martian environment, atmosphere and soil. It will lead to an massive data harvest that will feed scientists' research for many years to come. Thales Alenia Space is prime contractor on the ExoMars missions (2016 & 2022), leading an industrial consortium.
5 The Mars Sample Return mission will collect samples on the Martian surface and bring them back to Earth in 2031 for laboratory analysis. Thales Alenia Space will contribute to the Earth Return Orbiter, a key element of the mission.

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Exploring space to prepare for Earth's future

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Space exploration isn't simply a sign of humanity's hubris or a brazen desire to find new places to live and new sources of wealth.

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Humanity's interest in the heavens has been universal and enduring. Humans are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further. The intangible desire to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we know and where we have been has provided benefits to our society for centuries.
Human space exploration helps to address fundamental questions about our place in the Universe and the history of our solar system. Through addressing the challenges related to human space exploration we expand technology, create new industries, and help to foster a peaceful connection with other nations. Curiosity and exploration are vital to the human spirit and accepting the challenge of going deeper into space will invite the citizens of the world today and the generations of tomorrow to join NASA on this exciting journey.

A Flexible Path

This is the beginning of a new era in space exploration in which NASA has been challenged to develop systems and capabilities required to explore beyond low-Earth orbit, including destinations such as translunar space, near-Earth asteroids and eventually Mars.
NASA will use the International Space Station as a test-bed and stepping stone for the challenging journey ahead. By building upon what we learn there we will prepare astronauts for the challenges of long-duration flight and the permanent expansion of human exploration beyond where we have been before. Explorers may visit near-Earth asteroids where we may get answers to the questions humans have always asked. Visiting an asteroid will provide valuable mission experience and prepare us for the next steps-possibly for the first humans to step on Mars.
Robotic exploration continues to deliver profound answers about our Universe by visiting far-off destinations, providing reconnaissance and collecting scientific data. When combining both human and robotic exploration methods we will use technology and our senses to increase our ability to observe, adapt, and uncover new knowledge.

Why the International Space Station?

The first step in embarking on a long and challenging journey involves laying solid groundwork for a successful endeavor. The International Space Station serves as a national laboratory for human health, biological, and materials research, as a technology test-bed, and as a stepping stone for going further into the solar system. On the International Space Station we will improve and learn new ways to ensure astronauts are safe, healthy and productive while exploring, and we will continue expand our knowledge about how materials and biological systems behave outside of the influence of gravity.
NASA will continue its unprecedented work with the commercial industry and expand an entire industry as private companies develop and operate safe, reliable and affordable commercial systems to transport crew and cargo to and from the International Space Station and low Earth orbit.

Why Translunar Space?

Translunar space is vast expanse surrounding the Earth-moon system, extending far beyond the moon's orbit and dominated by the two bodies' gravity fields. Exploring in translunar space, beyond the protection of the Earth's geomagnetic field, will provide unprecedented experience in deep-space operations. Operating in translunar space, NASA can research galactic cosmic radiation-potentially the most threatening element to humans exploring deep space-and develop mitigation strategies that may also lead to medical advancements on Earth.
The Lagrange points-places in cislunar space where the gravitational influences of the Earth and moon cancel each other out-are advantageous areas for exploration and research in which almost no propulsion is required to keep an object or spacecraft stationary. The Lagrange point on the far side of the Earth-Moon system, called L2, also provides a "radio silence" zone for astronomical observations.
Missions to translunar space will give NASA and its partners the opportunity to develop tools and operational techniques to support decades of future exploration, while remaining in relative proximity to Earth.

Why Asteroids?

Asteroids are believed to have formed early in our solar system's history-about 4.5 billion years ago-when a cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula collapsed and formed our sun and the planets. By visiting these near Earth objects to study the material that came from the solar nebula, we can look for answers to some of humankind's most compelling questions, such as: how did the solar system form and where did the Earth's water and other organic materials such as carbon come from?
In addition to unlocking clues about our solar system, asteroids may provide clues about our Earth. By understanding more about asteroids we may learn more about past Earth impacts and possibly find ways to reduce the threat of future impacts.
Future robotic missions to asteroids will prepare humans for long-duration space travel and the eventual journey to Mars. Robotic missions will provide reconnaissance information about asteroid orbits, surface composition, and even return samples to Earth for further evaluation. These robotic missions are a critical step in preparing humans to visit asteroids where we will learn about the valuable resources available in space, and further develop ways to use them in our quest for more efficient and affordable exploration.

Why Mars?

Mars has always been a source of inspiration for explorers and scientists. Robotic missions have found evidence of water, but if life exists beyond Earth still remains a mystery. Robotic and scientific robotic missions have shown that Mars has characteristics and a history similar to Earth's, but we know that there are striking differences that we have yet to begin to understand. Humans can build upon this knowledge and look for signs of life and investigate Mars' geological evolution, resulting in research and methods that could be applied here on Earth.
A mission to our nearest planetary neighbor provides the best opportunity to demonstrate that humans can live for extended, even permanent, stays beyond low Earth orbit. The technology and space systems required to transport and sustain explorers will drive innovation and encourage creative ways to address challenges. As previous space endeavors have demonstrated, the resulting ingenuity and technologies will have long lasting benefits and applications.
The challenge of traveling to Mars and learning how to live there will encourage nations around the world to work together to achieve such an ambitious undertaking. The International Space station has shown that opportunities for collaboration will highlight our common interests and provide a global sense of community.

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Humanity's interest in the heavens has been universal and enduring. Humans are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further. The intangible desire to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we know and where we have been has provided benefits to our society for centuries.

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Watch as SpaceX launches the Crew-5 astronaut mission for NASA

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The mission is SpaceX's fifth operational crew launch for NASA to date, and the company's eighth human spaceflight in just over two years.

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SpaceX is a private spaceflight company that puts satellites into orbit and delivers cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the first private company to send a cargo ship to the ISS, doing so in 2012. The company is working on developing powerful rockets and spacecraft capable of carrying people into space. Founder and CEO said in 2019 that he wanted people to start flying aboard his company's newest, enormous rocket ship in the next year or so.

Who owns SpaceX?

SpaceX was founded by Musk, a South African-born businessman and entrepreneur. At age 30, Musk made his initial fortune by selling his two successful companies: Zip2, which he sold for $307 million in 1999, and PayPal, which eBay purchased for $1.5 billion in 2002, The New York Times reported. He decided his next major venture would be a privately funded space company.

Initially, Musk had the idea of sending a greenhouse, dubbed the Mars Oasis, to the Red Planet. His goal was to drum up public interest in exploration while also providing a science base on Mars. But the cost ended up being too high, and instead, Musk started a spaceflight company called Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, now based in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, California.

He spent a third of his reported fortune, $100 million, to get SpaceX going. There was skepticism that he would be successful, which persisted into SpaceX's first years.

SpaceX's first rocket: Falcon 1

Musk was already an experienced businessman when he started SpaceX, and he strongly believed that more-frequent and more-reliable launches would bring down the cost of exploration. So, he sought out a stable customer that could fund the early development of a rocket: . (Later, he wooed launch clients from various sectors to diversify his customer base.) As such, his goal for SpaceX was to develop the first privately built, liquid-fueled booster to make it into orbit, which he called the Falcon 1.

The company experienced a steep learning curve on the road to orbit. It took four tries to get Falcon 1 flying successfully, with previous attempts derailed by problems such as fuel leaks and a rocket-stage collision. But eventually, Falcon 1 made two successful flights: on Sept. 28, 2008, and July 14, 2009. The 2009 launch also placed the Malaysian RazakSat satellite into orbit.
Related: See The Evolution of SpaceX's Rockets in Pictures Related: Launch Pictures: SpaceX's Dragon Capsule Roars to Space Station
SpaceX's path to the space station

The next and most crucial milestone was space station delivery. Dragon, riding a Falcon 9 rocket, delivered its first cargo to the space station in May 2012 under a test flight for the COTS program. The launch was delayed for a few days because of an engine problem, but the rocket lifted off safely on the next try.

Spaceflight observers commended SpaceX's ability to send a cargo spacecraft to the ISS. Private spaceflight hadn't even been considered when the space station was developed in the 1980s and '90s.

SpaceX fulfilled the first of its regular commercial flights to the space station in October 2012. That flight achieved most of its objectives, but it experienced a partial rocket failure during launch. The failure ended up stranding a satellite, Orbcomm-OG2, in an abnormally low orbit, which led to the mission's failure.

Building bigger and better spacecraft: Falcon 9, Dragon and Falcon Heavy

The initial Falcon Heavy flight, on Feb. 6, 2018, met almost all of its major milestones. Falcon Heavy successfully flew to orbit, carrying a Tesla Roadster (an electric car made by Tesla, another company owned by Musk) and a spacesuited mannequin nicknamed Starman onboard. SpaceX ran a livestream of the launch and the Roadster's first few hours in space, which attracted attention from all over the world.

The two rocket boosters landed successfully near Kennedy Space Center, as expected, but the core stage hit the ocean at 300 mph (480 km/h), which was too fast, and it didn't survive the impact. Falcon Heavy then performed an engine burn in space that is expected to bring the Roadster at least as far as Mars' orbit.

April 2019 saw a setback for SpaceX when a test of the crewed Dragon spacecraft, intended to bring NASA astronauts to space, experienced a malfunction while on the ground. This created a smoke plume visible for miles around Cape Canaveral, Florida. The incident set back the company's timeline for bringing people to the International Space Station.

SpaceX's plans for the future, Mars and more

SpaceX has customers from the private sector, military and nongovernmental entities, which pay the company to launch cargo into space. Although SpaceX makes its money from launch services, the company is also focused on developing technology for future space exploration.

"The reason SpaceX was created was to accelerate development of rocket technology, all for the goal of establishing a self-sustaining, permanent base on Mars," Musk said at the time. "And I think we're making some progress in that direction - not as fast as I'd like."

In 2016, Musk unveiled his technological plan for Martian transport, which is a part of his plan to create a self-sustaining Red Planet colony in the next 50 to 100 years. The Interplanetary Transport System, as the rocket is called, is essentially a larger version of the Falcon 9. The spaceship, however, will be quite a bit larger than the Dragon, as it is slated to carry at least 100 people per flight. (The crewed version of the Dragon for the ISS is expected to carry four people, on average.)

Musk followed up his announcement in 2017 by publishing a paper describing a future Red Planet city of a million people and providing more details about how the ITS would transport cargo and people.

Musk updated his Mars plans in September 2017 in an address in Australia. He didn't mention the ITS during the talk; instead, he talked about a system called the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR). The spaceship that BFR will carry will be 157.5 feet (48 meters) tall and have 40 cabins for passengers, likely with a capacity of 100 people.

In 2018, Musk announced that Yusaku Maezawa, an artist and billionaire founder of the Japanese e-commerce giant Zozo, and a handful of artists will launch on the BFR on a trip around the moon in the 2020s. SpaceX did not disclose how much Maezawa paid for that trip.

Musk once again unveiled an update to his Mars plans, in September 2019, renaming the first BFR to Starship Mk1 and switching its outer coating from expensive carbon fiber to stainless steel. Photos of the shiny, sci-fi-looking craft being assembled at SpaceX's South Texas facilities, near the village of Boca Chica, circulated on the internet.
Additional resources:

You can follow SpaceX on Twitter .

Watch videos of SpaceX's successful and failed launches on the company's YouTube channel.

Check out NASA's SpaceX blog for the latest news on collaborations between the two entities.

This article was updated on Dec. 16, 2019 by Space.com Contributor Adam Mann.
In 2019, Musk and SpaceX ignited controversy in the field of astronomy over the company's plans to place a constellation of 12,000 small satellites in orbit around the Earth in order to provide reliable internet access to remote places. So far, only 60 of these Starlink satellites have launched but they have already left unsightly trails in astronomers' telescope observations of the night sky. Many researchers fear that an increased number of satellites will cause problems for vital data-collecting enterprises.

According to a SpaceNews report, SpaceX plans to test out a special coating on the next round of Starlink satellites that could help make them less reflective and, therefore, less obtrusive in the night sky.

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SpaceX: First Private Flights to Space Station

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SpaceX is a private spaceflight company that puts satellites into orbit and delivers cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the first private company to send a cargo ship to the ISS, doing so in 2012. The company is working on developing powerful rockets and spacecraft capable of carrying people into space.

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Cargo Missions

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 6,000 kgs / 13,228 lbs of cargo to the Station and returning 3,000 kgs / 6,614 lbs of cargo back to Earth. To date, Dragon has made over 20 trips to the orbiting laboratory.

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SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 6,000 kgs / 13,228 lbs of cargo to the Station and returning 3,000 kgs / 6,614 lbs of cargo back to Earth. To date, Dragon has made over 20 trips to the orbiting laboratory.

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Space exploration has been saving and improving lives all over the world for decades. In fact, one could even argue that astronomy and planetary science were fundamental in shaping civilization as we know it. The night sky has been used for navigation for millennia. The further humans have ventured into space, the more we have learned about life on Earth - its plants, animals, atmosphere, and people.

When many people think of space exploration, they may imagine astronauts floating around on the ISS or hopping around on the Moon. It can be difficult to see why activity on the ISS, the Moon, Mars, and beyond would be worthwhile for people on Earth. Why should we contribute money to space programs when there are problems we still need to solve on Earth?

Space exploration has already helped us solve those problems. It sparks new innovations and discoveries that are crucial to the modern world.

Invention and Innovation

Many people aren't aware of how many everyday inventions are the result of space exploration. Long before astronauts blast off to leave the atmosphere, hundreds upon hundreds of hours go into developing new technologies designed for the unusual environment of space. From scratch-resistant lenses to solar panels and even artificial limbs, dozens of items that are key to daily life on Earth were invented and developed in space exploration programs.

Some of these inventions came about because NASA and other space agencies were trying to solve unique problems astronauts faced in zero gravity or on the Moon. For example, the insulin pump resulted from equipment designed to monitor astronauts' vitals in space. This is known as a "spinoff", an invention scientists originally created for space exploration the later modified or adapted into a consumer or civilian technology. LASIK eye surgery is another famous example of a space exploration spinoff technology.

Over the past few decades, scientists have invented numerous other remarkable technologies aboard the International Space Station. The ISS is first and foremost a laboratory. Astronauts don't simply float around for fun on their trips into orbit. Science experiments and research projects are always underway at the ISS. This research has led to the development of some incredible technologies and scientific discoveries that have an impact on life on Earth every day. Even living aboard the ISS for extended periods of time sparked innovation. For example, NASA developed next-gen water purification systems for the ISS and the technology went on to help improve access to clean water on Earth.

Using Space for Discovery

While the technological inventions sparked by space exploration are amazing, the scientific discoveries are even more so. Space exploration is responsible for far more than identifying new galaxies millions of lightyears away. Important research and breakthroughs in biology, medicine, physics, and more are the result of space exploration. The ISS is at the heart of these advances, with astronauts contributing to numerous cutting-edge research projects every year.

ISS Medical Research

In fact, space exploration has even helped create life-saving medical treatments. For example, in 2018 ISS astronauts tested an advanced new cancer treatment that doctors were unable to test on Earth, as astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor explains in a zero-g video. Astronauts have also helped develop medical treatments to fight muscle atrophy and bone loss.

A 2020 experiment used a unique implantable device to grow muscles in mice aboard the ISS (yes, the mice flew into space). The technology researched in this project could change the lives of millions of people on Earth who suffer from muscular conditions. Another project is researching artificial cartilage that could help millions of people with things like knee injuries.

The Unique Environment of Space

These projects are just a few examples of the critical role of space exploration in scientific research and discovery. When scientists are trying to understand how something works, they often subject it to unusual circumstances to see how it responds. The microgravity that astronauts experience in orbit aboard the ISS is an incredibly unique and valuable "unusual circumstance" where scientists can discover new things.

The above-mentioned research projects would not have been physically possible on Earth. Taking those experiments to microgravity allowed scientists to study cells, biology, and the human body in ways they otherwise couldn't have, making discoveries that otherwise would have been inaccessible. There have been dozens of these incredible breakthroughs aboard the ISS over the past few decades.

Satellites

One cannot overstate the importance of satellites in the modern world. Satellites are critical for so many everyday things all over the world. If all of the satellites orbiting Earth right now were to suddenly shut off and stop working, we would be in trouble. Satellites help planes navigate, provide Internet access to millions, help first responders save lives, allow us to monitor weather, make Google Maps and GPS possible, and even help us fight climate change.

Without space exploration, there would be no satellites quietly orbiting Earth today and none of these technologies would be possible. What is particularly fascinating about this is that when Roscosmos, the Soviet Space Agency, launched the first satellite into space in 1957, no one could have predicted just how crucial satellites would one day become. People knew that the launch of Sputnik was groundbreaking, but mostly in the context of its sheer mystery - it seemed like the Soviet Union could do virtually anything with this new technology, namely spy on the US.

Without that first step into the stars with an unassuming little satellite, the modern world would look completely different. For example, the convenient maps we have on our phones wouldn't be possible without the help of satellites. Farmers all over the world rely on satellites for agricultural data that is crucial to supplying the global food supply.

For example, one NASA satellite known as SMAP was launched specifically to monitor water in surface soil on Earth. This data, which NASA makes available worldwide for free, improves weather forecasting, helps predict floods, monitors droughts, tracks energy and carbon cycles, and helps improve crop productivity. The SMAP satellite has a beneficial impact on the whole world, even if we can't see it right in front of us.

Protecting the Human Species

Finally, space exploration protects and unites the human species. This can be seen on a small scale aboard the ISS. One day, though, not too far in the future, explorers from all over the world will come together to return to the Moon and even set foot on Mars. On a cosmic scale, the survival of the human species relies on us becoming multi-planetary. Back on Earth, learning about our two closest neighbors, Mars and Venus, can help scientists figure out how to keep Earth's atmosphere and environment healthy for millennia to come.

New Inventions and Discoveries

Remember, as established above, space exploration has always led to incredible new inventions and discoveries that improve life for everyone on Earth. There's no telling what new innovations could be discovered on expeditions to the Moon and Mars. There is already at least one next-gen space exploration technology that's having a big impact on Earth: 3D printed construction.

Using 3D printed concrete made from Martian soil, NASA could create durable, permanent structures on Mars using autonomous robots. It's no surprise that at the same time that this cutting-edge project is underway at NASA, the world's largest 3D printed neighborhood is also set for construction in Austin, Texas. The increased R&D surrounding 3D printed construction for space exploration could help develop the technology on Earth and end the housing shortage.

A Multi-Planetary Neighborhood

On a grander scale, it is almost certain that humanity will one day colonize the Moon, Mars, and potentially even Venus or one day the moons of Jupiter or Saturn. With humans living on four or more different worlds in our solar system, there would be more resources to go around and less chance of something catastrophic ending human civilization. We could mine resources from asteroids, the Moon, Mars, and even Venus's atmosphere. For example, all of that gray dust on the Moon can actually be mined for a valuable power source called Helium-3.

Interestingly, Mars and Venus's atmospheres are both alternate versions of Earth, one too cold and thin and the other too hot and dense. This could potentially help us study and prevent long-term climate change. In the distant future, we have even been able to terraform both Mars and Venus to have comfortable, Earth-like surfaces.

Advancing All of Humanity in the Stars

Space exploration isn't about traversing the stars just to see what we find. It is about making new discoveries that broaden our understanding of the universe and humanity - our biology, our planet, our future in the solar system. The scientific research conducted for and through space exploration has repeatedly led to life-changing innovations for everyone on Earth. By continuing to explore the universe around us, we can advance the entire human civilization, improving lives and expanding horizons for a better future.
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Why Space Exploration is Important for Earth - Revolutionized

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Revolutionized is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commision. Learn more here. Space exploration has been saving and improving lives all over the world for decades. In fact, one could even argue that astronomy and planetary science were fundamental in shaping civilization as we know it.

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Andy Bowyer, Director, Kleos Space and Magna Parva, talked about the key effects of space exploration to life on Earth, at the Codex event 'World's Top 50 Innovators from the Industries of the Future', held in London, on the 27th September, 2017.
Here are 15 main ways space exploration is benefiting life on Earth:
Commercialising low-Earth orbit
A new commercial pathway is revolutionising and opening access to space, fostering America's new space economy in low-Earth orbit. For the first time, the market is expressing what research can and should be done aboard the microgravity laboratory without direct government funding. The Center for Advancement of Science in Space, or CASIS, manages half of the crew research time via the ISS National Laboratory and is filling the pipeline with a wide variety of commercial research and payloads.

More than two-thirds of these projects to date have required zero funding from CASIS, and that trend is increasing. In addition, a significant portion of the commercial research taking place aboard the station is made possible by NanoRacks hardware.

The company has invested privately and raised capital to provide laboratory facilities for small payloads, including CubeSats deployed from the space station, that make research faster and more affordable.

NASA's move to purchase commercial cargo resupply and crew transportation to the space station enables U.S. businesses to develop a competitive capability they also can sell as a service to others while freeing NASA resources for deep space exploration. Private sector participation provides a new model for moving forward in partnership with the government.
Supporting water purification efforts worldwide
Using technology developed for the space station, at-risk areas can gain access to advanced water filtration and purification systems, making a life-saving difference in these communities. Joint collaborations between aid organisations and NASA technology show just how effectively space research can adapt to contribute answers to global problems.

The commercialisation of this station-related technology has provided aid and disaster relief for communities worldwide. The Water Security Corporation, in collaboration with other organisations, has deployed systems using NASA water-processing technology around the world.
Growing high-quality protein crystals
There are more than 100,000 proteins in the human body and as many as 10 billion in nature. Every structure is different, and each protein holds important information related to our health and to the global environment. The perfect environment in which to study these structures is space.

Microgravity allows for optimal growth of the unique and complicated crystal structures of proteins leading to the development of medical treatments.

An example of a protein that was successfully crystallised in space is hematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase (H-PGDS), which may hold the key to developing useful drugs for treating muscular dystrophy.

This particular experiment is an example of how understanding a protein's structure can lead to better drug designs. Further research is ongoing.
Bringing space station ultrasound to the ends of the Earth
Fast, efficient and readily available medical attention is key to survival in a health emergency. For those without medical facilities within easy reach, it can mean the difference between life and death.

For astronauts in orbit about 250 miles above Earth aboard the International Space Station, that problem was addressed through the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity (ADUM) investigation.

In partnership with the World Interactive Network Focused on Critical Ultrasound (WINFO-CUS), ADUM principal investigator Scott Dulchavsky, M.D., is taking techniques originally developed for space station astronauts and adapting them for use in Earth's farthest corners by developing protocols for performing complex procedures rapidly with remote expert guidance and training.
Improving eye surgery with space hardware
Laser surgery to correct eyesight is a common practice, and technology developed for use in space is now commonly used on Earth to track a patient's eye and precisely direct the laser scalpel.

The Eye Tracking Device experiment gave researchers insight into how humans' frames of reference, balance and the overall control of eye movement are affected by weightlessness. In parallel with its use on the space station, the engineers realised the device had potential for applications on Earth.

Tracking the eye's position without interfering with the surgeon's work is essential in laser surgery. The space technology proved ideal, and the Eye Tracking Device equipment is now being used in a large proportion of corrective laser surgeries throughout the world.
Making inoperable tumors operable with a robotic arm
The delicate touch that successfully removed an egg-shaped tumor from Paige Nickason's brain got a helping hand from a world-renowned arm-a robotic arm, that is. The technology that went into developing neuroArm, the world's first robot capable of performing surgery inside magnetic resonance machines, was born of the Canadarm (developed in collaboration with engineers at MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates, Ltd. [MDA] for the U.S. Space Shuttle Program) as well as Canadarm2 and Dextre, the Canadian Space Agency's family of space robots performing the heavy lifting and maintenance aboard the International Space Station. Since Nickason's surgery in 2008, neuroArm has been used in initial clinical experience with 35 patients who were otherwise inoperable.
Preventing bone loss through diet and exercise
In the early days of the space station, astronauts were losing about one-and-a-half percent of their total bone mass density per month. Researchers discovered an opportunity to identify the mechanisms that control bones at a cellular level.

These scientists discovered that high-intensity resistive exercise, dietary supplementation for vitamin D and specific caloric intake can remedy loss of bone mass in space.

The research also is applicable to vulnerable populations on Earth, like older adults, and is important for continuous crew member residency aboard the space station and for deep space exploration to an asteroid placed in lunar orbit and on the journey to Mars.
Understanding the mechanisms of osteoporosis
While most people will never experience life in space, the benefits of studying bone and muscle loss aboard the station has the potential to touch lives here on the ground. Model organisms are non-human species with characteristics that allow them easily to be reproduced and studied in a laboratory.

Scientists conducted a study of mice in orbit to understand mechanisms of osteoporosis. This research led to availability of a pharmaceutical on Earth called Prolia® to treat people with osteoporosis, a direct benefit of pharmaceutical companies using the spaceflight opportunity available via the national lab to improve health on Earth.
Developing improved vaccines
Ground research indicated that certain bacteria, in particular Salmonella, might become more pathogenic (more able to cause disease) during spaceflight. Salmonella infections result in thousands of hospitalisations and hundreds of deaths annually in the United States.

While studying them in space, scientists found a pathway for bacterial pathogens to become virulent. Researchers identified the genetic pathway activating in Salmonella bacteria, allowing the increased likelihood to spread in microgravity. This research on the space station led to new studies of microbial vaccine development.
Providing students opportunities to conduct their own science in space
From the YouTube Space Lab competition, the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, and SPHERES Zero Robotics, space station educational activities inspire more than 43 million students across the globe.

These types of inquiry-based projects allow students to be involved in human space exploration with the goal of stimulating their studies of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is understood that when students test a hypothesis on their own or compare work in a lab to what's going on aboard the space station, they are more motivated towards math and science.
Breast cancer detection and treatment technology
A surgical instrument inspired by the Canadian Space Agency's heavy-lifting and maneuvering robotic arms on the space station is in clinical trials for use in patients with breast cancer. The Image-Guided Autonomous Robot (IGAR) works inside an MRI machine to help accurately identify the size and location of a tumor. Using IGAR, surgeons also will be able to perform highly dexterous, precise movements during biopsies.
Monitoring water quality from space
Though it completed its mission in 2015, the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) was an imaging sensor that helped detect water quality parameters such as water clarity, phytoplankton concentrations, light absorption and the distribution of cyanobacteria. HICO was first designed and built by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory for the Office of Naval Research to assess water quality in the coastal ocean.

Researchers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the data from HICO and developed a smartphone application to help determine hazardous concentrations of contaminants in water. With the space station's regular addition of new instruments to provide a continuous platform for Earth observation, researchers will continue to build proactive environmental protection applications that benefit all life on Earth.
Monitoring natural disasters from space
An imaging system aboard the station, ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualisation System (ISERV), captured photographs of Earth from space for use in developing countries affected by natural disasters.

A broader joint endeavor by NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development, known as SERVIR, works with developing nations around the world to use satellites for environmental decision-making. Images from orbit can help with rapid response efforts to floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, deforestation, harmful algal blooms and other types of natural events.

Since the station passes over more than 90% of the Earth's populated areas every 24 hours, the ISERV system was available to provide imagery to developing nations quickly, collecting up to 1,000 images per day. Though ISERV successfully completed its mission, the space station continues to prove to be a valuable platform for Earth observation during times of disaster.
Describing the behaviour of fluids to improve medical devices
Capillary Flow Experiments (CFE) aboard the space station study the movement of a liquid along surfaces, similar to the way fluid wicks along a paper towel. These investigations produce space-based models that describe fluid behaviour in microgravity, which has led to a new medical testing device on Earth. This new device could improve diagnosis of HIV/AIDS in remote areas, thanks in part to knowledge gained from the experiments.
Improving indoor air quality
Solutions for growing crops in space now translates to solutions for mold prevention in wine cellars, homes and medical facilities, as well as other industries around the world.

NASA is studying crop growth aboard the space station to develop the capability for astronauts to grow their own food as part of the agency's journey to Mars.

Scientists working on this investigation noticed that a buildup of a naturally-occurring plant hormone called ethylene was destroying plants within the confined plant growth chambers.

Researchers developed and successfully tested an ethylene removal system in space, called Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC). It helped to keep the plants alive by removing viruses, bacteria and mold from the plant growth chamber.

Scientists adapted the ADVASC system for use in air purification. Now this technology is used to prolong the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables in the grocery store, and winemakers are using it in their storage cellars.

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How is space exploration improving life on Earth?

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Andy Bowyer, Director, Kleos Space and Magna Parva, talked about the key effects of space exploration to life on Earth, at the Codex event 'World's Top 50 Innovators from the Industries of the Future', held in London, on the 27th September, 2017.

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Nearly 53 years after NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took history-making steps on the moon, the world remains fascinated by space. In the decades since that giant leap for humankind, research, discovery, and space travel have offered more insight into the flashing lights and saucers that continue to captivate. Today, investments in space are experiencing record growth, as private companies pave the way for increased space flight and innovation. On #WorldUFODay, check out these insights on the burgeoning space industry, including:

the role of the satellite communications industry in financial transactions, the Internet of Things, and more

the growing space tourism industry and the development of innovative space technologies

space debris mitigation and sustainability

the effect of international collaboration on advancing space research and exploration

Space: Investment shifts from GEO to LEO and now beyond Building a better planet with satellite data Making aerospace 'diverse and dynamic': An interview with Airbus U.S.'s Debra Facktor Wall Street to Mission Control: Can space tourism pay off? Five Fifty: The future of the space economy Strengthening collaboration in the European space ecosystem The role of space in driving sustainability, security, and development on Earth

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Out of this world: The future of space exploration and innovation

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Nearly 53 years after NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took history-making steps on the moon, the world remains fascinated by space. In the decades since that giant leap for humankind, research, discovery, and space travel have offered more insight into the flashing lights and saucers that continue to captivate.

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Advanced Materials for Space: Why is Innovation Important for the Future of Space Technology?

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Space is a challenging landscape. It's cold, harsh, and exposed to all matters of danger, including debris, radiation, and lack of control. For scientists, the challenges begin on the ground-how do we safely and efficiently launch human influence into the wider reaches of the universe?

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University of Central Florida News | UCF Today

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The Impact of Innovation in the New Era of Space Exploration

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How can we drive the surge in innovation offered by increased access to space, to benefit humankind?

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How space exploration accelerates innovation

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In addition to encouraging advancements in industries like healthcare and tech, interplanetary exploration has enhanced everyday necessities.

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Do We Really Need to Send Humans into Space?

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Automated spacecraft cost far less; they’re getting more capable every year; and if they fail, nobody dies

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National Space Society - Working to Create a Spacefaring Civilization

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WHY WE DO — AND MUST — GO INTO SPACE - National Space Society

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By Jeffrey G. Liss, NSS Board of Directors The smart answer — more than 40 years after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon — to why we go into space, is: “We must.” Space Pays! — The Space Program Has Paid for Itself It is a myth that we cant afford space. Confirmation that space […]

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WHY WE DO — AND MUST — GO INTO SPACE

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Why do humans want to go in space? (Beginner)

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My students in grade 3 and I are curious as to the reasons why humans have wanted to travel into space?
I think that humans have been wanting to travel in space because it is in the human nature to explore what surrounds us. I think that the fundamental reason why we have been in space and to the Moon is the same reason why people have climbed the Everest, crossed Antarctica, and attempted other extreme endeavors on Earth. Curiosity can lead people to great achievements.

There are also political reasons that drove people to want to go to space. In the context of the cold war, it became a big international competition between mainly the United States and the Soviet Republic to see who would put the first man in space and who would walk on the Moon first. So in my opinion, even though the curiosity and explorer nature of humans is primarily responsible for all these things happening, these political issues made them happen for real.
Page last updated on June 24, 2015.

About the Author

Amelie is working on ways to detect the signals of galaxies from radio maps.

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Why do humans want to go in space? (Beginner)

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(Beginner) >" onclick="window.open(this.href,'win2','status=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,titlebar=no,menubar=no,resizable=yes,width=640,height=480,directories=no,location=no'); return false;" rel="nofollow"> My students in grade 3 and I are curious as to the reasons why humans have wanted to travel into space? I think that humans have been wanting to travel in space because it is in the human nature to explore what surrounds us.

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If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it... then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords. Aristotle

So said Aristotle in 322 B.C.E. And thus, the foundation stone for how to work automation could help improve humanity's future was laid, all the way back in the ancient world. In fact, the past is replete with many different examples of automatons: from the Steam-Powered Pigeon of Archytas to Da Vinci's Armored Knight, to the bellstrikers installed in mechanical clocks across Europe in the Middle Ages.

The early automatons were designed less for doing actual work and more as proof of concept or entertainment. Whereas early automatons were built using networks of cogs, gears, levers, and pulleys, the future robots will be more digital than mechanical. And they will undoubtedly be designed to do the work of many humans in a fraction of the time.

The pessimistic predictions on what the future of work automation could mean for humanity finds their ultimate expression in such dystopian films as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Beyond this, this exists a misinformed, though generalized, viewpoint that widespread automation will replace human workers. But these kinds of projections won't come to pass. Why not? Because the future of automation lies in its ability to become integrated with how humans work. Automation will increasingly be harnessed as a driving force in helping people work smarter, not harder. It will take on all the boring, repetitive, and tedious work that humans currently do, thereby freeing workers to focus their attention on more high-level work that requires skills like creativity, interpretation, and empathy.

Simply defined, automation is the use of technology to complete tasks without the need for human intervention. And it is already having a major impact on the world of business.

Many companies are already implementing RPA to handle repetitive, rules-driven workflows or streamline inefficient ones. This is having the significant effect of:

Rather than replacing a human workforce, RPA enhances how humans work. By taking care of the mundane and tiresome, though necessary, tasks within an organization, RPA frees up employees' regular workloads so they can focus on more interesting and fulfilling work. This acknowledges the fact that robots are far superior at completing repetitive, rules-driven tasks, whereas humans outsmart robots when it comes to taking on sophisticated and creative work.

Many large companies have already embraced work automation as the future of their business. Indeed, the industrial automation sector alone is projected to be worth in excess of USD $326 billion by 2027. Likewise, the potential of this technology to achieve greater productivity, reduce labor costs and even improve customer service is also growing exponentially. Ultimately, automation is an inevitable force that will radically change most industries.

Consider the rapid rate of change within the automobile industry, one of the most automated sectors on the planet.

General Motors (GM) made $11 billion in 1979 with a workforce of some 800,000 workers. Whereas in 2020, GM made $13.6 billion, employing only 155,000. Another example of this automation happening in the online space is Blockbuster vs. Netflix. Blockbuster accrued $5.9 billion in 2004 with a workforce of 60,000 people. By 2018, Netflix had produced a $20 billion turnover with only 8,600 staff.

As you can see, work automation is already happening, and it's here to stay. That's because, despite requiring an initial investment to get started, once your business has automated some or most of its daily processes, it's very rewarding for the bottom line. Take, for instance, a big-name insurance firm that recently took the decision to go down the RPA path.

This unnamed company opted to deploy 13 RPA bots to streamline workflows and automate its IT processes.

The result? A saving of almost US$200K and 18,000 people hours. Not to mention a greater sense of employee job satisfaction.

That's because a lot of the tedious and repetitive admin tasks, such as collecting, collating, and recording customer correspondence, are now handled by the RPA bots.

No - your employees need not be worried: RPA is not going to replace them at their work just yet. As previous iterations of automation reveal, it's not the human worker's ability to do a job that is being replaced, it's the carrying out of certain tasks. Repetitive, rules-based, and tedious tasks. Automation is specifically about eliminating double-handling and offloading certain jobs to the bots, which they can perform quicker, more accurately, and without complaint. So, as you can see, in most cases, RPA is giving back to the employee the opportunity to direct their energies toward something of higher value to the organization.

The future of how automation will change the way we work is akin to the impacts of the Industrial Revolution. Originating in Europe around 1760 before being exported to the rest of the world, the Industrial Revolution did away with the need to rely exclusively on manual labor in industries such as farming, textiles, and manufacturing. What happened eventually, however, was that the economic advantages and opportunities for growth brought about by the Industrial Revolution outstripped job losses and created greater prosperity for everyone. It's an interesting conundrum - some employees may be reticent about their organization's adoption of RPA, seeing it as a direct threat to their job security. Whereas other employees welcome RPA as it means getting freed up to take on more interesting and rewarding challenges at work. However, what the research shows is that automation is not replacing jobs. In fact, it's creating them. Indeed, a recent study by McKinsey Global Research found that the Internet created 2.6 new jobs for each one it rendered obsolete.

Among 4,800 small and medium-size enterprises surveyed, the Internet created 2.6 jobs for each lost to technology-related efficiencies.

source: McKinsey.com

If work automation was indeed replacing jobs en masse, two things would be happening: overall productivity levels would be skyrocketing, and there would be not as many new jobs being advertised. Both things aren't happening. This points to the fact that work automation has not yet reached its full potential and that we also need to reconceptualize how we think about what it means for the future of work. It's true that certain jobs will be made redundant, but in the bigger sense, robots are not going to constitute a workforce in and of themselves.

RPA empowers companies to disrupt their industries by outpacing the competition and investing in innovation. With the tiresome, repetitive, yet necessary admin-type tasks being taken care of by bots, organizations can instead focus their attention on using their in-house human talent to find solutions to growth problems that will enable them to rise to market leadership. This type of disruption is good for the overall economy. It will create new categories of work we cannot even imagine yet to replace the old jobs displaced by technological change. The savings companies make via automation will go into further research and development to create new goods and services, which will create more job opportunities overall.

An interesting example of this is the advent of ATMs. First introduced some 45 years ago, automatic teller machines were signaled as replacing the role of human bank tellers. However, as we know, that didn't happen. What occurred instead was that ATMs made it cheaper for banks to open more branches, which they did, and the number of bank tellers in the US rose across the decade 2000 to 2010.

Companies primarily move towards automation to increase productivity levels and save on labor costs. Automation does not do away with the need for human workers, but more so augments their work with robots. Automation tools, like RPA, integrate with your systems to streamline workflows and to help your human employees get more done in less time. And when combined with AI, which is slowly becoming smarter all the time,

Automation will learn to become even better at helping people work smarter and not harder.

This will help reduce what is known as automation anxiety - the worry that an individual's job will be replaced by robots. Instead, what we'll see is increasing levels of automation acceptance. Automation tools will be fully integrated into the workplace as much as current technologies like laptops, photocopiers, and telephones are today. It'll just be an accepted fact of modern life - another tool to help get the work done.

When considering automation solutions, it's important to have big plans but to start small. Focusing your work automation efforts on routine tasks that are rules-based is key. If there is a workflow that needs to be streamlined and automated, always make it simpler first.

How big should you be thinking? Within large companies, processes usually span multiple legacy systems and involve different departments. That's why it is essential to select an RPA platform that integrates with your company's systems now and can expand as you scale. Company-wide RPA aims to achieve significant ROI from automation that integrates across multiple departments. This form of automation looks at more complex processes and can involve multiple technologies such as AI.

In terms of choosing when, what and how to automate, business leaders must make informed decisions to achieve business growth and realize ROI. And there is a simple step you can take to help work out how to begin automating within your company.

When it comes to choosing which processes to automate first, the trick is to pick the low-hanging fruit.

Some processes are just easier to automate than others. Think about choosing a few select pilot processes to automate as proof of concept first. Ideally, these test processes allow you to fail and abort quickly without having invested considerable time and money over the long run.

The future of work is smarter, more integrated automation. It's about simplifying processes and automating workflows. In the face of this, the role of the CIO and CEO is to work toward discovering processes that make excellent candidates for automation. It's also to keep your human workers happy and knowledgeable about what work automation and RPA mean for the future of their work. As can be seen, there is an ongoing conversation to be had about the best way to view the inevitable impacts work automation will have moving forward.

At GGS, we look forward to helping CEOs, CIOs, automation champions, and process automation managers alike realize the benefits of automation in their organizations. If you would like to gain a deeper understanding of how to start or improve your company's implementation of automation and digitization of processes, contact us for your free 30-minute consultation. After completing the form, we will arrange a call at a time that's best for you. We will then help you assess which automation technologies will bring the greatest benefits and achieve the most significant ROI for your company.

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The future of work: how work automation is helping humans

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If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it... then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords. Aristotle So said Aristotle in 322 B.C.E.

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Why is Industrial Automation Important | Plant Automation Technology

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Over the past years, there has been a positive growth in the global industrial automation industry. According to a report, industrial automation market is expected to reach USD 153.83 Billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 5.10% between 2017 and 2022. Moreover, usage of automation techniques is on th…

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In this article we will look at what process automation means, what types of automation solutions are available, the benefits of adopting automation and why it is so important for the future of all businesses.

The automation of business processes is no longer just a luxury for larger businesses, rather it is rapidly becoming a necessary essential for businesses of all sizes to ensure continued success.

In this article we will look at what process automation means, what types of automation solutions are available, the benefits of adopting automation and why it is so important for the future of all businesses.

What is automation?

If you grab your dictionary you will find automation defined as a technique, method, or system of operating or controlling a process by highly automatic means, as by electronic devices, reducing human intervention to a minimum. This definition is perhaps slightly confusing and wordy, so what do we mean when talking about automation? A simpler definition, and how we see it, would be the use of software applications to automate business processes, so employees don't have to.

By replacing these, often labour intensive, processes with automation software brings many advantages, such as reduced costs, increased efficiency and time savings - we'll dive into the benefits later on.

There are many different automation solutions available so let's take a look at the different types.

Types of process automation

What is Business Process Automation?

Business Process Automation, often referred to as BPA, is the use of applications to execute recurring tasks, replacing manual effort. BPA is more focussed on the whole business automating a workflow throughout the entire organisation rather than individual tasks.

What is Robotic Process Automation?

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is the use of software 'robots' to automate human activities that are manual, rule-based and repetitive.

What is Intelligent Process Automation?

Intelligent Process Automation is a suite of business process tools that mimics the activities of humans and, over time, learns to improve on these.

The benefits of automation

No matter which type of automation solution you choose there are many common benefits.

Improved operational efficiency
Automation reduces time, effort and cost, whilst reducing manual errors, giving your business more time to focus on your primary objectives.

Time saving
Repetitive tasks can be completed faster.

Improved quality and consistency
Automating processes ensures high quality results as each task is performed identically, without human error.

Increased employee satisfaction
Manual tasks are boring and laborious. Automation allows your employees to work on more engaging activities, and thus increases satisfaction.

Increased customer satisfaction
Happier employees, faster processing and time savings enable your teams to concentrate on providing better customer service, which all helps boosts customer satisfaction.

The role of business automation in digital transformation

Digital Transformation is a phrase that businesses have been talking about for a long-time. Many businesses recognise the benefits that digitisation brings, but have problems keeping momentum in deploying solutions. The main problem has always been the cost involved in developing software, which is often bespoke to each organisation.

The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 has led to more and more businesses committing to speeding up their digital transformation plans. This is largely driven from the need for efficiency to maintain growth and, in some instances, to survive.

Adopting automation within these organisations is vital to driving down costs, increasing efficiency, and improves both customer and employee satisfaction. Automating manual processes, which are often paper based, helps business leaders ensure that their digital transformation targets are being met, but how do they now get around the barriers such as cost and speed of deployment?

Thankfully, the rise of Low-Code Application Development platforms, such as PhixFlow, enable the rapid development of bespoke automated solutions at a fraction of the cost.

Summary

Automation, whichever flavour you choose, offers so many benefits and with economies struggling, following the recent Covid-19 pandemic, it really is a case of 'survival of the fittest'. Companies that come out on top will be those that have adapted to change becoming more agile, cost-efficient, and offer better customer and employee satisfaction. All of which can be addressed by the adoption of automation systems developed using Low-Code platforms.
Don't let your business fall behind and ensure future business success with PhixFlow.
Book a demo today and discover how quickly your business can be enjoying the benefits of automation.

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Why automation is vital for the future of business - PhixFlow Low-Code

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In this article we will look at what process automation means, what types of automation solutions are available, the benefits of adopting automation and why it is so important for the future of all businesses.

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Automation can free up time by taking over tasks. But turning that free time into time for innovation takes practice.

Most business leaders will tell you that creativity is critical to business success. In a study by Forrester, 82 percent of leaders surveyed believed in a strong connection between creativity and business results. And that's not just perception. Companies with cultures that encourage creativity outperform their competitors by driving innovation, revenue growth, and market share.

Furthermore, over two-thirds of the companies that were ranked highly for fostering creativity have received awards and recognition for being a "best place to work." Creativity - or the ability to be creative at work - is also important to employees, and may be lacking. Nearly a third of employed U.S. adults would take a pay cut for a job that allowed them to be more creative, according to a Creative Live survey.

Too Busy to Be Creative

If creative work is so important, why is there such a lack of creativity? In large part, creativity suffers when we are too busy multi-tasking. The "culture of busy" hinders our ability to come up with fresh, innovative ideas. When you're busy being busy, there's no room for creativity; in business, that translates to less innovation.

So what does it look like to make room for creativity? Researchers have found that letting our minds wander can facilitate creative problem-solving. Daydreaming gives us access to the big-picture state of mind that cultivates creative thinking. When our brain is at rest - or at least not focusing attention on something or working hard to filter out distraction - the creative juices can flow.

Related
Can Automation Improve Employee Engagement?
Can Automation Unlock Creativity?

True daydreaming is rare these days. Now, when we take a break or procrastinate, we replace letting our minds wander with "productive" activities like checking social media, news feeds, and Reddit. We make ourselves busy even in our leisure time, thereby filling the space that's needed to truly be creative.

So, can automation solve our busyness problem and unlock creativity? Not exactly. But it can give us back more time for daydreaming and other creative endeavors. Think about which tasks you do every day that could be automated; any task that's repeatable or replicable could be set up to happen automatically, giving you time back in your day.

Imagine if you could automate follow-up processes for getting approvals, for instance, so you didn't have to spend time tracking down key stakeholders for signoff. Or how much more you could accomplish if you could automate handoffs between teams, rather than scheduling a series of "check in" meetings. Or what you would do with the time you'd get back by letting a self-driving car take over your commute.

Related
How Automation Boosts Workplace Visibility
Or Will It Just Make Us Busier?

Automation can let us maximize our waking hours to do what's most important. This idea isn't new; the age-old promise of technological advancements was that they would give you back more time to spend on what was important - or at least on getting more done.

But therein lies the danger: that we will just do more of the same, finding other ways to be busy even as automation helps us be more productive. It's critical that we carve out time to be creative. Because creativity requires quiet, reflective, uninterrupted time.

Take Back the Time

As automation frees up time by taking over repeatable tasks, give yourself permission to daydream and space to let your mind wander. Create boundaries and define creative space.

Easier said than done, but technology may be able to help. As we turn to automation to give us time to think, we can work with our devices to hold us to our commitments to set aside creative time. Much like we can set our phones to "Do Not Disturb" at night to quell the constant alerts and vibrations so we can catch some zzzs, we could set our devices to shut down or lock us out during the times we want to let our mind wander in the quest for creative ideas.

However we make it happen, taking the time to be creative can make work more meaningful, drive innovation, and help our businesses outperform their competitors in revenue growth and market share. Automation promises to make that possible - but only if we make the most of the time it gives back to us.

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Automation can free up time by taking over tasks. But turning that free time into time for innovation takes practice. Most business leaders will tell you that creativity is critical to business success. In a study by Forrester, 82 percent of leaders surveyed believed in a strong connection between creativity and business results.

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Abstract

Background:

The spending on digital healthcare solutions is estimated to reach EUR 232 billion by 2025. Digital healthcare platforms are making transformative changes to conventional healthcare processes which can provide many beneficial improvements for both citizen and government provision to society. These benefits are obvious during pandemics such as Covid-19, when most healthcare services are offered through digital means.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to measure the role of trust and information quality when using digital healthcare platforms. These constructs are integrated with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to provide a better understanding of the consumer perspective regarding the use of digital healthcare platforms.

Methods:

Online structured self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect the data. A sample consisting of 249 respondents participated in the questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was used to characterize the attributes of participants, and other statistical tests were conducted to ensure the reliability and validity of the survey. The model of the study was evaluated using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to explain the extent of the relationship among latent variables.

Results:

The study determined that facilitating conditions (t=0.233, p=0.023) and trust (t=0.324, p=0.005) had a significant impact on consumers' behavioral intention of using such platforms during Covid-19 pandemic.

Conclusion:

This study highlighted the importance of facilitating conditions and trust factors for healthcare consumers of digital healthcare platforms especially during the pandemic time.

Keywords: Digital healthcare platforms, E-health, Consumer Health informatics, Trust, Saudi Arabia

1. BACKGROUND

The rising Covid-19 pandemic has created situations of uncertainty in medical practices and unreliable information which impacted healthcare systems around the world in many ways. The rapidly increasing numbers of confirmed cases and deaths have put healthcare systems under pressure. At the time of publication, there are more than 125 million confirmed cases and more than 2 million deaths due to Covid-19 across more than 213 countries and territories around the world ( 1). The rapid spread of Covid-19 causes governments to take numerous actions to stop or slow the spread of this contagious disease, such as complete and partial lockdowns, severe travel restrictions, and forced quarantines ( 2). Many ICT tools and applications have been implemented to control the outbreak so that it remains manageable. The use of digital healthcare solutions requires more informative and up to date quality information with a high degree of trust between the consumers and healthcare service providers, especially with this level of uncertainty around Covid-19.

This study will measure the role of trust and information quality when using digital healthcare platforms. These constructs will be integrated with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) ( 3) to provide a better understanding of the consumer perspective regarding the use of digital healthcare platforms. Integrating these constructs with the UTAUT model could provide insight into consumer opinions about digital healthcare platforms. Only a few researchers have addressed these factors together when studying consumer acceptance of digital healthcare solutions ( 4).

Digital healthcare platforms in this study are defined as collections of applications and technologies used to support the delivery of healthcare services ( 5). A study estimated the spending on digital healthcare solutions to reach EUR 232 billion by 2025 ( 6). This paper also deals with the user of digital healthcare platforms as a consumer rather than as a patient for many reasons. First, not all users of digital healthcare platforms are patients, as some of them may simply ask about general health information such as diet, exercise, sleeping patterns, or similar information ( 7). Second, there is a movement toward empowering the consumer side of healthcare services by allowing consumers to conduct certain healthcare activities that were once the privilege of health professionals ( 8). A study indicated that three-quarters of its participants expected that the healthcare consumers will be the owner of their health data ( 6).

Although user acceptance is a mature field in information technology studies ( 4, 8), most of the studies were conducted in normal situations where there are alternative tools or systems of using information technology solutions. Additionally, for some consumers, this is the first time that they are using such systems, which requires studying their behavioral intention ( 7).

Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest countries in Asia with a total area of about 2.15 million km2 and a total population of 34.77 million people ( 9). The healthcare system in the country relies on governmental healthcare services where the Ministry of Health (MoH) is responsible for providing healthcare services free of charge for citizens. There are other governmental bodies and private organizations which provide healthcare services.

Saudi Arabia was selected for this study for many reasons. It has a large geographical area with many rural areas which make the use of digital healthcare services beneficial for the country. The population of the country is young since the majority of Saudi citizens (67%) are young adults (i.e. under 40 years) ( 10). Saudi Arabia has Mecca and Medina that are special cities for Muslims because it has the two holy mosques and there were about 20 million visitors for the cities during 2019. These reasons make the dealing with the Covid-19 requires special care from the Saudi authorities.

Before the Covid-19 outbreak, Saudi Arabia introduced several initiatives regarding the implementation of digital healthcare projects. The first national e-government strategy was launched in 2005, and it was updated in 2011 ( 11). Additionally, the Saudi Vision 2030 framework and the National Transformation Program 2020 initiative emphasized the importance of ICT in healthcare systems. There are many ongoing projects, especially for the Ministry of Health, which is the main healthcare provider in the country. Examples of such projects may include automated and standardized systems of primary healthcare centers and integrated hospital information systems for all MoH hospitals ( 12). However, this ambitious initiative still requires extra time and effort to be achieved because it requires collaboration among different ministries and agencies in the country. There are many examples demonstrate the ongoing efforts to enhance digital healthcare services in the country, which have resulted in a variety of systems and platforms that have been utilized effectively during the Covid-19 pandemic. These technologies can be summarized in Table 1 .

Table 1.

Category

Description

Example

2. OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is to measure the role of trust and information quality when using digital healthcare platforms. These constructs are integrated with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to provide a better understanding of the consumer perspective regarding the use of digital healthcare platforms.

3. METHODS

3.1. Research framework and hypotheses

This research aims to develop an understanding of healthcare consumers' behavioral intentions for using digital healthcare platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic with focus on information quality and trust. The research framework contains the original elements of the UTAUT framework along with information quality and trust elements. The factors in the research framework are:

Effort expectancy

Effort expectancy (EE) is the degree of ease associated with consumer use of a specific technology ( 3). The possibility that healthcare consumers will use the system is increased if the system is easy to use and it has a user-friendly design ( 13). Effort expectancy is considered to be a key contributor to behavioral intention related to e-health system use in many studies ( 8, 14). Many digital healthcare platforms were developed during the Covid-19 pandemic such as track and trace applications however some of them may still require more usability tests. Due to the nature of the pandemic and the urgent need to develop digital healthcare platforms, there was a rush to develop these platforms. So, the following hypothesis was proposed:

Hypothesis 1: Effort expectancy will positively influence behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Effort expectancy was found to be moderated by the following factors: experience with using information technologies and age( 15) so the following hypotheses are proposed:

Hypothesis 1-a: The influence of effort expectancy on behavioral intention will be moderated by experience.

Hypothesis 1-b: The influence of effort expectancy on behavioral intention will be moderated by age.

Performance expectancy

Performance expectancy (PE) refers to the benefits that are provided to the user due to the usage of certain technologies ( 15). Digital healthcare platforms can provide many benefits for healthcare consumers, such as understanding of their health status, enabling of self-care, and better management of healthcare activities ( 8, 16). The use of digital healthcare platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic can enhance the safety of healthcare consumers because it reduces infection rates using digital meeting tools such as Zoom. Many researchers have identified performance expectancy as one of the factors that influence the behavioral intentions of consumers of healthcare ( 16, 17). Thus, the following hypothesis was introduced:

Hypothesis 2: Performance expectancy will positively influence behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Social influence

Social influence (SI) refers to the influence of peers such as family, friends, and partners or media and social media websites ( 8, 17). This factor is represented as subjective norm in other theoretical frameworks, such as in the extended versions of TAM ( 3). It indicates that social roles and other beliefs influence the intention of healthcare consumers to use healthcare technologies. Some studies have shown that social influence had an impact on patient intention to use e-health services ( 17). Social influence can have a strong effect especially in a culture like Saudi Arabi where social ties are strong ( 18). So, the following hypothesis was proposed:

Hypothesis 3: Social influence will positively influence behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Facilitating conditions

Facilitating conditions (FC) cover the availability of resources, knowledge, and support for a particular information system under investigation ( 15). It also includes compatibility with other technologies that are commonly used by healthcare consumers, such as smartphones ( 8). The facilitating conditions factor was found to provide an understanding of patients' perceptions of telehealth services ( 13, 19). So, the following hypothesis was proposed:

Hypothesis 4: Facilitating conditions will positively influence behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Information quality

Information quality (IQ) refers to the accuracy, timeliness, and relevance of the information generated by digital healthcare platforms ( 20). Although having accurate and timely information is important, only a few studies considered the effect of this factor on patient behavioral intention or acceptance of e-health service use ( 21). Some studies focused on measuring this factor for physicians or healthcare professionals who are using health information systems in hospitals ( 22). During the Covid-19 pandemic, the information about the infectious disease itself or methods of protection and reducing infection were uncertain which can affect information quality. Thus, the following hypothesis was proposed:

Hypothesis 5: Information quality will positively influence behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Trust

Trust (TR) refers to the confidence felt between healthcare consumers and healthcare providers ( 23). Trust can be measured from a social perspective, which primarily concerns physician-patient relationships ( 24). It can also be associated with health information and how healthcare providers handle this information ( 25), which will be considered by the present study. Trust was found in many studies to strongly influence patients' intention to use digital healthcare platforms ( 23, 25). During the moment of crisis, trust in provided information of digital healthcare platforms plays a vital role in communicating and acceptance of information from trusted sources ( 26). So, the following hypothesis was developed:

Hypothesis 6: Trust will positively influence behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Figure 1 presents the research model followed during the study.

3.2. Research method

Based on the research model, a questionnaire was developed to study factors identified during the literature review. The questionnaire consists of 34 questions and is divided into 5 parts. The first part acts as a cover letter and a consent form for the questionnaire by providing information about the study and the researcher. The second part is about the use of digital healthcare platforms by participants responding to the questionnaire. This part also includes questions about skills in information technologies to measure the experience level of the participants. The third part contains statements to measure the latent variables of the research model, where a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" is used to assess each construct (See Appendix for more details). The fourth part contains demographic information such as gender, age, and nationality. The fifth part allows the participants to add any comments regarding the study.

This research followed the Moore and Benbasat ( 27) approach for developing the questionnaire. This approach includes three phases: item construction, questionnaire review, and questionnaire testing.

Regarding item construction, all measurement items were adapted from prior research found in the literature. Then, the questionnaire was evaluated and reviewed by three experienced researchers in health informatics (one professor, one assistant professor, and one health informatics expert with a master's degree). After assuring the content validity of the questionnaire, a translation from English to Arabic was conducted by the researcher and reviewed by two other experts. Then, the questionnaire was transcribed into an online questionnaire tool and the pilot study was conducted with a small group of users to check timing issues and the usability of the online tool. At each stage, adjustments were made before moving to the next stage. The researcher obtained ethical approval for this research from the Research Ethics Committee at Shaqra University in Saudi Arabia.

The population for this study was comprised of healthcare consumers from various regions in Saudi Arabia. Due to time constraints for conducting the research during the Covid-19 pandemic, the researcher selected the convenience sampling technique because of its popularity in information technology research and its practicality ( 28, 29). The researcher allowed only participants who use digital healthcare platforms to answer questions related to platform usage. The researcher also used social media websites, especially the accounts related to healthcare and health informatics, to publish the questionnaire to improve participant representativeness ( 28). This practice can also decrease some of the concerns of the convenience sampling technique ( 30).

4. RESULTS

A total of 249 respondents voluntarily chose to answer the survey during the period May 30 through July 31, 2020. Of these, 122 respondents (about 49%) had used digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the respondents who did not use the platforms were excluded from the empirical analyses, they were asked to clarify their reasons for not using the platforms to provide useful information for the study.

4.1. Sample characteristics

The demographic distribution of the respondents is shown in Table 2 .

Table 2.

Characteristic

Total Respondents

Participants who reported the use of digital healthcare platforms

Frequency

Percent

Frequency

Percent

4.2. Use of digital healthcare platforms

The respondents were asked about their current usage of digital healthcare platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic.While about 122 (49%) of the respondents used digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic, approximately half did not use any digital healthcare platform. Seventy respondents had used the Mawid app, which makes it the most used digital healthcare platform during Covid-19, followed by Seha - about 64 participants mentioned that they had used the platform. While 21 respondents had used other digital platforms (from other governmental healthcare providers) during the pandemic, only 12 participants had used digital platforms provided by private healthcare providers. Few respondents reported using other platforms such as the Rest Assured (Tataman) app (12 individuals). Additional platforms included the Saudi Red Crescent Authority platform (11 respondents) and standalone digital platforms such as Cura, Tatbib, and Nala (2 respondents).

The respondents had heard about the digital healthcare platforms through different methods. Online social networks (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) ranked first, as 85 respondents selected them, followed by text messages from healthcare providers (51 respondents), from TV broadcasts, newspapers, or other media (24 respondents), from parents, friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. (33 respondents) and finally from other sources such as posters or leaflets inside healthcare provider buildings (16 respondents).

The main reasons for not using digital healthcare platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic are that the respondents did not need them (72%), the respondents did not know about them (17%), and the respondents did not know how to use them (4%).

Table 3.

Constructs

Items

Cronbach's Alpha

Factor Loading

AVE

EE2

0.882

EE3

0.915

PE2

0.755

PE3

0.919

SI2

0.810

SI3

0.704

FC2

0.561

FC3

0.844

IQ2

0.793

TR2

0.738

TR3

0.807

BI2

0.960

BI3

0.864

4.3. Survey reliability and validity

The internal reliability, discriminant validity, and convergent validity of the questionnaire were evaluated during the assessment of the measurement model. The Cronbach's alpha test was conducted on the items of each construct to test for internal consistency, where an acceptable value is greater than 0.6 ( 31). Table 5 shows the measurements and confirmatory factor analysis for the survey.

The thresholds of the measurements used during data analysis are as follows: factor loading above 0.5 and average variance extracted (AVE) more than 50% of the variance. Except for one item from construct SI (which was deleted), all of the values met the selected criteria, demonstrating the good construct validity of the instrument ( 32).

Table 4.

Path

Standardized Path Coefficient

t-value

Significance

Result of Hypothesis Test

4.4. The structural model and hypothesis testing

Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the research model presented in Figure 1 . The partial least squares (PLS) technique with a bootstrapping procedure using 500 re-samples of the original 122 cases was implemented to perform the structural model evaluation, conducted with SmartPLS 3.0 ( 33). The structural model fitness was evaluated using the Normal Fit Index (NFI ≥ 0.8) and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR ≤ 0.05) ( 34). Table 6 presents the results of the analysis and the hypotheses tests. The research model was also tested for how well it explained the association between constructs, demonstrating acceptable performance in explaining the variability in the outcome variables with r2=0.696 for behavior intention to use.

5. DISCUSSION

This study aims to develop an understating of healthcare consumers' behavioral intentions for using digital healthcare platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of this study indicate that healthcare consumers generally exhibited strong intention to use the digital healthcare platforms during and after Covid-19 (mean = 4.27 out of 5). This finding is supported by other research that indicated that patients intend to accept the use of digital healthcare systems ( 24, 35).

The findings also showed that effort expectancy did not have a strong influence on the intention to use digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during this pandemic. This finding is different from those of other studies in the literature ( 8, 14, 36). However, it is supported by selected studies that indicated that effort expectancy had no direct significant effect on intention to use an electronic medical record (EMR) system ( 36). A possible explanation for this finding refers to the possibility that the platforms offered a friendly user design ( 13). The results did not indicate that age and experience moderate the impacts of effort expectancy on behavioral intention. These findings are consistent with other studies in the literature ( 37). An additional explanation for the overall finding is based on the backgrounds of the study respondents, as most had experience in using computers and smartphones and the majority were young adults (40 years old or less). Another justification may relate to the widespread use of social media among Saudi people, which helps them to be familiar with such platforms ( 37, 38).

Performance expectancy in this study did not show a significant impact on the intention to use digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia. Although this finding is similar to the finding of Koivumäki et al. ( 8), this is not the case with other studies, which reported the performance expectancy factor as among the most important determinants of intention to use healthcare digital platforms ( 17, 35, 39).

Although some studies showed that social influence had an impact on patient intention to use e-health services ( 17), the findings of this study did not indicate that, as supported by other studies ( 8, 35). A possible reason for this finding may be the existing awareness of healthcare consumers in Saudi Arabia who are using the digital healthcare platforms to manage their healthcare activities during the paramedic ( 40).

Facilitating conditions were found in this study to influence the behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic. This finding is in line with those of other studies in the literature such as ( 35), ( 19), and ( 13). This result was expected because consumers with better facilitation conditions - such as fast and reliable Internet access - will have a higher behavioral intention to use the digital platforms ( 15). The compatibility with mobile phone technologies is also considered as a reason for this finding because it allows healthcare consumers to use the digital healthcare platforms at any time and from anywhere ( 8).

The study findings indicate that information quality has no effect on behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic. This finding is consistent with other studies that showed no evidence of the impact of information quality on behavioral intention for using e-health services ( 21). A possible explanation for this finding relates to the ability to use the digital healthcare platforms, as a user's knowledge about using the platforms can affect information and prescriptions produced by the system ( 41). However, this finding may require extra investigation to provide insight regarding the impact of information quality on behavioral intention for using e-health services and the actual usage of such services.

Trust was found to have an influence on behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic. This finding is in agreement with the findings of other studies ( 25, 42), which indicate the importance of considering trust issues when developing digital healthcare platforms, especially in a situation where they are the preferable way of providing healthcare services.

6. CONCLUSION

The utilization of health informatics tools during pandemics could be useful for healthcare consumers and healthcare organizations and can reduce the pressure on healthcare systems. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many health IT solutions were created to assist the healthcare systems. This paper described solutions developed specifically in Saudi Arabia and around the world in general. The paper also developed an understanding of healthcare consumers' behavioral intention for using digital healthcare platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results indicate that both facilitating conditions and trust have a significant impact on the intention to use digital healthcare platforms in Saudi Arabia. The findings of this study provide important information for healthcare leaders, indicating that they should pay special attention to using integrated healthcare tools and also to providing the required resources for healthcare consumers to use digital healthcare services. The study additionally showed that trust and privacy issues should always be considered when developing digital healthcare solutions. Future work arising from the study may include a comparison between using digital healthcare solutions during pandemics and during normal times.

Acknowledgment:

The author would like to thank the experts who evaluated and reviewed the questionnaire.

Appendix.

Constructor

Items

Source

Level of experience

Low (I do not use a computer or other electronic devices)
Medium ( I use basic applications i.e., MS-Office, e-mail or web browsing, online social networks).
High ( I deal with hardware maintenance and use specialist software such as databases and networking programs).

( 43)

Effort expectancy (EE)

EE1: digital healthcare platforms are easy to use

( 44), ( 8)

EE2: Interaction with digital healthcare platforms is clear

( 44), ( 45)

Authors contribution:

Authors was involved in all steps of preparation of this article including final proofreading.

Conflict of interest:

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Financial support and sponsorship:

None.

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Articles from Acta Informatica Medica are provided here courtesy of Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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The Use of Digital Healthcare Platforms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: the Consumer Perspective

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The spending on digital healthcare solutions is estimated to reach EUR 232 billion by 2025. Digital healthcare platforms are making transformative changes to conventional healthcare processes which can provide many beneficial improvements for both citizen and government provision to society. These benefits are obvious during pandemics such as Covid-19, when most healthcare services are offered through digital means.

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The challenges placed on technology leaders are among the most multi-dimensional in which organizations have had to grapple. Virtually overnight, they have been asked to support a broad sweep of new pressures-changing customer demands to digital channels, reconfigured supply chains, additional necessary workforce collaboration capacity and bandwidth, licenses and equipment to support remote work, and a litany of other issues requiring immediate scale and resiliency.

Although there is no proven roadmap available for dealing with a global humanitarian crisis with the scale of COVID-19, we believe that leaders at all levels will need to act across three phases. Globally, technology decision makers in every organization have already made significant choices to Respond to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis with speed to maximize the safety of employees and ensuring continuity of business. Gradually, as the pandemic begins to evolve, they will have to transition into the next two phases: Recover - during which an organization learns and emerges stronger from its response; and Thrive - in which the organization prepares for and shapes the "next normal."

Jumpstart the recovery to ensure scalability

Given the complexity of the pandemic, there is reason to believe that the recovery phase for COVID-19 will require unprecedented levels of orchestration, communication, and changing of existing configurations during what promises to be a challenging and potentially protracted period across the globe. For many technology leaders, the first steps they take during this phase will be informed by the necessary series of adjustments they enacted as the crisis erupted and came to a head, specifically:

Support and enhance the workforce experience for collaboration and co-creation

Secure technology supporting the new work environment

Construct monitoring "command centers" for strategic response

Produce a playbook for future disruptions

Stabilize business operations for future readiness and resilience

The world will ultimately reopen for business. When that happens, the quick fixes and patchwork solutions adopted during the response phase may not stand up to rigorous testing. The focus at this stage will be on stabilizing and strengthening many of the solutions and processes rushed into place, by being more thoughtful and strategic about their deployment, developing the support infrastructure around them, and fully understanding the impact they will have across their organizations and partner networks.
Specifically, technology leaders will need to:

Enhance digital innovations and presence

Post-modernize customer support operations

Build a trusted technology ecosystem

Scale automation pilots

Create a resilient IT architecture

Establish a sensing function

Reallocate tech funding for agility

Keep an eye on their assets

Get to know their people, inside and out

Position to thrive longer term by shaping the "next normal"

As organizations recover, it is essential to cast an eye on the future competitive landscape, considering which changes wrought by the crisis will constitute a "next normal." Those technology leaders able to get ahead of these shifts will help their organizations thrive beyond the near and intermediate terms. Three longer-term priority areas represent a good start:

Reimagine customer experience by focusing on human-centered design

Bridge the physical and digital worlds to deliver new value

Establish trust as a key business value

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COVID-19: Shaping the future through digital business

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Never has there been a time in which the role of the CIO and other digital technology leaders has been so pivotal to shaping the future of their organization. As the pandemic shuts down the physical world, everyone is assuming that the digital world will step in and fill the chasm.

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The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to flatten the epidemic curve have jolted economies worldwide. In most OECD and G20 countries, data indicate that in the first half of 2020 lockdowns and mobility restrictions caused the largest fall of real GDP in recent history. Industries requiring physical proximity for product or service delivery or among co-workers - such as accommodation, restaurants and transport - were those hardest hit (OECD, 2020[1]).

Amidst the economic mayhem caused by the pandemic, digital technologies have emerged as a key element of economic and social resilience. By allowing businesses and governments to continue operating during lockdowns, digital technologies enabled faster economic responses to the emergency. Evidence is emerging on how the COVID-19 crisis triggered large changes in the use of digital technologies by people, businesses and governments. For instance, the demand for broadband communication services has soared, with some operators experiencing as much as a 60% increase in Internet traffic (OECD, 2020[2]). Online shopping, videoconferencing and telework have surged whereas governments have accelerated the shift towards the digitalisation of many public services. As a result, the profits and market capitalisation of digital companies whose services experienced a large increase in demand during lockdowns increased to record levels and far ahead of other companies. 1

Among digital technologies, online marketplaces were already developing fast before the COVID-19 crisis (OECD, 2020[3]). Due to innovative use of data collected from users and large network externalities, they had been capturing a growing (though still limited) share of activity in many sectors - such as retail marketplaces, accommodation, transport, restaurants and increasingly in business-to-business (B2B) and professional services. Their fast rise raises several concerns spanning multiple policy areas, such as competition, labour market regulation, taxation, privacy and consumer protection. Understanding the increasing reliance of people and businesses on online platforms during the crisis is particularly important as there is no close parallel in recent history to draw insights from. 2

This policy brief contributes to the debate on the diffusion of online platforms by investigating how the COVID-19 shock impacted on their activities. It relies on a comprehensive list of about 1400 online platforms covering nine economic areas (including accommodation, catering, marketplaces, B2B activities, transport and professional services) and all OECD and G20 countries (excluding China and Colombia). Online platform activity is proxied by Google Trends data, which provide real time information on the intensity of search for keywords linked to platform names. Studies have corroborated the reliability of Google Trends search data to track economic time series in real time (see Boxes 1 and 2). We look at the yearly change of online-platform activity in the first six months of 2020, thus covering the period in which most countries implemented the most severe lockdown and mobility restriction measures. We distinguish among online platforms in different activity areas and explore which pre-crisis country characteristics and policies may have eased the shift of activity towards online platforms.

Despite the rising importance of online platforms in developed and emerging economies, official measurement of their activities and operations is still incomplete and inadequate (OECD, 2018[4]; OECD, 2019[5]). Efforts to measure online-platform activity are still piecemeal, often focused on a specific subset of platforms, and the available data are often not comparable across countries because of different collection methods. Different initiatives at national and international levels are ongoing to overcome these problems and collect more comprehensive data that is comparable across countries (OECD, 2018[4]; OECD, 2020[6]; OECD, WTO and IMF, 2020[7]).

Previous studies focusing on online platforms have relied on a variety of approaches to deal with data limitations. These include case studies (OECD, 2019[8]), proprietary data (Farronato, Fong and Fradkin, 2020[9]) and the number of internet searches for online-platform names as a proxy for platform use (Bailin Rivares et al., 2019[10]). These approaches are complementary and have different pros and cons. Case studies allow for a detailed comparative analysis of the functioning of different types of online platforms, taking into consideration also qualitative information, but their coverage is necessarily limited (often to the largest platforms). Proprietary data obtained from online platforms allow for precise analyses of market transactions (effects on prices and quantities), but they ultimately reflect the activity of a single online platform and a narrow area; moreover these data are confidential and difficult to get. Internet search data allow for investigating the use of a large number of online platforms in a consistent way across countries and are now widely available; however, data are limited to the use of platforms (no other information concerning online platforms is available) and internet searches are just a proxy for platform use that also depend on the popularity of the search engine and its change over time. Also, internet searches do not capture the download and use of apps on mobile phones. 3

In this policy brief we follow the third approach and use Google Trends data on a list of 1400 platforms covering OECD and G20 countries (see Box 1). We collect monthly data and focus on the year-on-year change for the first six months of 2020. Google Trends data have been used extensively to detect sudden changes in macroeconomic junctures (see Box 2).

We combine these data with information from the OECD COVID-19 Policy Tracker, a database to track government responses to the COVID-19 crisis that is updated daily (Bulman and Koirala, 2020[28]). The Policy Tracker provides information on the measures taken by governments in response to epidemic outbreaks. We focus on containment policies introduced to limit human interactions through confinement or stay-at-home orders, school closures, and restrictions on international and/or within-country travel. The severity of these measures is summarised by an index ranging from zero (no measure taken) to one (maximum level of containment) in a consistent way across countries. It is composed by different sub-indexes: cancellation of public events, obligatory shutdown of the economy, confinement lockdowns, travel restrictions and closure of schools. As alternative measures of the severity of the epidemics, we use the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker's Stringency Index (Petherick et al., 2020[29]), Google mobility data, and the number of new COVID-19 cases.

During the time span considered (from January to June 2020), the containment index of the OECD Policy Tracker followed a similar pattern across most of countries in the dataset: it started increasing around late February and early March, peaked in April, and began to decline in May. The severity of containment measures was however rather heterogeneous across countries. Figure 1 shows for all countries in the dataset the maximum value and the average value of the containment index during these six months. We identify four groups of countries based on the maximum level attained by the containment index during the six-month period covered: soft containment, medium-soft, medium-strict, and strict containment measures.

Figure 1. Countries' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic differ

OECD containment index, January - June 2020

Note: The OECD containment index captures the measures countries have undertaken to limit human interactions through confinement or stay-at-home orders, school closures, and restrictions on international and/or within-country travel. It ranges from zero to one.

Source: OECD.

The average yearly change of online-platform activity (as gauged by Google Trends monthly data) was heterogeneous across the nine activity areas considered and the four country groups (Figure 2). Online platforms operating in activity areas relying on physical proximity for product and service delivery (namely restaurant booking, accommodation and transportation) experienced a marked drop in activity. Platform activity started to drop as countries began to implement lockdown measures and reached an all-time low when the containment index peaked (see Figure 1.A.1 in the Annex also). For instance, as demand for hotel and restaurant services collapsed during lockdowns, online platforms active in accommodation and restaurant booking might have experienced similar large drops in activity to these businesses (many of which actually closed, at least temporarily). Online-platform activity started to recover gradually when containment measures were progressively eased over May and June 2020. Countries that imposed soft lockdown measures also experienced major adjustments in consumer behaviour, and large variation in online-platform use, pointing to the role that voluntary mobility restrictions may have played, in addition to government-mandated restrictions. However, in strict-containment countries the recovery in online-platform use seems to have been weaker than in soft-containment countries, reflecting probably the deeper and long-lasting economic disruptions these countries suffered.

Figure 2. During lockdowns online-platform activity expanded in some areas and declined in others

Note: The lines show the median of the year-on-year percentage change of activity (proxied by Google Trends data) of about 1 400 platforms (see Box 1); the period covered is January-June 2020. Activity areas not requiring physical proximity are mobile payments, marketplace to consumers, professional services and restaurant delivery. Activity areas requiring physical proximity are restaurant booking, accommodation, and transportation. Activity areas with mixed physical proximity requirements are personal services and marketplace for business-to-business transactions. See Figure 1A.1 in the Annex for a decomposition across areas.

Source: Google Trends data and OECD calculations.

The activity of online platforms operating in activity areas requiring less or no physical proximity for product or service delivery (mobile payments, marketplace to consumers, professional services and restaurant delivery) rose as lockdown measures became stricter. The increase in activity of online platforms in strict-containment countries appears to be more persistent than in soft-containment countries. Stricter containment measures may have induced more long-lasting changes in how people and businesses use online platforms and digital technologies more generally.

Online platform activities in the business-to-business and personal services areas were mostly flat during the first half of 2020 (Figure 2). This may be due to the heterogeneity of the related modes of product delivery, which may require vastly different degrees of physical proximity. Business-to-business activities cover in principle all industrial sectors and are difficult to classify. Online platform activity in this area is still small but it is evolving fast (Ifo, 2020[30]).Personal services platforms involve transactions that can be performed online (such as tutoring) and transactions for which physical proximity is necessary (such as hairdressing or house cleaning services).

Overall, focusing on the expanding areas (mobile payments, marketplace to consumers, professional services and restaurant delivery), the distribution of the change in online-platform activity in strict-containment countries is to the right of that of the others (Figure 3). This suggests that in these countries online-platform use increased more rapidly than in countries adopting softer containment measures.

Figure 3. Online-platform activity expanded more strongly in countries adopting stricter containment measures

Probability density of year-on-year percentage change of online platform activity (proxied by Google Trends data), January-June 2020

Note: The horizontal axis shows the average year-on-year percentage change of activity (proxied by Google Trends data) of online platforms for the period in which containment measures have been in place (i.e. the OECD containment index was above zero). The following activity areas are considered: mobile payments, marketplace to consumers, professional services and restaurant delivery. The vertical axis shows the probability density of the distribution of the year-on-year percentage change of online-platform activity.

Source: Google Trends data and OECD calculations.

The descriptive statistics above suggest that in some activity areas (those requiring little or no physical proximity for product and service delivery) the use of online platforms rose with the start of lockdowns and mobility restrictions. Businesses and people increasingly turned to online platforms to pursue economic and social activities that could no longer take place in the same form as before. In other activity areas (those requiring physical proximity for product and service delivery) online platforms experienced a large decline in activity, in line with the traditional businesses operating in the same areas. Here, online platforms could not offer businesses and people alternative ways of accessing these services while complying with government COVID-19-related restrictions. The response of platform use to the crisis seems to be related to the severity of containment measures.

The change in online-platform traffic was however highly heterogeneous even across countries that adopted similar containment measures. This warrants investigation on the role possibly played by differences in the intensity of lockdown measures (and the extent to which they were enforced) while accounting for country characteristics and policies that may be correlated with online-platform adoption and uptake. We therefore turn to regression analysis, which we perform in two steps. First, we look at the link between the strictness of lockdown measures and changes in platform use (Box 3). To capture the behavioural changes due to perceived health risks and the degree of enforcement of lockdown measures, we also use, as alternatives to the OECD containment index, the stringency index of the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, the number of new COVID-19 cases and the Google Mobility index. Second, we explore the influence of pre-existing countries' characteristics and policies on changes in online-platform use during the pandemic.

Overall, considering all online platforms together, containment measures were negatively associated with the use of online platforms (Table 1 column 1). We investigate the differential effects of the COVID-19 shock on platforms operating in different areas below. Using alternative measures capturing the severity of the COVID-19 crisis and the behavioural changes it caused yields similar results (Table 1 columns 2-4). As described in Box 1, we use the Oxford stringency index, the change in the Google mobility index (where positive changes in the Google mobility index imply higher mobility and vice-versa), and the number of new COVID-19 cases per million people. These measures are highly correlated (Annex Table 1.A.4) and are capturing to a large extent the same phenomenon: the behavioural changes of people and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. From now on, we focus on the OECD containment index, but using the alternative measures produces similar results.

The point estimates reported above may hide the heterogeneous dynamics of online-platform use across different areas. Table 2 shows the estimated coefficients of the OECD containment measures distinguishing between three distinct types of platforms: those that operate in areas requiring physical proximity for product and service delivery; those that do not have such a requirement; and those that have mixed physical proximity requirements because of the great heterogeneity of products they provide. 5

Results indicate that online-platform activity increased in areas not requiring physical proximity whereas it decreased in areas requiring physical proximity, even after controlling for country and area fixed effects (Table 2). The point estimates suggest the effects are sizeable. Moving from no containment measures to the strictest measures might have increased the yearly growth rate of online-platform activity in areas not requiring physical proximity by about 15 percentage points and lowered it by 70 percentage points in areas requiring physical proximity. As regards platforms operating in areas with mixed physical proximity requirements (i.e. personal services and business to business), the impact of the containment measures on activity is close to zero and not statistically significant. This is likely to reflect the large heterogeneity of platforms operating in these sectors. Finally, Figure 4 shows the changes in platform use associated with changes in the containment index for each activity area separately (see Table 1.A.1 in Annex 1 for the full results) 6. These confirm the results at a finer level, pointing out that the increase in platform activity is driven by three areas: mobile payments, marketplace to consumers and professional services.

The evidence therefore suggests that behavioural changes during the COVID-19 shock shifted some economic activity towards online platforms operating in areas not requiring physical proximity. This may have then mitigated the negative impact of the COVID-19 shock on output and jobs as online platforms allowed economic and social activities to continue while complying with lockdown and physical distancing rules. Anecdotal evidence supports this hypothesis: e.g., visits to Amazon's worldwide marketplaces rose during the pandemic, reaching a record of 5.4 billion in August 2020 and its marketplace was the fastest growing of its businesses 7; in 2020Q2, the number and value of Paypal transactions recorded the largest increase since 2014. 8

However, the activity of online platforms operating in areas requiring physical proximity were strongly depressed by the COVID-19 shock. For instance, bookings through Airbnb dropped by more than 90% in January-March 2020 compared with one year before 9. While Uber's revenues from mobility services (i.e. taxi) dropped by more than 60% in 2020Q2 compared with the previous year, those from restaurant delivery rose by 170% 10.

Figure 4. Lockdown measures have impacted platform traffic differently across activity areas

Note: The bars represent the estimated coefficient of the lockdown indicator interacted with area dummies using regression (1) in Box 3:∆P l a t f o r m U s e p,s,c,t=β 1 L o c k d o w n c,t+β 2 L o c k d o w n c,t*A r e a s +θ t +δ s,c+ε p,s,c,t. The dependent variable is the year-on-year logarithmic change of the Google Trends searches for online platforms. Full results are in column (3) Table 1A.1. The lines in the graph are the 95% confidence interval. The x-axis is in logarithmic scale (-1 is equivalent to a fall of online platform activity, as proxied by Google Trends searches, of 63%). Lockdown indicates the OECD containment index. The estimation includes country-area and month fixed effects, and standard errors are clustered at the platform-sector-country level.

Source: OECD estimations based on Google Trends and Crunchbase data.

The response of online-platform use to the COVID-19 shock may vary across countries depending on their degree of digital preparedness. In digitally advanced countries, past policies and pre-crisis conditions might have made it easier for businesses and people to start using online platforms (and more generally to adopt digital technologies to support business activity) when lockdowns were imposed.

Several country-specific structural characteristics and policies are associated with the diffusion of online platforms, by increasing both platform usage and the number of active platforms (OECD, 2020[3]). Here we report preliminary findings for three main areas: 1) technological and economic development (proxied by an index of the availability of latest technologies, a measure of digital adoption, and the level of GDP per capita); 2) access to digital infrastructure (proxied by a measure of mobile broadband penetration and an indicator of restrictions on connectivity and access to infrastructure); 3) digital literacy (proxied by a digital skills readiness index and the share of individuals using the Internet to pay bills). Annex Table 1.A.2 provides details on the measurement and coverage for these variables. The characteristics and policies considered are tentative and highly selective. Moreover, as stated above, the measure of platform activity used in this policy brief (i.e. the number of Google keyword searches for platform names) is imperfect (e.g. it does not reflect searches via mobile apps).

Therefore, the analysis is explorative in nature and its purpose is to start identifying only some of the determinants that may be related with countries' digital preparedness. Also, the results are purely descriptive and cannot be interpreted in a causal way. However, conditional on these data and statistical limitations, they may provide prima facie evidence on how countries' digital preparedness has facilitated the shift of some economic activities towards online marketplaces, possibly helping their economies to weather the COVID shock.

We investigate these issues by estimating the specification reported in Box 3 and adding an interaction term between the containment index and the selected country-specific structural and policy factors. The coefficient of the interaction term captures the extent to which each of these factors may have accelerated or hindered the increase in the use of online platforms during the COVID-19 shock. The graphs below report the impact of containment measures on the activity of platforms operating in areas that recorded an increase in the use of online platforms in the first half of 2020 (i.e. mobile payments, marketplace to consumers, professional services and restaurant delivery). We are interested in the factors that may have accelerated or hindered the increase in online-platform use during the height of the pandemic. Full results and confidence intervals of estimated effects are presented in Annex Table 1.A.3.

Figure 5. The use of online platforms during the COVID-19 crisis rises with the level of technological and economic development

Effect of containment measures on online-platform use (% increase in Google keyword searches)

Note: The panels show the marginal effect of the containment index estimated through=L o c k d o w n c t+L o c k d o w n *C h a r a c t e r i s t i c c +θ t ++, on three country-level policy/structural characteristics. Full results are in columns (1)-(3) Table 1A.3. The policy/structural characteristics considered are: the availability of latest technologies measured by an index 1-7 by the World Economic Forum (Panel A); the digital adoption index, which is a World Bank 0-1 index of digital adoption measured across people, government, and business (Panel B); GDP per capita levels in 2015 USD PPP (Panel C). Each panel shows the effect of the containment index estimated at different values of the country policy/characteristics considered: average value of bottom 3 countries; average value computed considering all countries, average value of top 3 countries. In Panel A, bottom 3 countries refer to Argentina, India, and Russia, and top 3 countries refer to Norway, United States, and Finland. In Panel B, bottom 3 countries refer to Indonesia, India, and Mexico, and top 3 countries refer to Korea, Austria, and Lithuania. In Panel C, bottom 3 countries refer to India, Indonesia, South Africa, and top 3 countries refer to Switzerland, Ireland, and Luxembourg.

Source: OECD estimations based on data from Google Trends, Crunchbase, World Economic Forum, and the World Bank.

These findings are in line with studies highlighting the role of digital technologies in disaster risk management (Madhavaram et al., 2017[32]). Our results suggest that the limited capacity of businesses and people to swiftly shift activity to online marketplaces may curtail their capacity to continue working and producing during shocks such as COVID-19. Anecdotal evidence and business surveys conducted during the COVID-19 crisis underline the clear link between the degree of digital preparedness and business resilience (KPMG, 2020[33]).

Quality access to communication networks and services is key to the adoption of digital technologies and the diffusion of digital services, including those delivered by online platforms. This depends on two main factors: past investment to build and upgrade communication networks and a sound regulatory framework ensuring easy, fair and affordable access to the network so as to meet the rising use of and demand for data.

Better communication infrastructures and regulatory framework relating to infrastructure and connectivity are critical to allow all parts of society to benefit from digital technologies. Rural populations often experience significantly worse access to communications networks than urban populations (OECD, 2019[34]). The impact of COVID-19 in rural areas (and in developing countries) may have been especially hard because of effects of mobility restrictions combined with the poor access to communication infrastructures and connectivity (OECD, 2018[35]). 13 Several good practices to promote digital connectivity exist, such as subsidising national and rural broadband networks, promoting municipal networks, designing competitive tenders for private-sector network deployment, and managing or implementing open access arrangements. Our results suggest that improving the regulatory framework relating to infrastructure and connectivity can strengthen countries' resilience to shocks such as COVID-19.

In a world increasingly permeated by digital technologies, the skills needed in the labour market are continuously evolving, with an increasing demand for workers with high skill levels. Workers - either dependent employees, self-employed or in managerial roles - increasingly need to be skilled in a range of digital technologies. The wide diffusion and effective use of digital technologies (including online platforms) also depends on the general digital skills - such as the ability to use the Internet - of the entire population, including those not in the workforce, such as the elderly. The OECD's Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) suggests that more than 50% of the adult population on average in 28 OECD countries can only carry out the simplest set of computer tasks, such as writing an email and browsing the web, or have no ICT skills at all. Overall, the digital divide, which initially focused on gaps in Internet access, increasingly concerns the different ways people are able to use the Internet and the benefits they derive from using digital technologies (OECD, 2019[36]). The effective use of online platforms is likely to require a minimum level of general digital skills that is relatively high.

Figure 6. Broadband penetration and good network regulation have underpinned the increase in platform use during the COVID-19 crisis

Effect of containment measures on online-platform use (% increase in Google keyword searches)

Note: The panels show the marginal effect of the containment index estimated through=L o c k d o w n c t+L o c k d o w n *C h a r a c t e r i s t i c c +θ t ++, on three country-level policy/structural characteristics. Full results are in columns (4)-(5) Table 1A.3. The policy/structural characteristics considered: are: the levels of mobile broadband penetration, measured as mobile broadband connections per 100 inhabitants (Panel A) and based on the levels of restrictions relating to the infrastructure and connectivity sub-component of the Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index. Each panel shows the effect of the containment index estimated at different values of the country policy/characteristics considered: average value of bottom 3 countries; average value computed considering all countries, average value of top 3 countries. In Panel A, bottom 3 countries refer to India, Hungary, and Mexico, and top 3 countries refer to Estonia, Finland, and Japan. In Panel B, top 3 values are for Japan, Austria, Australia, Switzerland plus other countries with the same value, and bottom 3 values are for South Africa, Russia, Indonesia, and Argentina, Chile, and Poland.

Source: OECD estimations based on data from Google Trends, OECD, and World Bank.

Our results show that during lockdowns online-platform activity might have risen more in countries where digital skills are high and where the percentage of individuals that used the Internet to pay bills in the previous year is largest (Figure 7). To facilitate the take-up of online platforms (along with the adoption of digital technologies more generally) policies need to go beyond the fundamental objective of ensuring that the education system equips all students with basic digital skills (as well as solid literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills). Other important initiatives involve building and improving life-long learning systems so as to ensure all adults can acquire and maintain the skills required to handle modern technologies effectively. Many of these skills can be acquired also outside formal education and training institutions - for instance, in the workplace. Boosting funds for on-the-job training and establishing a certification system for skills acquired outside formal education channels can encourage training in the workplace (OECD, 2016[37]).

Figure 7. The use of online platforms during COVID-19 crisis rises with skill levels

Effect of containment measures on online-platform use (% increase in Google keyword searches)

Note: Note: The panels show the marginal effect of the containment index estimated through=L o c k d o w n c t+L o c k d o w n *C h a r a c t e r i s t i c c +θ t ++, on three country-level policy/structural characteristics. Full results are in columns (6)-(7) Table 1A.3. The policy/structural characteristics considered: the skills readiness index from the WEF Networked Readiness Index (Panel A) and the percentage of individuals over 15 years of age that used the Internet to pay bills in the previous year, taken from the World Bank (Panel B). Each panel shows the effect of the containment index estimated at different values of the country policy/characteristics considered: average value of bottom 3 countries; average value computed considering all countries, average value of top 3 countries. In Panel A, bottom 3 countries refer to India, South Africa, and Mexico, and top 3 countries refer to Belgium, Switzerland, and Finland. In Panel B, bottom 3 countries refer to India, Indonesia, and Mexico, and top 3 countries refer to Denmark, Finland, and Norway.

Source: OECD estimations based on data from Google Trends, World Bank, and World Economic Forum.

This note uses Google Trends data to understand the change in online-platform activity throughout the first six months of 2020 and how it relates to lockdown and mobility restriction measures imposed over the same period. Changes in online-platform activity occurred differently across activity areas. Online platforms operating in areas requiring physical proximity for service delivery - such as accommodation and restaurant booking - suffered marked decreases in activity; instead, activity of platforms operating in areas less affected by physical proximity requirements - such as mobile payments, marketplace to consumers and restaurant delivery -increased by around 20% on average.

The increase in online-platform use varied across countries depending on pre-existing structural conditions and policies. The increase tended to be larger in more technologically advanced countries, those with better communication networks and higher levels of digital skills. These results suggest that policies may play an important role in strengthening the digital preparedness of countries to face shocks causing severe disruptions of traditional market and social activities. When COVID-19 hit, some countries were better prepared than others and in these countries people and businesses may have found it easier to shift activities towards online platforms.

The COVID-19 shock has added urgency to policies aiming at accelerating the digitalisation of public and private sector activities. During the crisis many OECD and G20 countries implemented a range of such policies including, for instance, improving broadband connectivity, helping firms adopt online business models, promoting online payments, and enhancing digital skills (G20, 2020[38]; OECD, 2020[2]; OECD, 2020[39]).

This new urgency is welcome but a co-ordinated approach is needed to exploit complementarities and minimising trade-offs across policy areas. The breadth of policies and interventions (spanning for instance connectivity, skills, finance) and the time it takes for them to realise their effects require building synergies among the various policy initiatives (OECD, 2019[40]). For example, investment in information and communication technologies (ICT), such as broadband, is necessary but not sufficient for the effective use of digital tools. Complementary investment in knowledge-based capital, such as skills, is needed. At the same time, the general digital skills of the population - acquired through the education system - are the foundation on which workers in some industries can build more specialised and advanced ICT skills throughout their careers and continuous learning. Policies to protect the privacy of personal data and strengthen cybersecurity can enhance trust in digital technologies and online platforms, accelerating their adoption. Incentives linked to the use of electronic payments can be conducive to a more intense use of online payments. Establishing or updating Industry 4.0 plans in view of the new challenges the COVID-19 crisis has created would be a good way to build such a co-ordinated approach.

The increase in online platform use during the COVID-19 has also heightened concerns about the quality and safety of jobs intermediated by online platforms. Platforms often rely on flexible work arrangements, which could lead to an increase in "false" self-employment, poor quality jobs and career prospects, and contribute to a segmented labour market (Mira d'Ercole and MacDonald, 2018[41]). In response to the crisis, platform companies have taken measures to protect the health and incomes of platform workers, including: introducing contactless delivery or temporarily ceasing high-risk services; providing personal protective equipment or hygiene products; providing full or partial pay for sick or self-isolating workers (generally up to a maximum period of two weeks) (OECD, 2020[42]). At the same time, many governments have exceptionally extended social protection schemes to platform (and other self-employed) workers as the traditional social safety net does not cover them (or covers them only partially). These are temporary solutions, but they could be the start of a process to durably improve the quality and safety of platform-mediated jobs. This is likely to require policy changes in different areas including labour market regulation, social protection and workers' representation (Lane, 2020[43]).

References

[31] Correia, S. (2016), "A Feasible Estimator for Linear Models with Multi-Way Fixed Effects", Unplublished manuscript.

[9] Farronato, C., J. Fong and A. Fradkin (2020), Dog Eat Dog: Measuring Network Effects Using a Digital Platform Merger, NBER Working Paper 28047.

[41] Mira d'Ercole, M. and M. MacDonald (2018), Measuring platform and other new forms of work: Issues pape.

[3] OECD (2020), Are platforms killing the offline star? Platform diffusion and the productivity of traditional firms, ECO/CPE/WP1(2020)6.

[17] Woloszko, N. (2020), "Tracking activity in real time with google trends", Unpublished manuscript.

Figure 1.A.1. Online-platform activity during lockdowns by area of activity

Note: The lines show the median of the year-on-year percentage change of online-platform activity (as proxied by Google Trends data) for the different activity areas; the period covered is January-June 2020.

Source: Google Trends and OECD computations

Notes

← 12. The Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index captures cross-cutting barriers that hamper the supply of services using electronic networks. It catalogues and quantifies different types of regulatory barriers (Ferencz, 2019[44]). Those related to infrastructure and connectivity reflect the adoption of best practice regulations on interconnections among network operators to ensure seamless communication. It also captures measures limiting or blocking the use of communications services, including Virtual Private Networks or leased lines. Lastly, this area covers policies impacting on connectivity such as measures on cross-border data flows and data localisation.

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The role of online platforms in weathering the COVID-19 shock

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This policy brief reports on the activity of online platforms during the COVID-19 crisis. Google Trends data for OECD and other G20 countries indicate that in some areas (such as retail sales, restaurant delivery, and mobile payments) online-platform use increased markedly during the first half of 2020, when most countries imposed lockdown and physical distancing measures.

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Fast innovation surprises competitors and therefore assists in gaining competitive advantage by increasing overall speed to market which in turn should ultimately increase profitability.

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Fast innovation surprises competitors and therefore assists in gaining competitive advantage by increasing overall speed to market which in turn should ultimately increase profitability. The rapid introduction of new or enhanced products or services leaves competitors with two options: they can either continue as planned, introducing a product or service to a market with a very much reduced opportunity or they can re-direct their efforts on to other projects.