In this premium article IDTechEx highlights some of the presentations analysts found interesting, with commentary, as well as shared insight on interviews undertaken with the market leaders and new entrants on the exhibition floor.

Autonomous haul trucks in mining are here to stay with companies ramping up the roll out of retrofit fleets around the world, but what does this mean in the wider context of next generation mining equipment, with many projects from digital twin IoT solutions to predictive maintenance of equipment showing promise in the adoption of emerging technology. Separating the hype from reality is key in mining, an industry often risk averse to standalone investments and where standards and interoperability challenges typically need be addressed ahead of technology adoption.

As society and equipment become more mobile and remote from grids, diesel and gas gensets will be bought in larger numbers for a few years yet - possibly peaking at around $30 billion global market size when over 600GW will be deployed. The Zero Genset market will rise to at least $100 billion if it replaces significant grid power.

In IDTechEx Research's latest report Additive Manufacturing and Lightweight Materials for Aerospace and Defense 2018-2028, the focus is on advanced lightweight materials and the rise of additive manufacturing.

Fiber lasers: A versatile technology for lightweighting, battery manufacturing and LiDAR in the automotive industry. Recent advances in fiber laser welding are highly advantageous for lightweighting and battery manufacturing. Fiber lasers are reliable, compact and energy efficient systems that offer the best beam quality for applications where precision is important.

In any emerging technology, the pace of innovation is rapid, sometimes dauntingly so. Patent Analytics is a service that IDTechEx provides utilising our long-standing expertise in a range of emerging technologies to provide clients of our services the answers they need.

The transportation industry is renewing itself from within finds new IDTechEx Research report "Electric Trucks and Delivery Vans 2018-2028".

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 5 July titled Advances in Fiber Laser Technologies.

IDTechEx is hosting a free webinar on Thursday 28 June 2018 titled Electric Trucks and Delivery Vans.

In this article IDTechEx gives a short overview of the topic of wide bandgap semiconductors covering the fundamental material science, the key players, the market potential. The impact on a range of applications will also be discussed, with a focus on renewable energy systems and microgrids.

IDTechEx attended the event last week to meet with key stakeholders including industrial OEMs, power module manufacturers, established semiconductor companies and innovative new GaN (gallium nitride) and SiC (silicon carbide) developers to report back on the current and future trends. The following article is the second of two parts and provides a summary of some of the key GaN related developments and at the event and their impact on various industries and applications.

In the recently published IDTechEx market report titled Fiber Lasers 2018-2028: Technologies, Opportunities, Markets & Forecasts, Dr Nilushi Wijeyasinghe explores how recent fiber laser technology developments affect the growth of key market segments.

IDTechEx Analyst Dr Na Jiao attended The China International Battery Fair (CIBF), the first legal international battery fair in the Chinese battery industry, which is held every two years.

IDTechEx attended the event last week to meet with key stakeholders including industrial OEMs, power module manufacturers, established semiconductor companies and innovative GaN (gallium nitride and SiC (silicon carbide) developers to report back on the current and future trends.

RFBs have the potential to become a mainstream technology that will compete directly with lithium-ion and sodium-sulphur, currently the two leading chemistries in the stationary storage market.

The previous article looked at material opportunities for thermal management and this article looks at the additional componentry.

This two-part series will look at some of the materials opportunities emerging in electric vehicle for both batteries and other componentry. This information will be taking highlights from two recent trade shows: Foam Expo (Novi, USA) and The Battery Show co-located with Electric and hybrid vehicle technology expo.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 14 June titled Redox Flow Batteries for Stationary Storage.

Redox flow batteries are an energy storage technology initially developed by NASA in the 70's for space applications. After several years of intensive R&D, in 2006, several key patents on the technology expired, opening up the arena to companies all around the world.

Autonomous mobility, in the general public's eye, is now synonymous with cars. Whilst this might be the largest ultimate prize, it is by no means the only commercial manifestation of this technology. Indeed, as the IDTechEx Research report New Robotics and Drones 2018-2038: Technologies, Forecasts, Players demonstrates, numerous autonomous mobile robots are being commercialized in applications where there is (a) a clear commercial purpose and (b) a more structured and predictable environment.