Hong Kong Science Park Asia-Pacific Innovation Summit reveals the huge market potential of sensor technology

Many authoritative scholars and industry leaders in the research and development of sensor technology in the world recently discussed the future development trend of research and development at the "Asia Pacific Innovation Summit 2016: Sensor Technology" forum held by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Company, and revealed the cost-effectiveness of miniature smart sensors. With the improvement, the development of the two major areas of medical care and environmental safety will undergo major disruptions, bringing unprecedented convenience to the citizens and consumers.

The focus of the forum held on August 25 is the development of sensors driven by micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Dr. Qingliang Yao, head of the electronics group of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Corporation, kicked off the conference, emphasizing the huge potential of the sensor market. He pointed out that industry insiders estimate that the pace of development of the Internet of Things (IoT) is accelerating. In 2020, the Internet of Things will be supported by one trillion sensors. By then, the global market value of sensors is expected to exceed US$150 billion. Dr. Yao said: "Stanford University's summary also pointed out that by 2020, each person will use about 130 sensors on average, and by 2033 this number will exceed 5,000."

Sensor technology reveals low-cost healthcare helps build long-lived communities

Professor William C. Tang, a guest speaker at the University of California, Irvine, emphasized at the conference that in the field of healthcare, consumers have a huge demand for sensor technology, and the cost-effectiveness of sensors driven by MEMS technology is increasing. He said that the life expectancy in developed countries is as high as 80-87 years, resulting in a higher per capita health care expenditure. Therefore, we need a "better health care plan."

He pointed out that the development of MEMS sensors in the next 20 to 30 years will be dominated by the following two points: (1) Low-cost and high-volume consumer products, such as mobile phones and mobile phone equipment; (2) Medium-low-cost and medium-to-high-volume healthcare applications . With the development of MEMS sensor technology, there will be more medical care-related applications, including drug delivery, monitoring, bioanalysis, prosthetics, minimally invasive surgery, treatment tools, and diagnosis and treatment methods and processes. The development of the sensor market brings huge opportunities.

"In the 2015 global trends listed by Ernst & Young, the MEMS sensor industry will make a significant contribution to two of these trends. One is the "digital future", especially the development of the Internet of Things requires a large number of sensors; the other is "The redefinition of the concept of health care," including wearable and micro-implanted devices that have applied MEMS sensors to make in-situ diagnosis and treatment more popular." Professor William C. Tang concluded.

Skin sensors carry out affordable medical monitoring

Dr. Muhammad Mustafa Hussain, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, is committed to making multi-sensory sensors an affordable medical monitoring instrument for the world’s population. He shared the latest research and development results on low-cost paper-made skin at the conference. . This technology can sense temperature, humidity, pH and pressure by using the characteristics of daily household products such as convenience note stickers, aluminum foil, microfiber wipes, sponges, double-sided adhesive tapes and HB pencils.

Dr. Hussain said: “Paper-made skin is most likely to become the first multi-sensory integrated platform that can detect multiple parameters at the same time at an affordable cost. It has a wide range of applications, including medical treatment, 3D touch screens, and even man-machine interfaces.” He It is also pointed out that the paper-made fitbit will be available in the future. It can sense vital signs at the same point without interruption and in real time. It is hoped that everyone in the world can also be exposed to this revolutionary technology.

MEMS technology has made finer and cheaper sensors stimulate the emergence of new devices

Another guest speaker, Claire Troadec, from Yole Developpement, said at the summit that the emergence of MEMS technology is the gospel of sensor technology, which helps miniaturization and cost reduction. She said: "Because MEMS is a semiconductor technology, it can miniaturize existing products. Adding more molds to a given chip can also reduce the cost of sensors. This will help more new products such as smartphones or cars. And the equipment entering the market is really exciting."

At present, with the development of the Internet of Things related to the promotion of smart cities, the demand and application of sensors are mainly concentrated in building automation, and consumer and home automation. Ms. Troadec predicts that by 2018, sensor applications will expand to industrial fields, healthcare and life sciences, and further extend to transportation, security, public safety, and the environment in 2020. She emphasized that global attention to improving air quality has greatly increased the importance of gas sensors, and it is expected that the market size of gas sensors will increase from US$560 million in 2014 to US$920 million in 2021.

Smart sensor applications improve the development of safety technology in smart cities

Professor Li Wenrong from the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering of the City University of Hong Kong proposed at the meeting that MEMS sensors play a key role in a series of safety-related technological developments - including Google cars using autonomous driving to prevent dangerous situations (due to 90% of accidents are caused by human error), portable car airbags use MEMS sensors so that the airbag can react and unfold within 0.75 seconds after the impact is sensed, and an advanced sensing system that can sense shock resistance.

"MEMS sensor technology is very important to the future development of science and technology." Dr. Li said. "In addition to the huge mobile phone market, there are still many animal and human-related applications that have not yet been developed. All in all, I think they will enable the entire society to move forward and make our lives better."

The Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Corporation organized the sensor conference of the Asia-Pacific Innovation Summit to promote exchanges between partners and overseas sensor experts, allowing the Science Park community to absorb new scientific and technological knowledge, thereby enhancing its research and development capabilities in sensors, and at the same time attracting investors’ attention to this Technology, and attract more talents to join this field.