The document discusses top trends driving innovation in the industrial sector. Through analyzing past publications, it identified three main trends: autonomous machinery and equipment, machinery and equipment monitoring, and intelligent industry robots. It also outlines eight additional trends that will continue reshaping the industry, including product-as-a-service, software-as-a-service, smart and data-driven services, digital twins, IIoT platforms, industrial cloud solutions, 5G, and sustainable businesses. The trends focus on areas like data-driven machinery, cloud-based solutions, and new business models transforming the industry.

1. Innovate—Trends and innovations that matter

2. For this special anniversary edition of “Innovate”, we
round up the overarching trends that indicate which
innovations leaders in the industrial industry should
be focusing on today to accelerate their performance
and deliver a competitive advantage tomorrow.

3. Top trends driving innovation in the
industrial sector today, and tomorrow
How the research
was conducted:
1. Basis of the analysis is the “Innovate”-section from the past eleven Industrialist digital publications
(July 2020–June 2021). “Innovate” focuses on product and service innovations that have recently
been launched or company moves that could lead to the launch of innovative products and services
in the industrial sector.
2. Font sizes represent how often a topic was mentioned in the past “Innovate”-editions. Topics with
smallest font size have been mentioned once, topics with largest font size have been mentioned
eleven times.
3. Highlighted topics represent trends that will continue to reshape the industrial industry tomorrow.
Smart and
Data-Driven
Services Industrial
Cloud
Solutions
Sustainable
businesses
Digital Twins
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
IIoT Platforms
Product-as-a-Service (PaaS)
5G

4. Each month in our Innovate
section, we share market
innovations we believe stand to
impact the future of Industrial.
For this special anniversary edition, we looked back at
those news items to identify the overarching trends that
indicate which innovations leaders should be focusing on
today to deliver a competitive advantage tomorrow and
accelerate their performance. We have based our top
trends on the facts – these are the innovations driving
the biggest impact, whether through product or service
launches or major acquisitions and investments.
Through our research,
we identified the three
strongest trends that drove
innovation for the industrial
sector in 2020.
Autonomous Machinery
and Equipment
Machinery and Equipment
Monitoring
Intelligent industry robots
3
2
1

5. Today, connected machinery and equipment generate a
glut of data that must be leveraged to enable online
monitoring, steering, and intelligent and autonomous
operations. To achieve this, the data needs to be
continuously analyzed, and translated into meaningful
actions to e.g. help companies enact predictive
maintenance and reduce downtime significantly.
The speed of data capture and analysis is also vital. In
order to maximize on the potential of data-driven
machinery, analysis must be run in real-time, wherever the
machinery is operating from. Ultimately, this will require
cloud-based solutions, since on-premise solutions cannot
guarantee the same level of scale and speed.

6. Beyond those three key trends, we´ll experience more
progress in Industrial going forward, as digital technologies
will drive the product-to-service transformation and new
data-driven business models which will continue to reshape
the industry, according to Accenture´s Global Industrial
Research Lead Matthias Wahrendorff.
Those 8 key trends include:
Product-as-a-Service (PaaS)
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
Smart and Data-Driven Services
Digital Twins
1
2
3
4
IIoT Platforms
Industrial Cloud Solutions
5G
Sustainable businesses
5
6
7
8

7. The implications of each of these trends stands
to be enormous for industrial companies.
Take Industrial Cloud solutions, for example.
Driven by the strong demand for PaaS and SaaS
solutions, companies are already collaborating
with the biggest cloud solution providers:
Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Yet for a cloud solution to
be impactful, it must be tailored to each company and
applied to the specific industry needs. Industrial companies
require solution providers that not only have
comprehensive IT/OT skills and offer big data analytics
capabilities, but a deep understanding of industry specific
processes. Only then can a cloud transformation at scale
deliver the expected value-add and ensure the targeted
return on investment. Despite their size and scale, the big
three cloud companies are still nascent in driving industrial-
tailored solutions at scale–but they are learning and
investing quickly to do so.
It’s clear that Industrial innovation depends on innovative
technology and software solutions, deployed the right way
at speed and scale, with the right partner. And over the
next year in the Industrialist, we will share more inspiration
on how industrial companies can take advantage of the
11 innovation trends in 2021 and beyond, transforming
their business models and driving future growth.

8. Top trends driving
innovation in the
industrial sector today
Autonomous Machinery
and Equipment
This trend focuses on machinery and equipment, that is
on the way or already able to operate without human
intervention.

9. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Sandvik + Exyn robots
make mining safer
Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology has joined with drone makers Exyn
Technologies to develop a new autonomous mining system. Sandvik’s
OptiMine technology is used to make mining operations more efficient by
collating data on everything from assets to people. With Exyn’s help,
OptiMine will now be able to integrate visual data captured by drones. It
can then map underground mines and their surroundings, making daily
operations safer and more efficient. ”For the first time, customers will be
able to map the entirety of their underground operations, even in
dangerous GPS denied environments,” said Exyn’s CEO and co-founder
Nader Elm.

10. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Fetch and Honeywell
automate warehouses
Fetch Robotics has launched a new autonomous mobile robot for warehouse
pallet transportation, powered by Honeywell Intelligrated’s Momentum WES
software. The PalletTransport1500 has an integrated lift and a pick-up and
delivery station and, combined with WES, can carry out cross-docking and
returns of pallet loads up to 1,136kg. The result is a safer, more efficient
environment that will help fulfilment and distribution centers keep up with
increasing demand for same and next-day delivery. Honeywell Robotics CTO
Thomas Evans describes it as a “turnkey solution” that will give companies a
competitive edge.

11. Top trends driving
innovation in the
industrial sector today
Machinery and
Equipment Monitoring
This trend focuses on machinery and equipment with
sensors allowing data collection for remote control and
remote monitoring.

12. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Hitachi to acquire
wireless sensing
expert Perpetuum
Hitachi is set to acquire wireless sensing pioneer
Perpetuum through its UK arm, Hitachi Rail. Hitachi plans to
use the novel technology to help in the remote detection
of railway vehicle faults using a network of self-powered
sensors that transmit data wirelessly. The sensors gather
data on vehicle vibrations and monitor wheels, motors and
more, before AI is used to deliver precise, real time analysis
of their functionality. The aim is to create a predictive
maintenance system that prevents parts damage or even
vehicle accidents from happening at all.

13. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Continental
launches digital
tire monitoring
Automotive-maker Continental has launched ContiConnect
Live, a digital tire monitoring solution. The system works in
tandem with ContiPressureCheck and ContiConnect Yard
to collect data on tire pressure and temperature and
upload it to the cloud in real time. ContiConnect Live also
uses GPS data to clock how many hours the tires have been
operational. The system helps reduce vehicle downtime
and increases safety by preempting any future
maintenance issues. Fleet operators can oversee vehicle
conditions remotely and are automatically notified if
tire conditions are not ideal.
OPTION 1 | Image $180

14. Top trends driving
innovation in the
industrial sector today
Intelligent
industry robots
This trend focuses on intelligent/ AI-driven robots for
industrial purposes.

15. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Daewoo’s AI robot
welds ship hulls
Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering has developed the
world’s first AI metalwork robot for ship construction. The company
is using the groundbreaking robot, named Goknuri, to shape steel
plates into curved ones for front and rear ship hulls, at
temperatures of above 800C. Goknuri is working on hulls at
Daewoo’s shipyard on Geoje Island, south of Seoul. The robot was
completed around three years after Daewoo first launched the
project.

16. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Hyundai’s AI robot can
flatten concrete floors
Hyundai Engineering is seeking a patent for an AI concrete plastering
robot. The robot will use machine learning and a 3D scanner to detect
exactly which floor areas need flattening. It can then carry out the
flattening work independently using two rotating electric motors fixed
with plastering blades. The invention will be lighter, quieter and more
agile than existing plastering machines. A prototype has already been
developed, and Hyundai Engineering has said the machine could be
operational by the end of 2021.

17. Top trends driving
innovation in the industrial
sector tomorrow
Product-as-a-Service (PaaS)
This trend focuses on the shift from selling products to
selling services and outcomes instead.

18. Selected industry example
from past editions
Daikin launches
subscription service
The Japanese air conditioning firm has developed the subscription service with
clean energy company WASSHA. Baridi Baridi Inc. customers will be able to rent air
conditioners on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and pay for subscriptions via a
smartphone. The joint venture will benefit from WASSHA’s expertise in renting LED
lanterns to off-grid areas in Tanzania, and Baridi Baridi will initially launch in the
East African country. Daikin will have an 80% controlling share of the subscription
service, and Baridi Baridi will launch with an initial investment of JPY100 million.

19. Top trends driving
innovation in the industrial
sector tomorrow
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
This trend focuses on software-based industry solutions
offered purely as a service e.g., big data analytics
solutions.

20. Selected industry example
from past editions
Honeywell acquires
Sparta for $1.3 billion
Honeywell has announced that it is buying Sparta Systems,
a company that provides enterprise quality management
software (QMS) to the life sciences industry. Sparta
software such as TrackWise Digital and QualityWise.aiSM
will be integrated with Honeywell Forge to help life
sciences customers achieve better quality results, including
new therapies and faster time to market. Honeywell will
further enhance the offering with AI and IoT connectivity.
“Our combined offerings will make it easier for customers
to gain critical insights from manufacturing and quality data
that can improve their manufacturing processes while
ensuring product quality, patient safety, and supply chain
continuity,” said Que Dallara, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Honeywell Connected Enterprise. The integration
will begin in life sciences, before Honeywell expands its
capabilities to adjacent industries.

21. Top trends driving
innovation in the industrial
sector tomorrow
Smart and
Data-Driven Services
This trend focuses on services that are enabled through
big data analytics.

22. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Honeywell + Microsoft
fully digitize buildings
Honeywell and Microsoft are combining forces to bring predictive
maintenance to the buildings industry. Honeywell Forge will integrate
with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service to generate real time data
analytics that help operators gain efficiencies and solve problems faster.
Honeywell’s AI and IoT-based software helps reduce energy consumption
by 10–20% by providing better oversight and control of heating and
ventilation systems, while Dynamics 365 reduces facility downtime by
remotely detecting and addressing maintenance issues. The solutions will
be scaled via the cloud to help buildings digitize their maintenance,
security and energy systems.

23. Selected industry examples
from past editions
John Deere buys
smart farming
software startup
The machinery manufacturer has acquired Harvest Profit to provide
customers with superior forecasting and profitability measuring tools.
Harvest Profit helps farmers analyze data on a field-by-field basis to better
understand the financial consequences of every operational decision. “This
software provides financial visibility for customers of their operations,
enabling confident and proactive management decisions that make them
more profitable and sustainable,” said Lane Arthur, vice president, data,
application, and analytics at John Deere. The software will be available to
customers through the John Deere Operations Center.

24. Top trends driving
innovation in the industrial
sector tomorrow
Digital Twins
This trend focuses on the digitalization of assets and
processes using their digital twins for solutions such as
digital engineering and process optimization purposes.

25. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Allvision IO creates
highway 'digital twins’
with TomTom data
Geospatial analytics company Allvision IO is partnering with
location technology specialists TomTom to develop ‘digital
twin’ highways. Allvision IO supplies insights and asset
management services to transportation and infrastructure
clients. By partnering with TomTom, the company can
increase its data sources to ‘more than a million miles of
highway data and, leveraging machine learning and cloud
technology, unlock insights for its interstate highway
customers. TomTom data will be integrated with Allvision’s
platform to create a ‘digital twin’ of road infrastructure,
including bridges, guardrails and signage. “You would be
amazed at how frequently assets along a highway or road
change,” said Aaron Morris, co-founder and CEO of Allvision
IO. “The signage telling you how fast you should be going, the
exits and what town you are coming up to. There are millions
of miles of this stuff out there that has to be maintained by a
comparatively small number of people, and the way we can
do that is through this data and through our tech.”

26. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Johnson Controls
designs digital twins
for buildings on Azure
Johnson Controls is building digital twins for building
management using Microsoft Azure. OpenBlue Digital Twin
is a platform that recreates traditional objects and
machines within a building in digital form, to be
manipulated by building designers and managers
or construction companies. By combining machine
learning, AI and edge computing technologies, OpenBlue
can be used to analyze building data and digital twin
simulations to predict patterns and trends.

27. Top trends driving
innovation in the industrial
sector tomorrow
IIoT Platforms
This trend focuses on IIoT platforms that help gather and
analyze data from connected machinery and equipment
(e.g., Siemens MindSphere, Hitachi’s Lumada, or
Schneider Electric’s Ecostruxure), allowing industrial
companies to offer new data-driven services and
enabling new business models.

28. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Carrier launches
IoT platform
Carrier Global Corporation has launched a new platform
aimed at maximizing connected equipment uptime at a low
cost. The BluEdge service platform offers a tiered suite of
services across the three Carrier segments and can be
tailored to a customer’s unique needs across: Heating,
Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration and
fire & security.
At the highest tier, Elite, BlueEdge can prevent issues from
ever occurring by automatically extracting insights from
data and deploying the right solution. Enhance tier
customers can create a custom package of on-demand
services, while Core customers will receive expert advice
and services when needed. Carrier’s launch customers
include Marioff Marine and EcoEnergy Insights, with a
wider rollout expected in late 2020.

29. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Johnson Controls
brings buildings
online
The 135-year-old building controls company has launched
OpenBlue, an artificial intelligence platform it says gives
buildings memory, intelligence, and their own unique
identity. “The launch of OpenBlue reflects how we think
buildings are evolving from inflexible assets to dynamic
resources,” said George Oliver, chairman and CEO of
Johnson Controls. The system combines traditional
hardware and IT systems with cloud solutions and AI to
connect all parts of a building. From airflow and elevator
movement, to lighting and building access, everything can
be managed in one system. This kind of granular control is
vital in the time of COVID-19, and will enable more efficient
contact tracing and social distancing, as well as an
estimated 20-60 percent in energy savings.

30. Top trends driving
innovation in the industrial
sector tomorrow
Industrial
Cloud Solutions
This trend focuses on industry-specific cloud solutions.

31. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Rockwell +
Microsoft’s
five-year cloud plan
Rockwell Automation and Microsoft have announced a five-
year partnership expansion aimed at developing cloud
solutions that simplify industrial customers’ digital
transformations. The pair have already developed 20 use
cases across industries, including in life sciences and
personal care. The next five years will build on that work,
with cloud solutions that bring together industrial data from
development, operations and maintenance teams into one
environment. Customers can then use that data to build
and test digital prototypes at a far lower cost than real
world trials. By bringing data together into one ecosystem,
companies can also more easily and securely share that
data with partners.

32. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Continental + AWS
launch automotive
software in the cloud
Continental and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are developing a
modular hardware and software platform that connects vehicles
to the cloud to accelerate the development of autonomous
driving systems. Continental Automotive Edge (CAEdge) provides
different options for developing, delivering, and maintaining
system functions from its virtual workbench. Drivers can also
continuously update the system by downloading the latest
software updates. The technology can analyze vast amounts of
car data, importing camera and radar data from vehicle fleets
to enhance automated driving simulations. Powered by AWS,
this work takes just hours, rather than weeks. CAEdge customers
will be able to access AWS data centers and the security afforded
by the AWS network.

33. Top trends driving
innovation in the industrial
sector tomorrow
5G
This trend focuses on the next generation of wireless
network technology that will enable new real-time data
analytics, smart manufacturing, configurable factories,
and a time-sensitive network.

34. Selected industry example
from past editions
Ferrovial
launches 5G
smart road initiative
Spanish transport infrastructure company Ferrovial has
launched the Aivia initiative in partnership with
Microsoft, 3M and Kapsch. The initiative will design and
develop digital and physical smart road solutions that use
5G technology, along with monitoring, sensor, and
simulation technologies. The initial focus will be on new
vertical and road signaling systems. In the long term, the
initiative stands to help improve the traveler experience,
safety, travel times, and in-car infotainment. Additional
manufacturers and technology companies will join the
initiative in the future.

35. Top trends driving
innovation in the industrial
sector tomorrow
Sustainable businesses
This trend focuses on the recalibration of industrial
companies’ strategy and business models to become
sustainable and responsible businesses, including
adapting their products and services along the themes of
a circular economy and improving their carbon footprint
in all operations.

36. Selected industry examples
from past editions
ABB joins
Sustainable
Underground Mining
ABB is bringing its electrification and automation
knowledge to the ambitious Sustainable Underground
Mining (SUM) project. LKAB is leading the initiative, a
collaboration with ABB, Combitech, Epiroc and Sandvik to
design new working methods that will create a safe, zero-
carbon dioxide emission mine of the future, where
productivity is increased by 50 percent. Autonomous
production and transport tests are already underway in
LKAB’s mine in northern Sweden and a virtual mine. “ABB is
integral to the next step, which is to build a demonstration
workshop to connect electrical and automation systems
that have so far been developed for this challenging
project,” said Jan Nyqvist, Global Product Manager for
Underground Mining Automation at ABB. The solutions are
due to be installed by 2022, and the new cleaner, safer and
more efficient standard for mining deployed globally by
2030.

37. Selected industry examples
from past editions
Vestas invests
in bio-composite
start-up
Vestas Ventures, the venture capital arm of wind turbine
provider Vestas, has invested in Swedish wood technology
company Modvion.
Modvion designs and manufactures wind turbine towers
made from laminated veneer lumber (LVL), a sustainably
sourced bio-composite. In contrast to a steel turbine, the
bio-composite towers reduce carbon emissions
by 80 percent due to the reduced weight and the nature of
the material’s production and supply. The investment will
help Vestas on its journey to reducing supply chain
emissions by 45% per MWh by 2030.

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