I recently had the chance to offer insights for an article in CIO Magazine titled “Top technologies that will disrupt business in 2023.” The article explores topics such as AI, IoT and block chain and includes quotes from executives at companies such as Cisco Systems and Vonage.
My comments on battery technology advances were included in the sustainability section of the article. These comments were inspired by an amazing collaboration between QuesTek and our friends at Boston Metal. Below are my full responses to the questions from CIO Magazine.
What areas are ripe for disruption by new or emerging technology this year?
Materials are becoming critical in nearly every sector of our society. From EV batteries to infrastructure and construction, almost every industry cares a lot more about materials now than it used to. Materials are becoming the constraint. Products are so good that tech companies are now being limited by the materials they have to work with.
Every other field of engineering has software for modeling and design, except materials design. Every product you have was initially designed in software. Auto manufacturers have software that simulates aerodynamics, for example. But materials scientists largely have to conduct experiments to figure things out.
Later this year, QuesTek will release our ICMD® software that uses physics-based modeling to reduce the number of samples needed to develop a custom material from about 300 to 15. This software is already being beta tested by some of the largest technology companies in the world and will completely change the materials phase of product design.
What is a product — that is specifically not in your organization’s area of influence — that you think will cause disruption — and how so?
There are a number of players on the verge of disruptive battery technology. It’s not quite here yet, but 2023 could be the year we see a tremendous leap forward in battery size and capacity that could have implications for all sorts of industries.
We’ll also see advances in industrial sustainability in 2023. Boston Metal has produced cathode materials that are enabling steel production with zero greenhouse gas emissions, which is very exciting.
Is there a new or emerging technology you’d like to see your organization adopt in 2023?
Like most companies, I think QuesTek could find uses for generative AI such as ChatGPT. Training AI for materials design is difficult because it requires a great deal of data that either doesn’t exist or isn’t publicly available. (That’s why our software relies on physics-based modeling.) But I think that generative AI could have applications in the communication around materials design. For instance, I think an AI chatbot likely could answer a lot of questions tech companies may have about how materials affect the performance of their products.
Read the full article on disruptive technology in CIO Magazine.