Why innovation will be vital in 2021 and beyond

One thing is for certain: none of us will ever forget 2020. But as we shift into the new year, I believe we will look back on 2020 as a catalyst for change, where new challenges ignited a new era of innovation.  

As McKinsey says in a recent report, “Crises are like adrenaline for innovation, causing barriers that once took years to overcome to evaporate in a matter of days.”

That’s especially true when you consider how the pandemic has accelerated the development and adoption of new and emerging technologies. We’re certainly seeing that at HP.

At HP’s recent Innovation Summit 2020, our top researchers showcased the rapid progress we are making in the application of two key technologies: 3D printing and microfluidics. The latter, for those unfamiliar with the technology, enables fluids to be handled in new ways at a microscopic level.

These two technologies have the potential to reshape industries ranging from manufacturing to healthcare.

Manufacturing personalized products at scale

3D printing, for example, is one of the digital technologies that is enabling businesses address one of their biggest challenges of 2020 – disrupted supply chains.

I have talked previously about how businesses are aiming to improve supply chain resilience through decentralization and moving services closer to customers. HP’s recent Digital Manufacturing Trend Report showed that 97 percent of Singaporean manufacturing executives are investigating new production or supply chain models.

Digital technologies such as 3D printing offer the automation and flexibility needed for these new models, by enabling manufacturers to change how and where things are made. At HP, we’ve seen a big surge in interest in 3D printing. For example, 3D printing has helped alleviate severe shortages of medical items such as face masks and ventilator components during the pandemic.

3D printing can also deliver exciting innovation capabilities. We’re starting to see big data and 3D printing used together to deliver mass personalization – or, in other words, making products designed for individuals at scale.

For instance, Horizons Optical uses 3D printing and its own software to offer fully customizable eyewear. The solution starts with taking a 3D scan of the customer’s face, allowing them to virtually ‘try on’ frames. It then changes the shape of the selected frame to ensure it fits the customer’s face perfectly, before the glasses are ‘printed’.

In addition, HP is continuing to invest our resources and R&D expertise to help develop new, future-ready manufacturing technologies and techniques. We launched the HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab in Singapore, in partnership with the Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore Government’s National Research Foundation.

Accelerating medical breakthroughs with microfluidics

Meanwhile, microfluidics is helping to accelerate breakthroughs in fields such as medical research. Originally developed by HP for printing, we have invested billions of dollars into researching and developing the underlying technology over the past three decades. We can now place fluid as small as one-fifth the size of a human cell exactly where we want it.

These developments have enabled us to take microfluidics into new domains. HP’s Specialty Printing Systems team is working on using microfluidics for non-invasive biopsies of cancer cells and ‘printing’ pharmaceutical samples. The team recently worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States on accelerating the testing of new antibiotics to fight antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.

Through its ability to handle tiny amounts of fluids with great precision and speed, microfluidics also offers the potential to greatly accelerate COVID-19 testing.

With millions of COVID-19 tests still being conducted globally every day, current testing regimes are at, or even beyond, the limits of their capacity. Delays in receiving test results continue to disrupt people’s lives and businesses.

Microfluidics, however, could allow frontline healthcare workers to use small, highly portable testing devices to complete diagnostic tests on the spot – at a medical center, in an office, or even at someone’s home. It could reduce processing time from days to minutes. People returning negative results could go back to work or school, or resume their travel, immediately.

Research into using microfluidics for COVID-19 testing is well underway at several organizations, such as the University of Michigan and Dolomite Microfluidics and Mologic.

Towards a brighter, healthier future

As well as healthcare, microfluidics has great potential for applications in agriculture, forensics, water testing, and environmental screening.

At HP, we will continue our work in unlocking the potential of technologies such as microfluidics and 3D printing – just as we have for the past 80 years. In fact, innovation has never been more important than it is now. Our aim is to accelerate our innovation initiatives and, along with other like-minded organizations, deliver a safer, brighter future for everyone.