Any organization that ceases to innovate will soon be left behind and decline, and this is especially true in the electronics market sector.

Innovation is the essential process that translates inventions or ideas into commercially viable products or services that bring value to end-users as well as to our economy. Innovation is the vital creative 'spark' that drives organizations on to create faster, better, cheaper, more desirable products, always having the edge over the competition.

To be effective, innovation needs to become embedded within an organization and not be an ad hoc or one-off event. By establishing an innovation system senior management can create an environment where people are encouraged to bring forward ideas knowing that they will be formally evaluated and, if appropriate, developed for the benefit of the whole organization.

BSI has a comprehensive library of management standards for manufacturing, business, quality, assets, and data security. These standards reflect best practices and by following them, electronic organizations can significantly improve their performance and abilities to innovate.

Innovation trends in the electronics sector

• Growth in digital medical technology

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been huge growth in the consumer medical devices market. Smartwatches may be able to monitor for illnesses as well as fitness, e.g. being able to detect an increase in body temperature. Smartwatches will also be upgraded to incorporate features of the NHS COVID app, such as automatic contact tracing.

• Wider deployment of gesture recognition technology

Gesture recognition is the safety lead from a hygiene point of view with COVID-19, as – particularly early on in the pandemic – there was concern about the virus contaminating surfaces. As a result, we will see more systems and devices being developed to allow people to use gestures instead of touchscreens.

• Internet of Things

The electronics industry has been increasingly embracing the Internet of Things (IoT) sphere. This is the interconnection of different pieces of equipment and appliances that are connected through an internet connection.

The electronics manufacturing industry has been leveraging this technology in a variety of ways, each of which has had unique benefits. Prominent among these has been cost reduction, product innovation, increased efficiency, and improved safety.

• Component supply crunch

The global pandemic resulted in a lot of factory downtime worldwide. Consequently, demand slowed down as well. However, orders spiked again – aggressively – and stock levels have not recovered enough to keep pace with demand. Some distributors have already issued warnings to their customers on various parts. This year could bear witness to a global component supply crunch, so it may be prudent to implement extra planning to protect project timelines and budgets.

To read more on how to achieve supply chain resilience for your electronics business, click here.

How does standardization enable innovation in the electronic sector?

Organizations are looking for access to world-class expertise in how to lead in areas of innovation and standards are an excellent tool for industry to accelerate innovation and performance improvement.

Standards are fundamental to innovation in today’s economy. Innovation is no longer a matter of transferring industrial technologies, but the broader organizational, economic and social embedding of these new technologies in a development environment. Innovators are inherently looking for solutions and if a standard concisely outlines the best current practice it can save the user time in researching an excess of other sources.

At the very least it should provide a solid starting point from which to explore further. Standardization demonstrably improves an electronic organization’s performance and has been proven to be useful in terms of kick-starting innovation as they:

• Agree on common terminology and transfer new information into the commercial environment, which accelerates the spread of innovation

• Support innovators by providing expert, authoritative new knowledge, which in turn is a platform for further innovation

• Build communities and promote the exchange of knowledge, which catalyses collaborative development

• Encourage process innovation through continual improvement

• Enable organizations to unlock their full potential in terms of their products, processes, and behaviours

Three different types of innovation standards

There are three different categories for innovation standards to fall into:

Product

Technical interoperability underpins efficiency and focusses innovation in areas that add value: 

• Interoperable components

• Materials specifications

• Test & verification methods

• Interoperability of data

• Concept models

• Discovery

• Formats

• Use of data

Standard BS 8538 provides best-practice recommendations for the services that relate to the commercialization of intellectual property rights. This includes copyright, trademarks, and patents, and is the first of its kind to set out principles of ethical behaviour for organizations providing services to investors.

Process

Demonstration of quality enables organizations to work together:

Management systems

• Quality Management Systems (BS EN ISO 9001, BS EN 9100)

• Environmental Management Systems (BS EN ISO 14001)

• Information Security (BS EN ISO/IEC 27001)

Process optimization

• Design for manufacture, assembly, disassembly, and end-of-life processing, “MADE” (BS ISO 8887)

• Asset management (BS ISO 55000)

Values & Behaviour

• Better collaboration (BS ISO 44001)

• Robot ethics (BS 8611)

Ensure your business can create and adapt to the innovations of tomorrow by adding our Electrical innovation standards to your collection today.

Discover BSI Knowledge

As technology continues to advance rapidly in the electronics manufacturing sector, accessing the standards your business needs to adapt to these innovations does not have to be complicated and time-consuming. Our tailored BSI Knowledge subscription service provides flexibility, access, visibility, and control over the standards and insights your team needs to adopt emerging processes. Request to learn more.