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While 2009 was a lacklustre year for GPS IC shipment, growth for 2010 is expected to rebound and should see a 30 percent increase in unit shipments. Future growth will be fuelled by the integration of GPS in feature phones and its appearance in an ever-growing number of new consumer form factors such as netbooks, media players, gaming consoles, GPS watches, digital cameras, and connected cars. Click here to read more.
The variety and type of sensors available for remote patient monitoring is growing rapidly. Devices that measure vital signs and symptoms are getting smaller. There is even a prototype of a pill containing a digestible radio that will confirm the medication has been taken. The market for wireless devices that monitor patients’ condition and report that data to healthcare providers is on the verge of explosive growth, according to a new study. Click here for more.
A whole new class of industry focused intermediate applied research centres will shape the new industries of the future. IMEC, located at Leuven, Belgium, is one such centre, where researchers from energy companies, solar cell manufacturers and material and equipment suppliers work together with IMEC’s solar experts on developing advanced processes and testing them on a semi-industrial pilot line. Photovoltech, a cell manufacturing company jointly owned by Total and GDF SUEZ will join the IMEC programme. Click here for more.
 New trends in cellular modems
The standalone cellular modems market, which provide direct internet connectivity to laptops and other portable devices, is starting to mature. It is currently dominated by two Chinese giants. However, new format and product category is emerging that may provide new opportunities for start-ups and SMEs. Click here to read more about the trends.
Most businesses plan to fund their growth from existing cash flow, representing an alarming reliance on working capital at a time when over a quarter say they are having to monitor their cash position daily. However, for those that don’t have sufficient cash flow, their first port of call is always the bank, and then existing shareholders, before getting into equity financing from the likes of private equity, VCs and angels.
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 Amino Technologies hit by lower shipments and acquisition costs
As a result of slower transitions to MPEG4 high definition products and 30 percent lower shipments, plus lower margin products from the newly acquired Tiglin products, Amino Technologies gross margins dropped to 35.5 percent in 1H’09 compared to 44.2 percent in 1H’08. Operating costs at Amino, which supplies IPTV boxes and solutions, also increased due to additions of the acquisitions, resulting in an operating loss of £3.10m before exceptional items, compared to a profit of £0.61m in 1H'2008. Click here for more.
Deciphering an entrepreneur’s DNA
Entrepreneurs’ prime motivation for starting their companies is to ‘build wealth’. Other motivators included capitalising on a business idea; the appeal of a start-up culture; a desire to own a company; and a lack of interest in working for someone else. However, very few (four percent) said that inability to find traditional employment was a factor in starting their own businesses. This is according to a new study which shatters some commonly held myths about age, education and marital status. Click here for more.
In what is going to become a universal trend of nation state sponsored and co-financed cleantech projects, Hubei Science & Technology Investment Co., Ltd. (HSTIC), will provide $33 million 7.5 percent loan notes financing to Evergreen Solar. In return Evergreen Solar will manufacture string ribbon wafers at a leased facility being built by Jiawei Solarchina in Wuhan, China. Jiawei will provide Evergreen with solar panels on a contract manufacturing basis. The agreement also calls for Evergreen to invest $17 million in cash and equipment in the facility and repay the loan. More here.
 Asia boom for cell phone towers
Although in much of the world mobile operators continue to build and operate cell towers themselves, a new trend toward sharing key infrastructure resources amongst operators is emerging. Operators have been selling cell sites or outsourcing their operation to specialised tower companies which, increasingly, are also building new towers from scratch and creating demand for new style base stations, antennas and so on. Consequently, the Asia-Pacific region will see huge numbers of cellular towers driven by the massive, rapid increase in mobile subscribers in China and India. Click here to read more.
British Business Angels annual meet - navigating through recession
The British Business Angels Association (BBAA), a trade body for business angels and early stage investment, held its annual event at the Belfry in the West Midlands, England. Topics that came up for discussion included innovative business models, early stage capital rationing, why government effort to re-create a national 3i-type VC fund is a wrong solution at the wrong time, early stage fund of funds approach and number of years before bank lending starts growing again. Delegates also heard a US angel fund’s perspective on how they are coping with the downturn, and a couple of entrepreneurs’ perspectives on leveraging angel capital. The Chilli presents the highlights of the conference and some of its main topics.
Although Europe lacks a company of Apple Computer's calibre, it relies a lot on European sourced and designed technologies. Other than the usual Far Eastern commodity memory vendors, most of the new iPhone 3G S incorporates a lot of European originated components and technologies. But the trend of higher integration levels means that some of the European vendors will have to consolidate their offering or lose their leading positions to new players, as was the case for one vendor. Click here.
Inkopo, which was formed in 2002 as the result of the management buy-out of UniVentures, the technology transfer vehicle for Leeds Metropolitan University, has been acquired by Braveheart. Inkopo provides consultancy, seed investment and interim services for start-up companies across Yorkshire and the North of England. It joins the ranks of various regional venture capital fund (RVCF) managers, (Viking Fund) who are consolidating due to end of the RVCF funds life cycle. Click here for more.
Shipments of set-top boxes are expected to peak this year, at least in mature markets, and then commence a gradual decline. However the rolling series of analogue TV shut-offs in countries around the world, combined with the strong uptake of high-definition TV sets, means that HD STBs will form a growing fraction of the total market. HD STBs are expected to account for about 30 percent of all STB shipments as soon as 2010. Click here.
CRFS, the developer and manufacturer of RFeye®, real-time spectral monitoring and management tools, has secured an investment by Succès Europe, a Sophia Antipolis based European investment holding created by and for entrepreneurs. According to Candace Johnson, president Succès Europe; "CRFS was one of 21 companies chosen for investment out of more than 200 possible investment candidates across Europe in the fields of cleantech, medtech, ICT, and B2B... Click here for more.
The latest survey data for the Angel Capital Association - Confidence Report, confirms what most angel networks have been dealing with under the current economic climate. Although average deal size has marginally increased to $276,918 in 2008, a 4 percent increase over 2007, the number of investors per group fell, as well as the total funding per group. Nearly a quarter of angel groups indicate that the overall decline in company valuations and high quality of investment opportunities will mean they will be more aggressive in seeking new deals in 2009. Click here.
“The expansion of broadband Internet access from home computers to other devices including STBs (set top boxes), Blu-ray players and video game consoles has opened up a world of new possibilities for supporting Internet video via streaming and downloads,” says a leading analyst for consumer electronics. Driven by the broadband access boom, global shipments of consumer-electronics devices capable of supporting Internet video are set to rise by nearly a factor of five from 2009 to 2013. By 2013, 376.5 million entertainment-oriented consumer electronics platforms with the capability to support Internet video will be shipped, up from 80.5 million in 2008. Click here to read more.
When you turn your iPhone to the side and the screen automatically adjusts from portrait to landscape view, there’s an accelerometer at work. When you swing your Wii controller and bowl a virtual strike, there’s an accelerometer at work. Recently, accelerometers have emerged as a critical input device for some of the world’s hottest electronic products, causing shipments to boom and expanding the micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) market. This will make accelerometers the top-selling) device by 2013. Read more here.
Mobile handset shipments to fall by at least 8% in 2009
No matter who you ask, the assessment is the same: 2009 will be a bad year for cellular handset sales worldwide. However, current forecasts for 2010 are cautiously optimistic, with telltale signs that at least some parts of the handset ecosystem may be starting to steady, with many handset vendors replacing component inventories after reducing them to very low levels in recent months.
The RFID market continues to be worthy of cautious optimism in the near to mid-term, particularly in the closely-watched passive UHF segment. The market does not anticipate near-term market contraction based on economic conditions. It is expected that total revenue earned from RFID transponders, readers, software and services will amount to more than $5.6 billion in 2009.
The global recession has put a brake on expected large-scale femtocell deployments by major mobile operators. However, the average price of femtocells is still a major challenge facing vendors and operators alike. The psychological barrier of a $100 femtocell cannot be overlooked and low-cost femtocells are essential to bridge the gap between niche market and mass-market deployments.
China surpassed the United States to become the world's second largest auto-making nation, in 2008 and in 2009 is expected to displace Japan as the world's largest car producer. In 2003, US car production surpassed that of China by nearly a factor of 3:1. In 2008, China's production exceeded that of the United States by nearly 7 percent.
Displays market for mobile handsets to contract in 2009, possible turnaround in 2011
Global shipments of displays for mobile handsets are expected to decline by more than six percent in 2009 and remain flat in 2010 as worsening economic conditions continue to impact the wireless industry. The latest market data also suggests that mew handset demand from the emerging countries will not be sufficient to offset this decline. However, if suppliers can withstand the price cuts, volume reductions and capacity utilisation drop-offs, they should be positioned for a turnaround in 2011.
Telco broadband slumps, but IPTV offers bright future
In what will become a template for other standards-based market evolution, the broadband market provides interesting insights. The latest research figures suggest that only three chip suppliers control 95 percent of a declining DSL market, while the new growth market in video DSL is also facing similar moves, driven by consolidation in the cable and broadband market. The data also shows that Internet protocol television (IPTV) will change the way the world views entertainment both inside and outside the home, and represents one of the most significant paradigm shifts in the communications world since the rise of the cell-phone market.
DTV semiconductor market suffers decline in 2008
Like the mobile semiconductor market, legacy vendors selling into the digital televisions (DTVs) market are consolidating, with increasing pressure coming from captive Asian vendors and aggressive Taiwanese vendors. Growth in HDTV, spurred by the European approval of a ‘post DVB-T’ standard – the DVB-T2, and internet accessed TV – creates a whole new opportunity for some nimble start-ups.
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Photovoltech joins IMEC’s silicon solar cell research programme
