Product & Material Tech

What do the iPhone and Nespresso capsules have in common? The way in which these products and business models were technically realized is based on new functions. The touch display in Apple's invention of the iPhone or the aluminum capsules for Nespresso's business model were successful long-term innovations.

The purpose of product and material technologies is therefore to technically implement product functions in such a way that they meet the needs of customers to the greatest extent possible - or, in the case of undesirable functions, to minimize them.  

The further development of a company's range of services therefore raises questions: Which known customer needs can be better fulfilled by which technologies in the future? Which new technologies will be able to arouse and fulfill which subliminal customer needs in the future?

Tablets, for example, evolved from smartphone technologies to provide an answer to the needs arising from the choice between a handy smartphone and a bulky laptop. There are numerous other examples that were developed in response to latent customer needs - autonomous driving, self-dissolving implants for one-off orthopaedic operations or ceramic tools for machining high-temperature steels, to name but a few.