Tech Trends 2023: an industry view on the year ahead

Welcome to tech trends 2023, an annual digital supplement to The Engineer in which some of our key commercial partners offer
their perspectives on the trends and technologies that will shape industry over the course of the next year.

This time last year, we eyed the year ahead with a sense of relieved optimism: science had delivered a way out of the COVID pandemic, and a healthy economic bounce-back beckoned. Little did we know that a war in Europe, a major energy crisis, and a punishing recession were waiting just around the corner.

However, despite all of this, as the findings of our latest Business Confidence survey suggest, engineering and manufacturing firms appear relatively bullish about the prospects for 2023. And in this special issue, we hear from some of industry’s leading names about many of the technologies, challenges and sectors that are
helping to drive this sense of optimism.

Unsurprisingly, the push for net zero, and the associated sustainability challenges this presents, is at the heart of much of this year’s coverage: from ORE Catapult’s thoughts on the supply chain opportunities presented by floating offshore wind to the new product development tools described by PTC that are helping engineers build sustainability into a product’s life right from its inception. Elsewhere, we hear from thermal imaging specialist Flir about some of the practical measures and technologies manufacturers can deploy to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency.