Top 10 Innovation Articles of 2019

This year’s list of top innovation articles is special: it’s both the end of a year and the end of a decade. And when it comes to delivering on the promise of innovation, digital technologies have completely disrupted the way innovation and product development teams work.

Despite this, readers of Viewpoints on Innovation know that their core challenge is still the same: to develop products that improve people’s lives and deliver business results.

This year’s list of top innovation articles reflects this, with practical advice on how to transform innovation in today’s digital world, combined with a continued focus on evolving core technologies to enable transformation.

Top Ten Innovation Articles

Here are our top ten innovation articles of 2019, across a variety of industries, themes and functions, ranked by unique page views.

#10 - Smart Connected Field Operations: An Oil & Gas Case Study
By Sagar Asalapuram, John Woods and Jordan Reynolds
As the global demand for oil rises, the US shale industry can leverage smart connected operations – enabled by digital technologies – to deliver operational excellence in field operations. Here's an example.

[Editor’s note – check out our eBook on SCO in O&G here]

#9 - 14 Reasons to Unify Regulatory Information Management with PLM
By Sajesh Murali and Nate Reisch
It's a challenge to manage regulatory data. By aligning regulatory information management (RIM) with product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, companies can gain significant benefits, reduce regulatory risk and improve international sales.

[Editor’s note – read more about the imperative of RIM in this eBook]

#8 - The Executive’s Guide to the Semiconductor Digital Twin
By Wynchester Whetten and Devin Bedwell
It's time for leading semiconductor firms to pave the way with the next generation of digital technologies by creating a more comprehensive digital twin.

[Editor’s note – there’s a full eBook on leveraging digital technologies in high-tech here]

#7 - Factory of the Future: Another Day in the Life of a Plant Manager in 2022
By Michael Glessner and Nick Ward
Smart factories, enabled by digital technologies and concepts, may not be as futuristic as you think. Need inspiration to get started? Here's our UPDATED vision of the factory of the future, and the people and processes that will be impacted.

#6 - Blockchain in Consumer Goods: The Impact, the Challenges, and the Way Forward
By David Laborde
The food and beverage industry is abuzz with talk of blockchain. But what's really going on in terms of benefits and risks? How should companies move forward?

#5 - Leading Practices for EUDAMED and Basic UDI
By David Wolf and Erin Halleran
Got questions about Basic UDI compliance? This article offers a technical deep-dive into the context, basics, and best practices to adapt to this new normal across the medical device industry.

#4 - Eight Common 3D Digital Product Creation Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

By Steve Riordan and Will Yester
Once a retail, footwear and apparel company is invested in 3D, how can they successfully drive a program that achieves real business value? Based on our experience helping clients drive DPC transformations, here are eight common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

#3 - Axeda End-of-Life: Three Reasons to Start Preparing Now

By Maciej Redel and Rodney Holmes
As the Axeda platform approaches it end of life, it can be difficult to choose the right time to begin a conversion to ThingWorx. Here’s a look at a high-level historical timeline of the platform, its capabilities, and things to consider as you plan your conversion.

#2 - Apply Machine Learning to PLM with Product Lifecycle Intelligence: A Medical Device Use Case
By David Wolf, Jordan Reynolds and Sajid Patel
How can medical device manufacturers leverage insights from PLM data to remain competitive? Here's the story of one manufacturer and how they drove measurable business results with machine learning.

[Editor’s note – tons of great content on PLI can be found here]

#1 - In Today’s Digital Era, Do We Still Need PLM?
By Daniela Ilieva and Sachin Misra
Digital has disrupted innovation, fundamentally changing how companies discover, create, make and sell the products they bring to market. In this new reality, do we still need PLM? If so, what role will it play?

Thank You!

Thank you to our subscribers, readers, authors and contributors for making 2019 a very successful year. We look forward to offering more visionary and pragmatic content that helps innovation practitioners succeed and grow in 2020.

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Wishing you a 2020 filled with innovation and evolution,

Amy Kenly
Editor-in-Chief
Viewpoints on Innovation