Investment in innovative sensors has tripled over the past decade, according to a new report that has identified the technology as one of the niches set to benefit most from IoT growth.
Lux Research report Sensor Innovation: Analyzing Investment Trends Across the $4.3 Billion Spend has concluded that developers of innovative sensors have attracted US$3.4 billion over the past ten years, which represents 80 per cent of the $4.3 billion funding for sensor modules throughout the period. Furthermore, overall investment in innovative sensors tripled between 2006 and 2015, reaching $486 million in 2015.
During this period, sensor-processing technologies received over $620 million in funding, packaging solutions attracted just over $200 million and developers of energy harvesting received around $100 million.
Moreover, many large companies have expressed interest in the technology. For example, Samsung is investing $13 billion across a range of sensors and sensor applications, while Sony is raising $4 billion for sensor production. Panasonic has also invested $780 million in image sensors, while IBM is investing $3 billion in sensor data.
“Innovative sensor start-ups will continue to attract large amounts of venture investment as the Internet of Things emerges as the next major phase in computing, following on the heels of the PC and mobile eras,” said Pallavi Madakasira, lead author of the report.