The future of innovation in the automobile industry

As the saying goes; necessity is the mother of innovation. In a highly industrialized, modern world where innovation has become overly saturated, the desire to create something different has resulted to fatigue, where innovations may be pushing forward, but not as loudly or forcefully as it has been several years ago. These results to stagnation and for the auto industry, this means regression. According to a study conducted by Oliver Wyman Company with various auto executives as interviews, in the auto industry, the role of innovation is crucial in maintaining strong competition in the market. It is a key force in addressing global challenges that the world faces currently. Without such innovative changes in the auto industry, "individual mobility" would have been compromised.

Every year, something new is added to cars and new products are being introduced. Among these innovations created by car engineers and other experts, a handful of these are considered commercially viable. These innovations include hybrid, LED systems, computer systems for car efficiency, turbochargers as well as electronic braking systems. Among the many innovations present in the market, those that are based on electronics, chips and complex computer systems are the major enablers, with a massive number of innovations focused on them. However, most of these innovations are function specific.

The world is looking forward to find system innovations. By System, we mean adding new function to a car by means networking different modules and components. By looking at holistic changes in car functionality, it is possible to affect all areas of the automobile, from fuel efficiency, safety, emissions as well as driving security. That only means more value for the users, given that they spend a lot of money finding innovative, reliable and high quality products for enhanced driving experience the current trend of the market for environmental safety as well as driving safety.

The sad part regarding today's market place is that the car suppliers and OEM providers do not meet these needs. There is a real demand for reliable and innovative products at convenient prices. For consumers, price will always be the most important purchasing factor especially with the current value of money and the employment crisis across the world. This economic factor affects the growth of new innovations for the automobile industry. There is no lacking of engineers, designers and creative's who contribute to the unique innovations but the implementation normally ends up only in prototypes, washed down commercial versions or only offered in high end cars that only a select number of people could buy. There is no shortage in research and development either. By 2015, Europe will be spending hundreds of billion Euros for R&D only. Sadly, in this process already, a big chunk of money would have been wasted inefficiently.

Due to these inconsistencies and corruption within the automobile industry itself, it is the responsibility of the suppliers and OEM to analyze and screen these innovations and researches that are not self serving and could actually benefit the industry in the long run.