Here are the top product development trends in 2023

The market for additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is estimated to be worth $17.4 billion as of 2022 with a trajectory increase of $24.9 billion by 2024 and $37.2 billion by 2026.

3D printing is lowering costs and removing the emphasis on physical testing for full-scale production with innovations such as generative design.

Generative design can help create things that the human mind just can’t visualise.

Industry studies show that 4 out of 10 manufacturing plants have removed restrictions on 3D printing for actual product production. This means it is no longer for prototyping only.

The adoption of 3D printing is also starting to increase in spaces such as the aerospace and automotive industries. In 2019, a spacecraft manufacturer for NASA announced plans to build a $59 million 3D manufacturing hub at a NASA rocket testing facility. In the automotive industry, BMW, Audi, and Volkswagen have all begun using relatively large-scale additive manufacturing at some stage of the product development cycle.

2. Internet Of Things (IoT) helps with product integration

In recent years, products are increasingly being created specifically to connect with other products and databases. Hardware is taking a nose dive as pure software products must be able to interact with other software, APIs, etc. This is what the Internet of Things is all about, a network of software interaction. Physical devices are increasingly being manufactured with features that allow for connectivity to other products, data collection, and integration of software.

By the end of 2020, the number of IoT devices was 11.7 billion compared to the 800 million IoT devices in 2010 across the globe. The number is expected to increase, while Google Search for "IoT" has increased by 720 per cent in the last decade.

The growth of IoT-connected products (industrial sensors, vehicle monitoring software, home speaker assistants, etc.) is expected to be driven by the production of new IoT products. There are more IoT-connected products than there are cell phones, laptops, and PCs in the world.

Top product development trends 2023/Pexels Pulse

Tesla is a popular user of this trend. It has included software in its vehicles that can self-diagnose problems and automatically order replacement parts for the driver.

The company claims that its OBD software can help resolve 80% of all maintenance problems without the need to visit a service station including remote software updates and using data it collects to price its insurance products.

3. Using data for rapid product development feedback

With the increasing adoption of IoT products, data is collected on more products every day. Manufacturers and vendors are expecting to shorten product development life cycles and improve prior designs faster and faster.

More companies believe that customers are at the centre of their most important innovations. Thus collecting data from customers (who they call innovation partners) is becoming a priority during product development. To accomplish this partnership, companies need to create products that collect data themselves.

By 2021, it was expected of independent software developers to create products with embedded usage analytic tools. This trend is narrowing the feedback loop between end customers and the product development stage.

Collecting data also becomes more relevant as product life cycles decline and competition heats up.

4. Digital design lowers costs while increasing efficiency

Data is increasingly being used in digital design when it comes to physical products. This design takes place in a digital environment rather than a physical studio or laboratory.

Digital twins are a great example of this trend. Digital twins are digital representations of physical products. They are informed by data in order to test a product before it is put to use.

They can be modelled based on data collected through physical products that contain software to collect information which is then used to improve or create new products. This is where IoT comes in and the benefits are many. For one, this reduces errors during physical product development and gives teams time and space to implement new ideas before they actually engineer a new product.

Top product development trends 2023/Pexels Pulse

5. Personalised products drive development

20% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for a personalized product, according to this study. One survey discovered that consumers will gladly pay more for products tailored to their needs. This desire often influences customers (22 per cent) to give up more data.

This is making companies tune their product development to personalised requests from consumers. This change has given rise to what is called zero-party data.

Zero-party data is data that customers intentionally give to companies in order to improve their products and customer experience.

A good example is the skincare company Nomige, which creates products for customers based on their DNA and data about their lifestyle. This loop is central to the company's product development in that the company doesn't exist without customer data input.