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FROM THE EDITOR: SENSOR COMPANIES GAIN BY EXPANDING INTO SYNERGISTIC MARKETS AND TECHNOLOGIES.

Article Excerpt
SBD notes that, in the intensely competitive, cost-sensitive sensor industry, sensor companies can significantly improve their business opportunities by broadening the sensing technologies they offer and seeking to expand into new market segments with significant growth potential. The risk involved in expanding a company's sensor technology portfolio and served markets can be minimized by focusing on technologies and markets/applications that complement yet extend the company's market presence and reach.

In seeking to broaden its technology base, the sensor company should assess the costs involved in developing the technology in-house versus gaining access to the technology. While in-house development can allow for tighter control over the technology and for precisely targeting development activities at specific market/application opportunities, licensing a technology from the original developer can reduce the time and cost consumed in technology development. It is vital that new sensing technology be used as a competitive weapon aimed at specific promising markets and applications and not merely developed or acquired without regard to the benefits that it can bring to real-world applications. New sensing technology is most effective when it is developed for specific applications rather than created in isolation from the needs of...