One contributing factor that stunts materials development is lack of information. 6 Thus, it is natural to wonder whether it is possible to catalyze materials design such that decades of research and development can occur in the span of years. The long time scale of materials innovation stifles investment in early stage research because payback is unlikely. It takes approximately 20 years to commercialize new materials technologies 6 and often even longer to develop those technologies in the first place. 4 However, while the benefits of new materials and processes are well established, the difficulties in achieving these breakthroughs and translating them to the commercial market 5 are not widely appreciated.
1–3 A recent study by Magee suggests that materials innovation has driven two-thirds of today’s advancements in computation (in terms of calculations per second per dollar) and has similarly transformed other technologies such as information transport and energy storage.
Many authors have noted that advanced materials are so vital to society that they serve as eponyms for historical periods such as the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Steel Age, the Age of Plastic, and the Silicon Age. Materials innovations are critical to technological progress.
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