Introduction
Sunrise industry is an inherent concept that shows hope of a rapid boom for a developing sector or market in its infancy stage. Typically, the sunrise industries are characterized by high growth rates, numerous start-ups, and a wealth of venture capital funding. Such industries create a lot of "buzz" as investors take an interest in their long-term growth prospects and raise public awareness.
Understanding Sunrise Industry
When an industry expands and matures over years or decades, it will transition from the sunrise period to maturity, and eventually, the sunset stage. A common example of such a transition is the compact-disks industry. This was a sunrise industry in the 1990s when compact disks replaced vinyl records and cassette tapes.
Still, the increasing proliferation of 21st century digital, non-physical media may mean that the days of the compact-disk industry are numbered. In competitive sectors like telecommunications, the transition from the sunrise to the sunset stages is likely to be more rapid.
Despite the attention they draw at the outset, the sunrise industries still need to prove to be competitive, sustainable markets. The excitement they create at the beginning could be focused primarily on speculation of the possibilities offered by the market, rather than any particular business activity.
Examples
Examples of sunrise industries include the 2003-2007 alternative energy sector, and the 2011-2012 social media and cloud computing industries. A sunrise industry is often characterized by a high degree of innovation, and its rapid emergence may threaten to push a competing industry sector into obsolescence which is already declining. The dynamic business market is referred to as a sunset business, owing to its poor long-term prospects.
The following are the few examples of the sunrise industry:
- IT industry of California and Bangalore
- Hydrogen fuel production
- Petrochemical industry
- Food processing industry
- Space tourism
- Online Encyclopaedias
