The life science instrumentation market grew 8.7% to $9.2 billion in 2007. The market consists of DNA and peptide sequencers, DNA and peptide synthesizers, nucleic acid amplification or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems, gel electrophoresis equipment, molecular biology purification kits, microarray-based products, biosensors, bioinformatics and cheminformatics, cell analysis technologies and in vivo animal imaging. The […]

Most everyone would agree that 2007 was a very good year, except for the last few months when subprime loans and housing issues dominated the news. The analytical and life science instrument industry turned in an unexpectedly strong performance. Instrument companies continued to focus on emerging markets. Biotech spending was robust and pharmaceutical expenditures improved […]

Laboratory automation equipment can increase laboratory efficiency, especially in areas where processes depend on repetition and precision. Lab automation is also a way to increase productivity, throughput and, perhaps, most importantly, lower the cost per sample analyzed. In 2007, growth for the overall lab automation market was disappointing. Historically, the automation market grows between 7% […]

Materials characterization instruments use a variety of techniques to analyze the physical properties of a sample. These properties include temperature, thermal response, force, hardness and particle size. Many materials characterization techniques involve more than one of these properties so that particular response curves can be calculated. In combination, these techniques provide information on the chemical, […]

In IBO’s annual forecast issue, we take a look back at the business trends that emerged or accelerated in the prior year in the analytical instrument industry. The list is presented in alphabetical order. Applied Markets Companies such as Applied Biosystems, Bruker Daltonics, Invitrogen, QIAGEN NV and Waters continued to expand into the so-called “applied […]

Surface science techniques provide microscopic analysis of surfaces and samples; together, they represented nearly $4.3 billion in 2007 sales. The individual technologies span an enormous range of sophistication, from light microscopes costing thousands of dollars, to complicated confocal microscopes and ultrahigh-vacuum surface analysis systems with price tags in the million-dollar range. The overall market is […]

Academia and Government According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s preliminary analysis of the US’ fiscal 2008 budget (see IBO 12/31/07), federal spending for R&D will increase by only 1.2%, but a 15.7% increase in spending is allocated for R&D capital equipment and facilities. France’s budget gives a 7.8%—or €1.88 billion ($2.66 […]

Last month, the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) released the summary report of its “AUTM US Licensing Activity Survey: FY2006.” According to the survey, US universities, hospitals and research institutions received $45.4 billion during fiscal 2006, a 7.3% increase over the previous year. The average annual funding growth rate since 1997 is 8.6%. Sixty-eight […]