How Scientific Instruments market is evolving

Janifha Evangeline

Scientific instruments are an important aspect of new product development and remodeling of the existing products. The scientific purpose which can be completed by using these devices includes two main types that are natural phenomena & theoretical research. Most importantly, scientific equipment can be implemented for research purposes, particularly in verifying, analyzing, and measuring the unproven quantities as well as properties of a material or an element.

What has opened up a huge potential for growth in the laboratory analytical instruments market in the Indian market is the surge in demand for customized instrumentation from end-user industries which include agricultural analytical research, food & beverage testing laboratories, pharmaceuticals & life sciences, government and academic research institutions, environmental safety, third party, and chemicals and petrochemicals industries.

“The laboratory manufacturing equipment companies of India realized that their growth lay in their own performance, which had to be at par with global players, especially in the quality of their products and their efficacy vis a vis regular maintenance, recalibration, and inspection of laboratory equipment. There is an increasing demand for customized and portable analytical instruments as well,” says Angeli Misra, Director, Lifeline Laboratory.

As COVID-19 cases are increasing, the need for testing is also increasing. Specifically, the tests that are in high demand include the laboratory-based molecular-assay tests and these need appropriate analytical instruments in order to accurately read as well as present data & derive results on time, therefore, this has put pressure on the analytical laboratory instruments market.

Challenges & Growth Constraints

• The COVID-19 pandemic has created the challenge of limited capacity for conducting tests in labs, and this has led to a shortage of sub-optimized workflows and laboratory equipment, and also a lack of trained personnel who are needed to run these tests.

• Financial hindrances in most of the countries across the globe that include

restrained government funding for public health laboratories are making it even more difficult for building additional capacity.

• In a few countries across the world, there are huge gaps in supply & demand and this has led to under-utilization of the available laboratory-testing capacities.

• Other factors such as reduction in free trade, supply chain disruption and, global recession, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic will hinder the growth of the analytical laboratory instruments market.

3D Printing

Since greater flexibility & customization are the major merits of 3D printing technology, manufacturers implement 3D printing to develop innovative instruments which are not only light but reliable as well.

Specifically, the 3D microscopes possess the ability to optimize productivity and also improve diagnosis, research capabilities as 3D printing has the facility to capture images from various positions to generate 3D images. Contrary to traditional microscopes, 3D microscopes do not need the specimen for cutting into pieces however they preserve the specimen for additional study.

Automation in analytical lab instruments

“Currently, lab equipment manufacturers in India follow multiple business models. It is notable that laboratory equipment manufacturers the world over are implementing newer technology with the Internet of Things (IoT) and 20 laboratory apparatus to expand production and enhance their efficiency,” says Angeli.

“Self-testing kits and portable equipment like miniaturized centrifuges manufactured by Bio Rad Laboratories, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Corning have also gained importance with the development in the field of nanotechnology and miniaturization, point-of-care testing and are expected to boost growth in the global general lab equipment manufacturing market in the future,” she adds.

Other advances such as automation in analytical lab instruments not only improve efficiency but also save time. Furthermore, the ability of analytical instruments helps in recording data through cloud computing technology. And this allows in storing a large volume of data. In addition, the platform for storing configurations to instruments, gathering data from instruments, and performing analyses render efficient as well as clear management of information that is obtained from analytical & scientific instrumentation research.

“Innovations in laboratory analytical equipment like chromatography, mass spectrometry, and thermal analysis have the potential to revolutionize the lab equipment industry, as they are highly sensitive, one-touch, and lightweight, lending more convenience and efficiency for research. Mass Spectroscopy is estimated to be the leading segment in terms of the industry’s growth,” affirms Angeli.

The way forward

In order to promote sustainable energy efficiency overall for saving energy expenditure as well as enhance safety measures, all laboratory equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the country will have to prudently employ all resources and materials. Lastly, the future growth projections in this market are majorly dependent on expenditure on R&D.