Bigger things for BioMEMS

One market research company is expecting the BioMEMS sector to grow from $1.9 billion in 2012 to $6.6 billion in 2018 - offering good times for canny electronics developers.

According to Benjamin Roussel, Technology & Market Analyst, Microfluidics & Medical Technologies at Yole Développement, “The BioMEMS market will almost triple in size over the next five years, with mobile care applications contributing significantly to this impressive growth!”

In its report on BioMEMS, Yole Développement has gone a step further in its forecasts by splitting each general application into more detailed subapplications. For example, ‘Blood Pressure applications’ is separated into ‘blood monitoring disposable’ and ‘blood monitoring equipment’. Moreover, compared to the previous edition, the company added the latest market data for each device category explored and specific case studies.

Microsystems integration is a key added-value for system manufacturers

Microsystem devices have become increasingly visible in the healthcare market by serving as solutions adapted to the requirements of various applications. The usefulness of these devices is two-fold: for one, they improve medical device performance for the patient; and secondly, they offer competitive advantages to system manufacturers. For example, the introduction of accelerometers in pacemakers has revolutionised the treatment of cardiac diseases.

The microsystem technologies market for healthcare applications looks promising and should reach $6.6bn by 2018. Yole Développement has followed this market’s innovations and key players for the last several years, and based on an accurate analysis of the market’s last three years, this new report consolidates market data for 2010-2012 and provides forecasts for 2012-2018.

The devices considered in the BioMEMS 2013 report are pressure sensors, silicon microphones, accelerometers, gyroscopes, optical MEMS and image sensors, microfluidic chips, microdispensers for drug delivery, flow meters, infrared temperature sensors, emerging MEMS (RFID, strain sensors, energy harvesting).

For each of the above, Yole Développement’s report provides a market description, the main device and system manufacturers, current market data and forecasts. Additionally, main technological trends are reviewed.

Yole Développement’s analyst, Benjamin Roussel, also takes a look at the microsystem devices dedicated to mobile phone applications. Although mobile care is still in its infancy, it is believed this market will grow significantly in the coming years.

Furthermore, specific case studies (including technology and player-specific overviews, innovative developments, supply chain data and patent information) have been included to better address two of the industry’s hottest topics: microfluidic chips and retinal implants. Indeed, these two micro devices possess the largest growth opportunity for the coming years.

Regulation overview

The regulation particulars for medical device development, included organisms and process overview, are described for five different regions: Europe, North America, Japan, China and India. This section is particularly important for microsystem device and systems manufacturers.

Different healthcare markets and applications

Microsystem devices have applications in four key healthcare markets: pharmaceutical, in-vitro diagnostics, medical devices and medical home care. Each of these markets has its own unique dynamics, players and global drivers. Motivation for the acceptance of BioMEMS technologies is highly dependent on each individual market. Whereas the acceptance of microsystems is linked to sensibility and automation constraints in the pharmaceutical market, in the in-vitro diagnostic market it’s all about portability and cost reduction, while the medical devices market is focused on addition of functionalities. Concerning the home care market, the motivations are to increase system safety and connectivity.

Yole Développement’s experts have identified a number of applications for each device type. These applications can be placed into five groups: patient monitoring, patient care, medical imaging, in-vitro diagnostic testing and drug delivery. For each of these groups, the report provides an overview of devices and key market drivers, along with market data.

The BioMEMS 2013 report also pays particular attention to Chinese microsystems players, as a number of new players have recently entered the market.