Our Analysis
The major economies in the world are investing in R&D fields spanning across Semiconductor Chips, MEMS and Nanotechnology, Neuroscience, Biomedical and Medical Sciences to work out on the details at micro and nano levels in order to design efficient and reliable systems, which in turn are driving the market for microscopy also. The primary use of microscopy in all these fields is to investigate the working forces present in nature by studying them at atomic and sub-atomic levels by providing a resolution beyond the range of a normal human eye.
Although the majority of the market of microscopy can be assigned to optical microscopy but the scanning probe and electron microscopy market increasing at steady state will govern the global microscopy market in future due to the boost provided by research in nanotechnology and life sciences.
Owing to the research and funding opportunities in the above mentioned fields, USA currently leads the market for microscopy followed by major Asian economies like Japan and China. The emerging economies like Brazil, India and Russia will evolve out to be a potential markets for microscopy.
Competitive Landscape
With recent developments going across semiconductors, metallographic & metallurgy, nano science and life sciences in elite R&D facilities, research institutions, laboratories and clinical facilities has given new dimensions to the microscopy market globally. Manufacturers are continuously developing new analytical techniques to improve performance parameters of microscope. There is a stiff competition among the major manufacturers to design multi-specialty microscopes to cater to the diverse needs of end-users. JPK Instruments AG launched NanoWizard ULTRA Speed Atomic Force Microscopy by providing dual features i.e. fast scanning and super-resolution in a single piece of inverted microscope.Olympus Corp. (TYO: 7733) launched a new industrial laser microscope for 3D surface measurement while Carl Zeiss AG on the similar lines introduced super resolution photo activated localization microscopy in 3D. Ideal for life sciences Nikon Corp. (TYO: 7731) introduced stereomicroscopes with world’s largest zoom ratio of 25:1.