Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
patients who are shown by the assays to be HER2 positive.
Sullivan (2009)
points out that
these tests therefore drive commercial development.
The
Freedonia Group (2008)
recently published a report on the likely demand for sensors till
the year 2012. This is an expensive 328-page report that costs U.S. $4600. It even has a U.S.
$30 per page charge. The report indicates that U.S. sensor demand will grow 4.3% annually
through the year 2012. Motor vehicles will exhibit an increasing major-sensor containing
products. The report further states that new technologies, such as MEMS-based imaging will
exhibit one of the fastest growth gains. According to this report the automotive industry will
remain the biggest market. This may be tempered by the current turmoil in the financial and
housing markets, and in the automotive industry. This report was written and completed
before the current downward trend in the market as a whole. The report adds, however, that
growth in the military and in the aerospace industry will be strong.
The study analyzes the $10.3 billion U.S. sensor industry. The report is careful to breakup its
analysis into:
(a) Sensor type—Process variable, chemical property, proximity and positioning, physical
property, and imaging.
(b) Market—motor vehicles, industrial, military/aerospace, and electronic security.
Apparently, this report does not consider the medical IVD (biosensor) industry which is a
major player in the biosensor market. In any case, the analysis is worth mentioning as it
places in perspective, at least in some sense, the biosensor and sensor markets.
Over the years the biosensor market and its economics have begun to develop and take shape,
and
Cranfield University in the United Kingdom (2009)
has introduced a short course titled,
“Introduction to Biosensor Technology”. In the year 2009, the course was offered on May
07 and 08, at Cranfield Health on the Cranfield campus. This two-day residential course pro-
vides an introduction to the biosensor market. It enumerates the key drivers for future research
and development. The course also provides an overview of the principal manufacturing tec-
hniques, and some comments on the future technological and market trends. It is of interest
to note that though quite a few courses on biosensors are taught throughout the world at differ-
ent universities, and courses are offered at industrial organizations specific to the need of these
organizations, this is presumably the first course that discusses the biosensor market and where
it may be heading in the future. This type of information, as expected, is difficult to obtain in
the open literature. Thus, Cranfield University is clearly doing the biosensor manufacturers a
favor by providing some sort of science in the development of the biosensor market.
As expected there is emphasis on diabetes and its role as a medical and economic driver for
biosensor development. POC tests are important in the health area, and as expected the
course analyzes the recent advances in the POC market.
