Future Technology Approaches to Pandemic Response
The 2020 SDi Global Assessment has been updated for the first time in the publication history of the report in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The 2020 SDi Global Assessment Report contains insights into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global instrumentation industry. With this completely updated report and a new add-on item, the Global Quarterly Datastream, your company can leverage valuable information to better understand market uncertainty during these unprecedented times.
Obviously COVID-19 will have significant effects across virtually all markets in 2020 and 2021, but what about the long-term, lasting changes COVID-19 will leave on the world even after effective vaccines are successfully disseminated throughout the global population? The legacy of COVID-19 will directly affect the development of many life sciences and diagnostics technologies as the world recognizes the drastic impact pandemics can subject the world to. Platform technologies that can better deal with the challenges of future diseases will be even more highly valued, and therefore funded and developed over the next decade. Additionally, diagnostics technologies that can reduce testing and screening lead-times, increase accuracy, and/or decrease costs will continue to be pursued with even greater resources globally.
Contact tracing technology is one area that is currently valued but imperfectly implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and this will be an important tool in handling future outbreaks, requiring greater informational and organizational infrastructure. Similarly, the understanding of how a virus adheres to materials such as clothing, food, and surfaces as well as the ability to trace and contain outbreaks will be paramount and likely to be attractive technologies to be financed and developed. COVID-19 provided the world with a sharp lesson about the importance of being able to trace viruses and other pathogens in order to better combat them. The ubiquity of global travel in the modern world implies a need to remain prepared and vigilant for future events of this type.
Another important tool is the continued development of high-throughput screening and diagnostic platforms. COVID-19 provided examples of how a slow turn-around time for testing results can be a very important factor in the ability to monitor the outbreak effectively and in real-time. Regulatory bodies and funding parties are likely to increasingly value technologies that can drastically reduce screening and diagnostic time to results, so these platforms will be forecasted to have high growth outlooks even after COVID-19 is gone.
Finally, technologies that impact vaccine development will be further funded and developed into the future as a result of COVID-19. If a vaccine can be safely developed in reduced time, any time saved can be translated into lives saved. Drug and vaccine development technologies including multiplexing platforms and high-throughput lab assays are key technologies for reducing development time. All of these will be lasting impacts of the legacy of COVID-19 and will continue to affect markets even years from now, unless and until we let our guard down. For specific growth rates and market outlooks for life science and analytical instrumentation technologies, refer to the 2020 Global Assessment Report from SDi, the industry’s leading market research publication.
