WELLESLEY, MA - BBC Research has released a new study of the global nanotechnology market that forecasts high growth through the next five years. According to the new technical market research report, Nanotechnology: A Realistic Market Assessment, the global market for nanotechnology was worth $11.6 billion in 2007. This is expected to increase to $12.7 billion in 2008 and $27.0 billion by the end of 2013, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of $16.3 percent.  

The market is broken down into applications of nanomaterials, nanotools and nanodevices. Of these, nanomaterials dominated in 2007, accounting for 87 percent of the market. Worth an estimated $10.8 billion in 2008, this segment should reach $18.7 billion in 2013, for a CAGR of 11.7 percent.   Nanotools accounted for 12.8 percent of the market in 2007. Worth an estimated $1.9 billion in 2008, the segment will reach almost $8.0 billion by the end of 2013, for a CAGR of 33.3 percent.

Nanotools, which include the nanolithographic tools used to produce the next generation of semiconductors, are projected to grow at a much faster rate than nanomaterials. As a result, their market share should increase to 29.4 percent in 2013, while nanomaterials’ share will fall to 69.2 percent of the total market.  

The nanodevices segment will enjoy a CAGR of 69.5 percent between 2008 and 2013. It is expected to increase from a $26.2-million segment in 2008 to $366.2 million by the end of 2013.  

The largest end-user markets for nanotechnology in 2007 were environmental remediation (56 percent of the total market), electronics (20.8 percent) and energy (14.1 percent). Electronics, biomedical and consumer applications have much higher projected growth rates than other applications over the next five years (30.3 percent, 56.2 percent and 45.9 percent, respectively.) In contrast, energy applications are projected to grow at a CAGR of only 12.6 percent and environmental applications should actually decline by an average of 1.5 percent per year.