Category: Commercialization

City and suburban agriculture takes on many different forms — backyard, roof-top and balcony gardening, community gardening in vacant lots and parks, roadside urban fringe agriculture, and livestock grazing in open space. The three most common umbrella categories in this space include urban, indoor, and vertical farming.

In Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Global Future Risks—Future-proofing Your Strategies, 2030, the group discusses short-term, mid-term, and long-term risks. Among these risks, the water crisis is expected to drive innovation in agricultural practices such as vertical farming and optimized crop selection, which can play an important role in reducing the ongoing water crisis. Furthermore, urbanization is listed as a mid-level risk as it pushes the demand for smart solutions such as intelligent grid control and electrification, smart buildings, and smart storage solutions.

The vertical farming market is forecast to grow from $2.9 billion in 2020 to $7.3 billion by 2025; a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.2% during the forecast period studied by MarketsandMarkets. Major drivers in this market include the high yields and several other benefits associated with vertical farming over conventional farming. This growth is enabled by advancements in light-emitting diode (LED) technology, year-round crop production irrespective of weather conditions, and the requirement of minimum resources.

In addition to vertical farming, many other techniques and technologies are involved in non-traditional agricultural settings. For example, BCC Research reports that the global market for aeroponics is expected to grow from $696.9 million in 2019 to $2.2 billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 26.0% for the period. Additionally, MarketsandMarkets reports that the market for hydroponic systems is estimated to be valued at $9.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.9% to reach $6.6 billion by 2025. This growth is attributed to pressure on the agriculture industry to meet the growing demand for grains and other types of food that drives the search for high-yielding farming techniques, including precision farming and urban farming. Hydroponics, thus, is looked upon as a potential solution for the growing concern about food security in the coming years.

Precision or smart agriculture is a growing space, in July 2020, MarketsandMarkets provided coverage of the Smart Greenhouse Market, which included Hydroponics and Non-Hydroponics. In a smart greenhouse. This market is forecast to reach $2.1 billion by 2025, up from $1.4 billion in 2020 at a CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period. This growth is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) by farmers and agriculturists. Furthermore, growing demand for food due to the continuously increasing global population; surging adoption of indoor farming in urban areas; and rising number of government initiatives to promote the adoption of smart agricultural practices are driving growth. Additional factors impacting this market include the increasing international adoption of vertical farming technology and the emerging trend of rooftop farming in urban areas act as growth opportunities for developers of smart greenhouses.

To learn more about this space the USDA provides a variety of resources on urban gardening, including a toolkit to help gardeners and developers plan their projects, and Indoor Ag-Con adapted its planned format to include an online webinar series.

While we may have all learned about the water cycle in elementary school, the water that comes out of your tap follows a much more complex process.

Wastewater includes used water or sewerage water from households and industries that are then treated for reuse or for discharging it into the environment. MarketsandMarkets reports that the wastewater treatment market is forecast to reach $65.1 billion by 2024, up from an estimated $48.5 billion in 2019, which is a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.1%. Increasing water pollution and scarcity of water are driving growth in the wastewater treatment services market in all the regions. The wastewater streams are treated in a variety of manners and the quality of treated water depends on parameters such as the presence of total dissolved solids (TDS), hardness, the potential of hydrogen (pH) level, and alkalinity. The wastewater treatment process involves several operations such as chemical treatment, settling operation, evaporation, filtration, and others. The service and treatment methods are dependent on the end-use application.

Demand for wastewater treatment services is very high in power generation, and this segment is expected to register the highest revenue growth within this market. However, when segmented by end-user the municipal segment is expected to be the largest end-user segment of the wastewater treatment services market through 2024. Residential wastewater is primarily treated through the municipal wastewater treatment plant. Growth in this segment is attributed to population growth and the scarcity of water resources, which have increased the need for wastewater treatment and water recycling services. These growing needs have simultaneously driven growth in novel treatment methods. The biological wastewater treatment market size is estimated to be $8.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $11.1 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 5.1%. This market and the processes it uses are segmented into aerobic and anaerobic. Growth in this market is attributed to strict regulations regarding the disposal of wastewater into the environment or for reuse, aging infrastructure, water scarcity & reusability of wastewater, rapidly growing population and industrialization are major drivers responsible for the growth of the biological wastewater treatment market.

The key market players in this market include Veolia (France), SUEZ (France), Xylem (US), Ecolab (India), Evoqua Water Technologies (US), Thermax (India), and W.O.G. Group (US), Golder Associates (Canada),  Envirosystems Inc. (Canada), and SWA Water Holdings (Australia). Xylem (US) is a leader in water technology and plays an important role in the manufacturing and service of engineered solutions for water and wastewater applications.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), wastewater operations are typically the largest energy expense in a community, and reductions in energy usage can lead to significant environmental, economic, and social benefits for these communities. DOE reports that the total annual energy use by municipal wastewater treatment systems in the U.S. is approximately 30 billion kWh, and is expected to increase by as much as 20% in the coming decades due to more stringent water quality standards and growing water demand based on population growth. Furthermore, DOE notes that wastewater contains approximately five times more energy than is needed for its treatment in terms of untapped thermal energy, which can be captured and used to generate energy.

DOE is working with 27 state, regional, and local partners representing more than 100 water resource recovery facilities to accelerate a pathway toward a sustainable infrastructure over the course of 3 years through the Better Buildings Sustainable Wastewater Infrastructure of the Future (SWIFt) Accelerator. In late 2019 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development announced that the department is investing $635 million in 122 projects to improve water systems and wastewater handling services in rural communities in 42 states

While several conferences have shifted plans in recent weeks, the DOE 2020 Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit is transitioning to a virtual leadership symposium and includes tracks that may be of interest to firms working in wastewater treatment.

Did you know that Galileo Galilei perfected the first device known as a microscope in 1609?

Today, microscopes enable researchers to conduct in-depth academic and exploratory research using increasingly complex methods and technologies. With the interest in life science areas such as nanoscience, pharmacology, and toxicology growing at a rapid pace, the need for advanced microscopes that employ mediums much more penetrative than light such as electron and X-ray has also increased. The rapid expansion of the global microscopy devices market is attributed to an increase in innovations and technological advancements in microscopes, focus on R&D activities by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and growth of the life science industry.

According to BCC Research, the global market for microscopes, accessories and supplies reached $7.1 billion in 2019 and should reach $9.8 billion by 2024, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6% for the period of 2019-2024. The microscopy market includes several fields, such as optical microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, and microscopy accessories. Growth in this market is driven largely by factors such as a favorable funding scenario for R&D in microscopy, technological advancements in microscopes, and rising focus on nanotechnology and regenerative medicine. However, the high cost of the advanced microscopes is expected to restrain the growth of this market during the forecast period.

Electron microscopes are expected to show the highest growth in this market due to the high magnification ratio, electron microscopes have vital applications in biology, material sciences, nanotechnology, and semiconductor industries. Growing R&D activities and easy availability of funds have resulted in increasing life science and material science research. This, in turn, is expected to drive the demand for electron microscopes. The growing trend of correlative light and electron microscopy is also responsible for the growth of the electron microscopes segment. Grandview Research reports that the global electron microscope market size was valued at $3.2 billion in 2017 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 7.4% through 2025.

If electron microscopy is the fastest growing market segment, what exactly is it? Electron microscopy is used to produce high-resolution images at the atomic scale of everything from composite nanomaterials to single proteins. The technology is primarily a research tool that provides invaluable information on the texture, chemistry, and structure of advanced materials. Research in this field has focused on achieving higher resolutions over the past few decades, or in layman’s terms, being able to image materials at progressively finer levels with more sensitivity and contrast.

Presently, there are two major types of electron microscopes used in clinical and biomedical research settings: the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The TEM and SEM can also be combined in one instrument called the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). The following outlines the basic principles and differences between these tools:

• TEM:   magnifies 50 to ~50 million times; the specimen appears flat
• SEM:   magnifies 5 to ~ 500,000 times; sharp images of surface features
• STEM: magnifies 5 to ~50 million times; the specimen appears flat

Key firms in the electron microscopy market include Nikon Metrology Inc.; Thermo Fisher Scientific.; ZEISS, International; JEOL Ltd.; Angstrom Advanced Inc.; Hirox Europe Ltd.; and Hitachi High-Technologies Europe GmbH. In terms of their strategies, regional and service portfolio expansions and merger and acquisitions are a common practice in this market. For example, Thermo Fischer Scientific acquired electron microscope software console from Roper technologies in June of 2018.

Work being carried out at the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) located at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is impacting the following areas of research:

• Defects and deformation
• Mechanisms and kinetics of phase transformations in materials
• Nanostructured materials
• Surfaces, interfaces and thin films
• Microelectronics materials and devices

In addition to NCEM, other national labs are working on electron microscopy, Brookhaven National Lab has five top-of-the line transmission electron microscopes, Argonne National Lab is using electron and x-ray microscopy to better understand Nanoscale Dynamics, and The Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) Group of the Materials Science and Technology Division at Oak Ridge National Lab currently operates four aberration-corrected STEMs. The Frederick National Laboratory is home to the National Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility (NCEF), which provides cancer researchers access to the latest technology for high resolution imaging, and The Electron Microscopy Laboratory (EML) at the Idaho National Lab is a user facility dedicated to materials characterization, using primarily electron and optical microscopy tools.

To learn more about research and resources, the Microscopy Society of America provides an extensive guide on its website.

The field of telehealth is increasingly used by practitioners and patients to address acute or long-term medical concerns. Within this broader field, remote patient monitoring allows patients to use mobile medical devices and technology to gather patient-generated health data (PGHD) and send it to healthcare professionals. These tools are applicable to a variety of conditions and patients, including first responders and warfighters. For example, within the Department of Defense (DoD), there is enormous interest in continuous monitoring, analysis, and transferring of casualty information to systems that can be autonomously implemented for triage combat and field medical response.

Remote patient monitoring and telehealth encompass several key areas, including monitoring devices. BCC Research reports that the global market for patient monitoring devices will grow from $20.3 billion in 2018 to $25.9 billion by 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.0% for the period of 2018-2023. MarketsandMarkets goes on to note that the integration of monitoring technologies in smartphones and wireless devices is a major trend in patient care, resulting in the introduction of remote monitoring devices, mobile cardiac telemetry devices, mobile personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, ambulatory wireless EEG recorders, and ambulatory event monitors. Furthermore, advanced devices such as mobile PDA devices enable the real-time transmission of data. These devices be used for long-term monitoring and are often compact enough to store large amounts of data without restricting the patient’s freedom of movement. These remote patient monitoring devices solutions can enhance patient care delivery and improve patient outcomes for conditions that need continuous monitoring in hospital and non-hospital settings. Remote monitoring is commonly used for cardiovascular, neurological, and respiratory conditions.

Frost & Sullivan’s Advanced Medical Technologies Global Director, Sowmya Rajagopalan, believes that “In the future, patient monitoring data will be combined with concurrent streams from numerous other sensors, as almost every life function will be monitored and its data captured and stored. The data explosion can be harnessed and employed through technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, etc., to deliver targeted, outcome-based therapies.”

Frost & Sullivan forecasts that developers will look to incorporate disruptive technologies in the future, including:

• Brain-computer interface (BCI)
• Wearables/Embedded/Biosensors
• Smart Prosthetics/Smart Implants
• Nano-robotics/Digital Medicine
• Advanced Materials/Smart Fabrics

In terms of DoD’s use of remote medicine, the U.S. Air Force is already in the game, with its Battlefield Assisted Trauma Distributed Observation Kit (BATDOK) application for mobile patient monitoring that serves as a multi-patient, point of injury, casualty tool that assists human operators and improves care. Additionally, the U.S. Army’s Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center’s (TATRC) is engaged in essential medical research focused on advanced medical technologies and is dedicated to bringing innovative telehealth solutions to the Warfighter and the Military Health System.

To learn more about this market, the American Telemedicine Association Annual Conference and Expo is coming up in May 2020. Materials from the recent Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) may be viewed on the conference website.

Composites have been used in the aerospace industry for decades and are prized for their exceptional strength and light weight. As the percentage of aircraft bodies using these materials increases, so does the need for improved techniques and properties for their durability and maintenance. While there is considerable focus placed on the use of composites in aircraft bodies and fuselage, composite joints and components that are more durable, inspectable, maintainable, lightweight, and affordable than traditional through-thickness fasteners or adhesive bonding are also being developed.

According to research form MarketsandMarkets, the aerospace composites market is projected to grow from $24.49 Billion in 2016 to $42.97 Billion by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.85% between 2017 and 2022. The use of aerospace composites is increasing, due to the high strength and reduced weight as well as the increased heat resistance offered by these materials making them desirable to both military and commercial aviation. The US is the largest consumer of aerospace composites globally, in terms of value and volume due, in part, to the presence of giant players such as Boeing and GE along with the establishment of several new carbon fiber production plants in the U.S.

Aerospace composites are used in interior as well as exterior structural components of aircraft with exterior structural applications comprising a large portion of the aerospace composites market. The high demand for carbon fiber composites in airframe structures is due to their light weight, increased fuel efficiency, superior performance, easy maintenance, and reduced part counts. However, a few factors act as restraints in the growth of the aerospace composites market – recyclability and lack of standardization in manufacturing technologies are expected to be the major restraints for the growth of the aerospace composites market. Additionally, the high cost of aerospace composites technologies has been a point of concern associated with its expansion into structural applications of aircraft. While these aircraft applications now becoming more commonplace, composites are heading to space – Lockheed Martin developed a composite heat shield to protect the Mars 2020 rover from the intense heat during entry, descent, and landing using a tiled Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA).

To meet the increasing demand for these materials, manufacturers of aerospace composites are entering supply agreements with various industries to secure their positions in the aerospace composites market. This has given rise to a diversified and established ecosystem of upstream players, such as raw material suppliers and downstream stakeholders, which include aerospace composites manufacturers, aerospace composites vendors, end users, and government organizations. Many major players in the aerospace composites market have adopted backward and forward integration strategies to strengthen their positions in the market. The key players in the global composites market are Owens Corning (US), Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan), Teijin Limited (Japan), Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (Japan), Hexcel Corporation (US), SGL Group (Germany), Nippon Electrical Glass Co. Ltd. (Japan), Koninklijke Ten Cate (Netherlands), Huntsman International LLC. (US), and Solvay (Belgium).

The American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) is the world’s largest composites industry trade group and hosts a variety of annual events, the Thermoplastic Composites Conference is coming up in May. The International Conference on Aerospace Composites and Technology is taking place in April and will bring together academic scientists, researchers and research scholars in the field.

From schools and public libraries to the Department of Defense and industry, additive manufacturing and 3D printing technology is being used everywhere.  Additive manufacturing (AM) encompasses many technologies, including subsets like 3D printing, rapid prototyping, direct digital manufacturing, layered manufacturing and additive fabrication. As a process, additive manufacturing uses a computer-aided design (CAD) file to precisely control layer-by-layer, or point-by-point, buildup of material into three dimensional objects. The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) sees AM an emerging technology with many promising applications for both industry and Government including:

• Rapid iterations of prototyping, reducing time and money for design
• Reduction in wait time
• Enabling of just in time manufacturing on site at locations
• Support of immediate readiness
• Small, unique production runs

In July of 2019 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published Solving Industry’s Additive Manufacturing Challenges providing a comprehensive look at AM in the U.S. and the Department’s role in this dynamic market. DOE estimates that AM might reduce waste and materials costs by nearly 90% and cut manufacturing energy use in half when compared to traditional manufacturing practices. DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) provides information on funding opportunities, roadmaps, strategic plans, and events and its AMO Multi-Year Program Plan (FY 2017- FY 2021) includes additive manufacturing as a technology area covered in the plan.

Within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), an integrated DoD Additive Manufacturing (AM) Roadmap was published in December 2016 and strategic implementation plans for AM have been independently produced by the USAF and the U.S. Department of the Navy (DON), and the U.S. Army has also developed a draft AM technology report. While each Service has its own plan and system for AM research, all the services are members of the National Manufacturing Institutes, or “Manufacturing USA” which is a public-private partnership, jointly funded by government and private industry, focused on advanced manufacturing, including additive manufacturing. Through Manufacturing USA the America Makes Institute in Youngstown, OH is focused on additive manufacturing (AM) and has funded more than 60 projects since it was founded in 2012. The 2020 Military Additive Manufacturing Summit & Technology Showcase is coming up in February.

To help quantify this market, BCC Research reports that the global market for 3D printing reached $10.2 billion in 2019 and should reach $27.5 billion by 2024, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.0% for the period of 2019-2024. As a whole, the global manufacturing industry grew at a 3% rate year-on-year in 2019, contributing 30% to the global GDP. This total industry growth is attributed to new technologies including automation, 3D printing and a marked increase in automobile and electronics production. From a capabilities standpoint, the ability to 3D print metal materials is an exciting ongoing development – given that the process uses no tooling, is almost fully automated, and adds rather than removes material to allow for more optimized geometries makes metal 3D printing into an attractive option for parts that might typically be very difficult or expensive to manufacture, including legacy parts, line automation tools, and functional cast prototypes manufacturing. These features are especially attractive in automotive and defense applications.

Key participants in the additive manufacturing space include 3D Systems Inc., General Electric, EnvisionTEC, Mcor Technologies Ltd., Optomec Inc., Stratasys Ltd, EOS GmbH, The ExOne Company and MakerBot Industries, LLC. While this has been a highly concentrated industry, AMFG’s Additive Manufacturing Landscape offers a detailed overview of the key players and categories within the additive manufacturing industry and includes 171 different players.

Hoping to learn more? Try attending an upcoming additive manufacturing event in 2020!

The automobile and driving have been cornerstones of both industry and daily life for over a century. However, in recent years more and more portions of this way of life have become automated. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that the continuing goal of automotive technology is to deliver increasing safety benefits and Automated Driving Systems (ADS) where fully automated cars and trucks will drive us, instead of us driving them. Enabling technologies have been incrementally introduced and accepted ranging from cruise control to lane assist technology.

Driven by various factors, including the need for ease in driving and the increasing concern for safety and security, which lead to demand for high-end technology resulting in the increased demand for semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles, MarketsandMarkets reports that semi-autonomous vehicles market volume was estimated to be 10.5 Million Units in 2017 and is projected to reach 27.7 Million Units by 2022 growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.36%. The autonomous vehicles market is estimated to be 0.5 Million Units in 2025 and is projected to reach 6.9 Million Units by 2030 growing at a CAGR of 68.94% from 2025 to 2030. When quantified from a revenue perspective, Allied Market Research reports that global autonomous vehicle market size is forecast to be valued at $54.23 billion in 2019, and is expected to reach $556.67 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 39.47% from 2019 to 2026. These vehicles use artificial intelligence (AI) software, light detection & ranging (LiDAR), and RADAR sensing technology.

While sensors play many roles in the automotive market, autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles are a driving force in their use. These vehicles combine sensors and software to control, navigate, and drive the vehicle, and use LiDAR and RADAR sensors for its operation. The majority of self-driving systems create and maintain an internal map of their surroundings, based on a wide array of sensors. BCC Research reports that the global market for automobile sensors should grow from $35.4 billion in 2018 to $66.2 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 13.4% from 2018 to 2023.

From a regional perspective, North America is expected to dominate the semi-autonomous vehicles market, in terms of volume, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. Semi-autonomous vehicles volumes have increases in recent years, with OEMs catering not only to the domestic demand but also to the overseas demand. Moreover, in 2025 North America is likely to lead the autonomous vehicles market in terms of volume followed by Europe and Asia Pacific, as key technology innovators such as Google, Microsoft, and Delphi automotive are significantly investing in and testing the technology to commercialize the same.

However, barriers in this market include the lack of infrastructure to support autonomous cars in developing nations, concerns regarding cyber security and safety of the personal data of the users, and consumers’ hesitation to accept fully autonomous cars are some of the restraints that might hinder the growth of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. Frost & Sullivan reports that while technology development and the lack of a robust regulatory framework are the greatest obstacles in this market today, the need to understand consumer demand and the use of data for generating revenues will be the key challenge to address for OEMs in the future. To achieve this, analysts believe that OEMs will need to focus on developing flexible, autonomous platforms capable of providing multiple vehicle types for specific use cases to be successful in the future.

To learn more, consider attending a conference in 2020 – Autonomous Vehicles and Machines 2020 kicks off the year in January, Autonomous Vehicles 2020 takes place in February, and the Autonomous Vehicles Test & Development Symposium will take place alongside Automotive Testing Expo in October.

As recently as a decade or two ago, the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) becoming a part of our everyday lives seemed like a bit of a stretch to the average person, however, today many of us use it to accomplish everyday tasks. Whether its Siri answering your questions, Netflix recommending what to watch, or Nest knowing just how warm you like your house, AI has become a part of our lives.

To quantify this, MarketsandMarkets reports that the artificial intelligence market was valued at $21.5 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $190.6 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.6%. This growth is largely driven by the increasing adoption of cloud-based applications and services, and an increase in demand for intelligent virtual assistants. Whereas the major restraint for the market is surprisingly human, the limited number of AI technology experts is seen as a major restraint. Furthermore, concerns regarding data privacy and the unreliability of AI algorithms are also seen as pain points within the market. Underlying opportunities in the artificial intelligence market include improving operational efficiency in the manufacturing industry and the adoption of AI to improve customer service.

While we see the use of AI growing in our daily lives, the manufacturing industry is expected to grow at the highest CAGR – AI-based solutions are adopted in manufacturing facilities to improve the productivity by maximizing asset utilization, minimizing downtime, and improving machine efficiency. The enabling concepts of deep learning, natural language processing, context awareness, and computer vision are the major technologies used for data mining, image analysis, signal analysis, decision-making, and execution. Frost & Sullivan also points to the evolution of AI as the industry has shifted away from developing intelligent devices to addressing the next goal of developing AI solutions that can learn from data, just as humans do. In November 2019 the Department of Energy announced  $15 Million for Development of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Tools. The major players in this market include Intel (US), NVIDIA (US), Xilinx (US), Samsung (South Korea), Facebook (US), Micron(US), IBM (US), Google (US), Microsoft (US), and AWS (US).

Healthcare is another vertical that is rapidly adopting and seeing the benefits of AI, Frost & Sullivan expects AI and cognitive computing to generate savings of over $150 billion for the healthcare industry by 2025. Analysts see automated disease prediction, personalization of treatment pathways, intuitive claims management, and real-time supply chain management, as potential benefits of AI. However, the uptake in healthcare IT tends to be slow.

In early 2019 the Defense Department (DoD) launched its American Artificial Intelligence Strategy in conjunction with an Executive Order from the White House. The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) is the DoD’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Center of Excellence that integrates technology development, policy, knowledge, processes and relationships to ensure growth in this area. According to MarketsandMarkets, AI in the military market was valued at $5.54 billion in 2016 and is projected to reach $18.82 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 14.75% during the forecast period. Within the defense sector, AI is able to handle massive amounts of military data in a more efficient manner as compared to conventional systems. Analysts note that this improves the self-control, self-regulation, and self-actuation abilities of combat systems, using inherent computing and decision-making capabilities. Additionally, increases in funding from military research agencies and a rise in R&D activities to develop advanced AI systems are major driving factors in the adoption of AI systems in the military sector. Based on application, artificial intelligence in military market has been classified into information processing, warfare platforms, threat monitoring & situational awareness, planning & allocation, cyber security, simulation & training, logistics & transportation, target recognition, battlefield healthcare, and others (NBC scenario monitoring and fire monitoring).  However, the unreliability of AI algorithms and unavailability of structured data are key challenges to the growth of the artificial intelligence in military market.

Key players operating in the artificial intelligence in military market range from defense contractors to software firms, including: Lockheed Martin (US), Raytheon (US), IBM (US), BAE Systems (UK), Thales Group (France), NVIDIA (US), Leidos (US), SAIC (US), Northrop Grumman (US), SparkCognition (US), Harris Corporation (US), General Dynamics (US), and Charles River Analytics (US).

Interested in learning more? Try attending an AI conference or event in 2020!