Market Spotlight: Coming Soon Lab Budgets and Sources of Funding in 2017: The Market Outlook for the United States, Europe and Asia

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The health of the life science tools industry is directly tied to the annual investments in research and development made by governments, private industry and investors. The economic climate, political pressures, societal needs and technology will all affect the outlook for funding life science research, drug discovery and development in 2017.

Despite an improving global economy, the life science industry begins 2017 in state of uncertainty. The U.S. election and the UK’s decision to leave the European Union have contributed greatly to this uncertainty. In the U.S. the FY 2017 budget calls for $34.1 billion for the NIH and $7.5 billion for the NSF and this level of spending is likely to remain in place under the current continuing resolution. The real test, however, came in March as the new administration unveiled its FY2018 budget that included a 20% cut in NIH funding. At the same time, President Trump has been critical of the pharmaceutical industry and has promised to subject pharmaceutical companies to a competitive bidding process to lower drug prices that in turn could cause a decrease in profits and R&D spending.

The U.K. will remain part of the E.U for another two years but Brexit has cast a pall over pan-European research collaborations and the work status of European scientists working in U.K. labs. The government of Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to spend an extra £4.7 billion on R&D between now and 2020–21, and the final year’s £2-billion boost will represent an increase of almost 20% in total government R&D spending. Less clear, however, is how these funds will be allocated due to a restructuring of the way British research is organized, or how much will support basic life science research. The proposed increase may still not be enough to offset the impending loss of E.U. research grants from the Horizon 2020 program.

Regardless of Brexit, the European Commission has committed €8.5 billion to be released during 2017 into research and innovation, following an update to the Work Program of Horizon 2020. This includes €658 million for R&D related to health as well as another €716 million related to the bioeconomy. The EU is predicting euro area GDP growth of only 1.6% in 2017. The tepid growth and the rise of anti-EU political parties in France, Germany and The Netherlands make the outlook for 2018 and beyond uncertain.

Asian markets in general, and China in particular, are likely to grow in 2017. Although the Chinese economy has slowed down over the last several years, the country’s commitment to scientific research remains strong. According to Nature, China now invests more in scientific research than the entire E.U. and Chinese researchers feature on around one-fifth of the world’s most-cited papers. Japan remains stagnant but Singapore and South Korea continue to grow with both public and private sector investments in life science.

These macroeconomic trends directly affect the budgets of individual laboratories. Lab Budgets and Sources of Funding in 2017: The Market Outlook for the United States, Europe and Asia explores projected 2017 lab budgets by region and the implications of these findings for the life science tools market. The information contained in this indispensable report will enable senior management to forecast demand, fine-tune their projections for next year, set goals and allocate resources for 2017.

The objective of this study is to assess sources of funding, the competitive landscape and market opportunities for life science tools companies. From the perspective of end-users, the goals of this assignment will be to:

  • Understand the current and projected levels of funding from public and private sources supporting life science research and drug discovery in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
  • Compare and contrast FY2017 (actual), and FY2018 (projected) average lab budgets in total by broad product category, region and market segment ­– providing directional information for FY2018.
  • Estimate scientists’ budget for purchases and anticipated purchases in instrumentation and consumables, examining trends across key product categories.
  • Assess how optimistic scientists are regarding funding and the future of life science research.

Lab Budgets and Sources of Funding in 2017 will be available soon. Check our catalog for updates.