According to a new technical market research report, MICROFLUIDICS: TECHNOLOGIES AND GLOBAL MARKETS, the market for microfluidics technologies was valued at nearly $5.1 billion in 2011 and $5.6 billion in 2012. Total market value is expected to reach nearly $10.3 billion in 2017 after increasing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13%.

Inkjet printing currently is by far the largest application of microfluidics, accounting for about 63% of the total market in 2011. Although the inkjet printing segment includes applications such as biochip production and flat-panel display fabrication, it obviously owes its dominance to the inkjet printer head market. Despite its size, inkjet printing is the slowest-growing application segment with a projected CAGR of less than 7%, and by 2017 it is expected to account for slightly less than 45% of the market.

After inkjet printing, healthcare-related applications such as high-throughput screening, diagnostics, and drug delivery represent the largest and fastest-growing applications of microfluidics technology. Together, these three applications accounted for more than 33% of the microfluidics market in 2011; by 2017, their combined market share is expected to be greater than 51%.

The remaining application segments, particularly chemical analysis and synthesis and proteomics, are smaller and growing at a slower pace than healthcare-related applications. The market for defense and public-safety applications should remain small throughout the period under review.

The major objectives of this report are:

- To review the technologies, the related subtechnologies and alternative technologies in light of the emerging needs of the relevant markets
- To examine the current and potential applications of microfluidics technologies and assess their importance in the context of emerging market paradigms
- To describe the spectrum of microfluidics-related products currently on the market and in development
- To provide an overview of the current microfluidics market in terms of scale and competitive structure
- To assess the future of the microfluidics market in terms of growth potential for various product and application segments
- To examine the trends that will shape the future of microfluidics technologies and markets, and
 -To examine their impacts.

 Details of the new report, table of contents and ordering information can be found on Electronics.ca Publications' web site. View the report: MICROFLUIDICS: TECHNOLOGIES AND GLOBAL MARKETS.