Bio-IT Market Continues to Grow

Australia-New Zealand Bio-IT Market Continues to Grow on Solid Foundation, According to IDC

IDC latest research into ANZ's Life Sciences industries shows that both private and public investments are fueling the Bio-IT market down-under

Singapore, 24th February 2003 – According IDC’s Life Sciences and Bio-IT research and advisory service, Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) Bio-IT Ecosystem (AP282109J), the growth of Bio-IT spending in the Australia and New Zealand market would more than double in size to become a US$655 million market by 2006. Considered as one of the top 10 bio-environments in the world, Bio-IT adoption in ANZ is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 37%, fueled both by private and public investments as organizations adopt new biology methods in the area of Life Sciences.

The region has over 320 biotech firms, of which with 250 are publicly listed, with the sector now employing over 6500 research personnel. Early initiatives by the Federal Governments have placed the ANZ market some years ahead of other countries in Asia/Pacific, with the exception of the strong Life Sciences industry in Japan. Most notable are government policies aimed at driving commercial research out of the public sector, which IDC views as key to building a long-term, sustainable, Life Sciences industry. It is these hands-on policies that could compensate for lower levels of public investment than those of developing Asian economies.

While in Australia, the Bio-IT market is dominated by private sector expenditure, the New Zealand market is still dominated by public sector expenditure with majority of it still tied into the academic sector. IDC predicts that by 2006, private sector spend will increase and dominate the Bio-IT expenditure with the shifts in the New Zealand market being more marked. The largest jump would occur in the Biotech sector in New Zealand where IDC expects to increase its revenue share from 14% to 30%, more than doubling its percentage of the Bio-IT expenditure pie. Large Pharmas in New Zealand are also expected to mature and spend more on IT, and is expected to make up 23% of the revenue share in 2006 compared to 17% in 2001. Areas like Queensland are already developing strong reputations in bio-practices focused on computational biology, and are expected to become key R&D centres as the global industry continues to adapt in-silico processes to drive molecular research.

“The governments in ANZ have set the ground works for the advancement of the Life Sciences market. And the maturity of organizations in the sector continues to grow in their use of the latest and most advanced technologies in the area of biotechnology. And IDC expects to see some notable successes arise from domains even in the field of proteomics," said Daphne Chung, Senior Analyst for Life Sciences and Healthcare Research at IDC. "However, ANZ is more likely to lose than gain market share in the regional Bio-IT market as other countries such as Singapore, India, China and Taiwan ramp up their investments and focus on growing their Life Sciences market," Ms Chung adds.

IDC’s new report entitled “Australia-New Zealand Bio-IT Ecosystem 2001-2006” IDC #AP28-C21-1102-09) analyzes the current life science and Bio-IT environment in the Australia-New Zealand region and presents detailed projections for Bio-IT market growth across hardware, software and services segments, in addition to the end-user segments of pharmaceutical firms, biotech, academia and government.

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