The growth and economic development of a country are determined by factors such as natural resources, physical capital, human resources, and technology & research. Of these, research is one of the imperative factors for sustainable growth and the economic development of any country.
One of the biggest challenges today is faced by researchers in the development of new chemicals that would help in addressing future needs. Developing lightweight materials is the top priority in chemical materials research. While chemists and researchers are making increased use of plastic in the laboratory, glass is preferred by most of the researchers. This has paved the way for the laboratory glassware market.
The rise in the number of research laboratories across the globe is increasing the demand for the laboratory glassware market.
The laboratory glassware is precise and accurate. Therefore, it offers unique solutions to various end-users. Glass surpasses plastic with its high chemical resistance against many substances. This includes acids, strong alkalis, organic solvents, saline solutions, and water. Some of the major advantages of using glassware products in laboratories include high clarity offered by glassware affords visibility of contents and accurate recording of volumes, glass items can be easily sterilized when compared to plastic items, glassware can be reused after prescribed cleaning. Laboratory glassware products are manufactured using borosilicate glass. The surging demand for the borosilicate glass owing to its extraordinary features such as minimum thermal expansion, high resistance to shock has led to the increasing market for laboratory glassware.
Research and development
Other factors driving the growth of this market include the surge in interest of students towards innovation in academic institutes, the increasing need of instruments for purification and separation of molecules, and growing genomics-based research and provision of funds by the government of most of the countries for R&D mostly in the emerging economies.
While Asia and New Zealand are the major export markets for laboratory glassware for medical equipment, Europe and the United States are for scientific equipment. However, the presence of laboratory plasticware - alternatives to laboratory glassware are expected to hamper the growth of the laboratory glassware market as they are economical compared to laboratory glassware.
America has been one of the leaders in innovation and research in this field; the US is continuing to invest in research and development which will result in the upliftment of the laboratory glassware market. However, South Korea, Germany, and Japan are paying out a higher share of GDP to research and development at a faster rate than the United States. This will further enhance the growth of the laboratory glassware market globally.