The worldwide demand for water, due to the growing population, increasing urbanization, and the need to address the cost implications from maintaining aging infrastructure are among the major driving factors for growth in the smart water management market. Similarly, with proliferation of IoT, smart cities across various regions are also expected to promote the growth of the market studied. Technological advancements pertaining to smart meters and their integration with communication solutions (SCADA, GIS, etc.) have transformed water management, to address the challenges faced by water utilities, residents, and industries, in terms of erroneous billing and water management. Owing to the global demand, the need to address the operational issues of the water management becomes crucial. Consequently, the adoption of smart water management technologies is expected to gain traction. The smart water management ecosystem consists of sensors, smart meters, communication infrastructure, and supporting software to enable two-way communication, thus, allowing users to gather actionable information and take informed decisions, pertaining to optimized water distribution and usage.

The first flight, which used blended biofuel, began in 2008 and as of March 2019, more than 150,000 flights have used biofuels. Only five airports have regular biofuel distribution till March 2019 (Bergen, Brisbane, Los Angeles, Oslo, and Stockholm), with others offering occasional supply. To cut CO2 emissions by half, by 2050, relative to 2005 levels, and achieve the goal of carbon-neutral growth, the global airline industry, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have announced to initiate the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), from 2021. Renewable aviation fuel (RAF) produces up to 85% less CO2 over its lifecycle and has the potential to reduce the dependence on traditional aviation fuel. CORSIA is estimated to mitigate around 2.5 billion metric ton of CO2, between 2021 and 2035. Renewable aviation fuel is expected to play a significant role in achieving the industr y’s long-term emissions reduction goal. The market is driven by the strict emission regulations laid on aircraft emissions, by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). As of 2018, around 150,000 commercial flights have successfully flown on biofuels blends, and several major airlines have committed to the long-term RAF purchase agreement. Further, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set a goal of reaching 1 billion passengers on flights, fueled by sustainable aviation biofuels, by 2025. The major factor restraining the market includes the high cost of production of renewable aviation fuel. Fuel cost account for a significant share of the total operating expenses of an airline company (30%). Hence, high fuel costs increase the operating cost for an airline company, by a considerable amount.

Smart cities are growing globally, due to urbanization, which is enabling the growth. According to projections by the United Nations, in India, 404 million, China, 292 million, and Nigeria, 212 million, urban dwellers are expected to be added to the existing populations by 2050. Smart city platforms perform various functions, such as analytics, remote asset monitoring, performance management, decision suppor t, or presentation components. Most of the technologically advanced cities are making use of the Internet of Things platform to monitor city infrastructure, to manage everything from traffic flows and parking to water and air quality, and using the resulting smart data generated to tackle longer-term planning decisions around environmental sustainability. The smar t city platforms offer a foundation for urban infrastructure, applications, and services, and various city-specific functions. One of the significant factors expected to drive the growth of the market in cities is giving priority to platform providers as compared to standalone smart solutions, because of the scalability and integration of other smart solutions. Thus, with the growing popularity of such solutions, companies are increasingly investing in such solutions. For instance, in 2018, Huawei launched a new smart city platform that helps governments and other organizations develop, test, and deploy smart urban initiatives, bringing technologies, such as AI, hybrid cloud, and the IoT.

In the current era of smart grid, massive amounts of data are being generated. Data analytics solutions, (the process of analyzing data, primarily to identify significant, useful, and interesting trends and patterns) are expected to enable the utility to transform the vast volume of information generated into profitable business insights. As energy plays a prominent role in the socio-economic development of any country, the South Asian countries, like Sri Lanka and India, are encouraging the deployment of solar panel grids to produce electricity for own consumption and business purposes. Globally, the electric power systems have been witnessing changes. These electric power systems depend on centralized fossil-fuel plants to generate electricity and extensive grids to deliver it to different end-users. The demand for cost-effective power supplies for consumers in the utility sector led the market for smart grid analytics, globally. In an ever-growing power environment, a vast amount of data is generated by smart meters, sensors, automated dispensing systems, etc. Utility owners or suppliers utilize this huge amount of data to track demand and consumption, prevent power cuts, and reduce downtime. From the smart meters installed, the organizations can collect thousands of data points and elements per month, along with various types of measurements. This technological shift was primarily enabled by the improvements in communications and metering technology, mostly suppor ted by plummeting costs for storage and processing power.

Although synthetic or chemical nematicides continue to witness a positive trajectory in demand, an emerging preference for biological nematicides has been observed in recent years, primarily due to the rapid adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques and sustainable agricultural practices, globally. Empirical observations have revealed that bio-nematicides act synergistically with other agricultural inputs as an important component under environmentally friendly IPM programs. For instance, according to a study published in the Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control, T. viride and P. fluorescens, when integrated with neem cake, yielded effective results in controlling Meloidogyne incognita (Raveendra et al. 2011, Seenivasan 2007). As per an article published the Journal of the International Organization for Biological Control, in 2017, there have been numerous developments in the commercialization of bio-nematicides in the United States, in the past few years. Extensive research has been conducted in developing Pasteuria spp. and Purpureocillium lilacinus as potential nematicides. Under the scheme, “Strengtheni ng & Modernization of Pest Management Approach (SMPMA)”, the overall use of bio-pesticides including bio-nematicides in India, increased from 123.0 metric ton during 1994-1995 to 7,682.0 metric ton during 2018-2019.

The major factors attributing to the growth of the market are the increasing number of disability cases, due to the growing geriatric population, increasing number of road mishaps, spinal cord injuries, and meningitis. These factors are likely to boost the growth of the global medical lifting slings market. As per the revised World Population Prospects, by the United Nations, the number of people aged 60 or above is expected to increase significantly, greater than double by 2050, i.e. from 962 million in 2017 to 2.1 billion in 2050, globally. This age group is highly vulnerable to different types of age-related diseases, which require personal mobility aids like medical lifting slings. According to Disabled World, currently, around 10% of the world population, or roughly 650 million people, are suffering from disability. In most of the OECD countries, females have higher rates of disability than males, and according to the UN Development Program (UNDP), 80% of the people with disabilities live in the developing countries. Therefore, the demographic trend toward an aging population and the rising incidences of chronic diseases led to longer hospital stays, which may increase the demand for medical lifting slings over the forecast period. Additionally, there has been a presence of a considerable number of companies, and the key players are focusing on acquisitions and collaborations to enhance their footprint in the global medical lifting slings market. Companies are focusing on expanding their footprint, primarily by launching innovative solutions for patients. For instance, Savaria acquired Silvalea, a sling manufacturer.

This section provides an overview of strategies adopted by the companies in the past four years (January 2016 to February 2020) in the global medical devices testing services market. The global medical devices testing services market is dominated by juggernauts including Eurofins Scientific Group, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., Bureau Veritas S.A. and other medium and small-medium enterprises. Several companies are attempting to enter the market and sustain themselves in the competition by adopting different strategies varying from partnerships and collaborations to business expansions and service launches. In the past four years (January 2016-January 2020), the market witnessed approximately 18 mergers and acquisitions, 18 business and regional expansions, 10 service portfolio expansions, six synergistic developments (collaborations, partnerships, and joint ventures), four accreditations, and one funding. Among the different key developments, mergers and acquisitions and service expansions constituted the largest share. The following figure represents the percentage of major strategies adopted by the key market players.

The proliferation of handheld devices has led to developments in the field of the gas detector, which has considerably widened the scope of application across multiple end-user segments. The government regulations across the world are increasingly becoming stringent in both emission control as well as labor safety, which is driving the demand for gas detectors. Industrial production process not only involves the use of various gases but also shares a considerable share of the overall environmental emissions. The government regulates leakage of such gases, and this is where the demand for gas detectors is increasing. For instance, the EU incorporated Directive 2010/75/EU an instrumental regulation in controlling pollutant emissions into the atmosphere by industrial installations. The governments across the world and political bodies are increasingly setting targets to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. For example, the EU has set itself a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Also, countries, such as China, the United States, India, and Russia, are increasingly adopting stringent regulations to tackle emission rates. Moreover, the government regulations for workplace and labor safety are increasingly becoming stringent, and adherence to such rules is vital in business continuity for organizations. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 4% of the gross world product is expended on worker accidents, and the percentage increases even further if we take into account the work-related health problems.

Owing to this, various vendors in the market are increasingly launching several forms of API that are related to emotion detection and analysis, even from key vendors such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Furthermore, the launch of multi-modal solutions, which include the integration of speech, text, and facial recognition and increasing the role of muscle activity, brain activity, skin conductance, and hear t rate monitoring to deliver better emotional intelligence of the human has significantly led to huge customer awareness about the technology. Key areas where emotion detection and recognition are expected to gain traction include: entertainment (majorly gaming), transpor tation (autonomous cars), healthcare (various kinds of diagnostics), and retail (to enhance customer experience). For instance, recently Holst Centre (in the Netherlands) launched the prototype of a new electroencephalogram (EEG) headset, which is intended to measure cognitive processes in the brain and emotions. This headset can be used for gaming, learning, and therapeutic applications. The automotive industry is expected to be another major adopter of the technology over the coming years. With the advent of autonomous cars, ADAS, and connected cars, the incorporation of IoT and sensors is on the rise; automotive vendors are expected to incorporate EDR primarily for safety.

The packaging in the cosmetic industry has gone leaps and bounds in recent years. The cosmetic industry has the most varied packaging requirements of all the other sectors. The materials used vary from different metals from glass, paper, and Plastics, and these materials are used to make containers with different shapes and sizes and dispensing mechanism.  Plastic in the form of primary containers, secondary flexible pouches, caps and closure, and the nozzle is one of the major packaging materials used by the cosmetic industry. The plastic tube is one of the major containers in the cosmetic industry as it is able to store liquid-solid and semisolid materials and able dispense products in the controlled proportions. Also, the, when compared to other containers tubes, are able to provide better contamination protection.  In order to cater to the increasing demand for tubes, various suppliers have come up with innovative offerings in the market. Most recently, Sally Hansen, a major cosmetics manufacturer in the global market, developed a squeezable tube paired with an applicator tip with the help of Topline.