Laboratory Information Management System Market: Growth, Size, Share, and Trends

Market Growth Outlook Summary

The global laboratory information management system market growth forecasted to transform from USD 2.1 billion in 2024 to USD 3.8 billion by 2029, driven by a CAGR of 12.9%. Growth in this market is driven by the increasing demand for efficient data management and regulatory compliance in laboratories across various industries. The rising emphasis on quality control and assurance, coupled with the need for streamlined workflows and data integrity, has further propelled the market. Additionally, advancements in technology, including cloud-based solutions and integration of artificial intelligence, have enhanced the functionality and accessibility of LIMS, contributing to its widespread adoption. However, the high setup and operational costs, shortage of skilled personnel and interoperability issues, are expected to restrain market growth to a certain extent.

Laboratory Information Management System Market Trends

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Laboratory Information Management System Market Dynamics

Driver: Growing use of LIMS to comply with stringent regulatory requirements

Automating routine lab procedures with the help of devoted workstations and software improves lab productivity and enables individual researchers to focus on important tasks. This is a major factor driving the adoption of informatics in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. According to a study, error rates for fully automated operations vary from 1–5%, those for semi-automated operations range from 1–10%, while those for manual operations vary from 10–30% (Source: Journal of Lab Automation).

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies across various countries face significant pressure to adhere to strict regulatory guidelines for preclinical and clinical testing before launching new drugs into the market. Regulatory requirements such as 21 CFR Part 11 and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) mandate comprehensive documentation and audit trails covering the entire process from research and development to testing, production, and quality control. Additionally, companies must comply with guidelines for appropriate labeling and advertising.

Due to concerns over data management and security, many laboratories are increasingly adopting LIMS to streamline their workflows and ensure compliance with stringent regulatory standards. These systems enable laboratories to meet regulatory requirements while maintaining process flexibility. As a result, the demand for LIMS solutions in laboratories operating within target industries is expected to rise during the forecast period.

Restraint: High maintenance and service costs

The high maintenance and service costs associated with LIMS solutions can significantly impact the growth of the LIMS market. While LIMS solutions offer numerous benefits in terms of streamlining laboratory workflows and improving data management, the costs involved in maintaining and servicing these systems can pose challenges for organizations, especially smaller laboratories or those with limited budgets.

Limited budgets may force organizations to allocate resources to other critical areas, resulting in delayed or limited LIMS implementation. As a result, the growth potential of the LIMS market may be hindered, as a significant portion of potential customers may find it financially unfeasible to invest in expensive maintenance and service contracts.

Additionally, organizations carefully evaluate the ROIs before investing in LIMS. High maintenance and service costs can impact the perceived value and ROIs of these solutions. If the costs outweigh the anticipated benefits, organizations may be reluctant to adopt or expand their use of LIMS. This hesitation can slow market growth as potential customers seek alternative solutions or postpone their adoption plans.

To mitigate the impact of high maintenance and service costs, LIMS providers can explore options such as tiered pricing models, cloud-based solutions with subscription-based pricing, or service agreements that offer flexible support packages. Additionally, ensuring transparent cost structures, clearly outlining the value-added services, and providing customer-centric support can help alleviate concerns and foster the growth of the LIMS market.

Opportunity: Growing use of LIMS in cannabis industry

Medical cannabis has demonstrated effectiveness in a range of medical applications, including alleviating chemotherapy-induced nausea, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, managing muscular spasms in multiple sclerosis patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients. Due to these potential health benefits, numerous countries and states have legalized medical cannabis. This legalization has spurred the emergence of cannabis testing laboratories, which offer quality control services for the medical cannabis industry.

LIMS solutions help cannabis testing laboratories effectively manage the data generated while testing for potency, heavy metal content, pesticide level, microbial analysis, and residue. These systems can be integrated with various laboratory instruments for data capture and report generation. They also support electronic signatures in workflows and ensure compliance with the FDA CFR 21 Part 11 regulations. Considering these advantages, cannabis testing laboratories, especially in major markets such as the US, have adopted LIMS solutions. For instance, of 250 cannabis testing laboratories in the US, as many as 85 use cannabis LIMS (Source: Expert Interviews and MarketsandMarkets Analysis); this number is expected to grow in the coming years with the legalization of cannabis in more states in the US.

Some of the commercially available cannabis LIMS solutions are CannaLIMS by CannaSys, Inc. (US); Sample Master, TITAN, and Result Point by Accelerated Technology Laboratories, Inc. (US); LabLynx LIMS by LabLynx (US); and Matrix Gemini by Autoscribe Informatics (US).

Challenge: Dearth of trained professionals

With the growing trend towards digitization, the healthcare industry's adoption of IT solutions has surged significantly over the past decade. This has led to an increased demand for skilled IT professionals and individuals with advanced analytical capabilities to interpret data from CIT solutions, including LIMS. However, a substantial gap exists between the supply and demand for these skilled professionals, which may hinder the adoption of LIMS, especially in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies, which represent over 50% of the LIMS market.

The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected a 13% growth in the employment of medical laboratory technologists and technicians, from 335,700 in 2016 to 378,400 by 2026. Despite this growth, the University of Minnesota has highlighted an annual shortfall of approximately 4,500 laboratory professionals, which was expected to rise to around 9,000 per year by 2018. This shortage of skilled manpower constrains the adoption and use of complex software solutions in laboratories. Moreover, due to severe time constraints and increasing budget cuts, CROs and pharmaceutical companies are hesitant to allocate resources for training their research staff. These challenges are anticipated to limit the adoption of LIMS to a certain extent in the coming years.

Laboratory Information Management System Market Ecosystem

The LIMS market ecosystem includes various stakeholders such as data center providers, cloud professional service vendors, software developers, and participants from the life sciences industry (including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, biobanks, biorepositories, contract service organizations, academic research institutes, clinical research laboratories, toxicology laboratories, and NGS labs). Additionally, it encompasses industries like petrochemical refineries, oil and gas, chemicals, food and beverage, agriculture, environmental testing, forensic laboratories, and others.

Source: Secondary Literature, Interviews with Experts, and MarketsandMarkets Analysis

Software as a service (SaaS) segment accounted to hold a significant share in the laboratory information management system industry, by the cloud-based deployment mode during the forecast period

The laboratory information management system market is segmented into software-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-service, and platform-as-a-service, by cloud deployment. In 2023, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) segment is expected to command a substantial share in the cloud-based deployment mode throughout the forecast period. The growth of the SaaS segment is attributed to its ability to seamlessly integrate data from various cloud silos, offer unlimited user access from any location, maintain low costs of maintenance, and optimize resource utilization. Additionally, the diverse applications provided by the SaaS model, spanning areas such as accounting, performance monitoring, and communication through webmail and instant messengers, further contribute to the expansion of this segment.

Biobanks & biorepositories segment accounted for a considerable share in the laboratory information management system industry, by the life sciences industry in 2023”

In 2023, the biobanks & biorepositories segment accounted for a significant share of the laboratory information management system market, by the life sciences industry. The significant share in this segment is linked to the escalating demand for biobanks, driven by pharmaceutical companies' heightened focus on epidemiology research, biomedical research, personalized medicine, and cell-based research. These areas necessitate well-maintained specimens, prompting an increased need for automated storage, preparation, and information management systems to ensure the acquisition of accurate, reliable, and standardized data.

North America dominated the laboratory information management system industry in 2023

The laboratory information management system market is segmented into five major regions- North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America accounted for the largest share of the Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) market. This growth is propelled by factors such as the region's high per-capita healthcare expenditure, continuous innovation in laboratory technologies, and the integration of LIMS with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems. The accessibility to advanced healthcare facilities and the increasing number of biobanks further contribute to the expanding LIMS market in North America. Additionally, the emphasis on quality control, regulatory compliance, and the adoption of digitization in laboratory processes are driving the demand for LIMS solutions in the region. Overall, the North American market's robust growth in the LIMS sector can be attributed to a combination of technological advancements, regulatory requirements, and the healthcare industry's evolving needs.

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Prominent companies in the laboratory information management system market include LabWare (US), LabVantage Solutions Inc. (US), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (US), Agilent Technologies (US), LabLynx, Inc. (US), Dassault Systèmes (France), Labworks LLC (US), Autoscribe Informatics (a wholly owned subsidiary of Autoscribe Limited) (US), Accelerated Technology Laboratories (ATL) (US), CloudLIMS (US), Computing Solutions, Inc. (US), GenoLogics Inc. (an Illumina Company) (Canada), Siemens (Germany), Novatek International (Canada), Ovation (US), Clinsys (US), Eusoft Ltd. (Italy), Caliber International (US), LABTrack (US), Agilab SAS (US), Agaram Technologies (India), and AssayNet Inc. (Canada), Blaze Systems Corporation (US), and LabLogic Systems Limited (UK).

Laboratory Information Management System Market Report Scope

The study categorizes the laboratory information management system market to forecast revenue and analyze trends in each of the following submarkets

By Type

• Broad-based LIMS
• Industry-specific LIMS

By Component

• Software
• Services
• Support

By Deployment Model

• On-premise LIMS
• Cloud LIMS
  • Software-as-a-service
  • Infrastructure-as-a-service
  • Platform-as-a-service Others
• Remotely Hosted LIMS

By Company Size

• Large Companies
• Medium companies
• Small Companies

By Industry

• Life Sciences
  • Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies
  • Biobanks & Biorepositories
  • Contract Service Organizations
  • Academic Research Institutes
  • Clinical Research Laboratories
  • Toxicology Laboratories
  • NGS Laboratories
• Food & Beverage And Agriculture
• Petrochemicals And Oil & Gas
• Chemicals
• Environmental Testing
• Forensics
• Other Industries

By Company Size

• Large companies
• Mid Sized Companies
• Small Companies

By Region

• North America
  • US
  • Canada
• Europe
  • Germany
  • France
  • UK
  • Italy
  • Spain
  • RoE
• Asia
  • Japan
  • China
  • India
  • RoAPAC
• Latin America
• Middle East & Africa
  • GCC countries
  • Rest of Middle East & Africa

Recent Developments of the Laboratory Information Management System Market

• In February 2024, Labware has inaugurated its newest office in Seoul, Korea and established LabWare Korea Co., Ltd. This office will provide localized support, training, and implementation services to LabWare's growing customer network in Korea. Staffed by experienced LIMS professionals, the office aims to strengthen LabWare's foothold in the Asia-Pacific region by offering tailored solutions to meet the unique needs of Korean organizations.
• In January 2024, STARLIMS has launched Life Sciences for Public Health (LPH) 1.0, a LMS tailored for the Public Health sector. Featuring HTML5 browser-based technology, it signifies a significant advancement, promising a modernized user interface and enhanced functionalities. The release marks the beginning of a comprehensive, multi-year product roadmap aiming to elevate user experience and innovation in the Public Health LIMS market.
• In Novemeber 2023, LabWare (US) partnered with Körber (US). This partnership was carried to seamlessly integrate capabilities between LabWare's Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and Körber's Manufacturing Execution System (MES) - PAS-X.
• In October 2022, LabVantage Solutions, Inc. (US) and Biomax Informatics AG (Germany) finalized their merger agreement, with the goal of elevating scientific data contextualization, expediting product development, and delivering innovative capabilities for the life science and bio-manufacturing industries.

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