The market for artificial intelligence in healthcare is poised for rapid growth between now and 2024, with rapid uptake in fields such as drug discovery, medical imaging and diagnosis, says a new study.
From a level of $760m in 2016, healthcare-focused AI will grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 40% per year over the following eight years – which would mean a total market size upwards of $10bn in 2024.
Early adoption has been held back by high initial capital requirements, maintenance and repair charges, as well as fears that AI could disrupt industries and lead to large-scale job losses, says the study from Global Market Insights (GMI).
It suggests however that these will eventually be outweighed by a growing understanding of the benefits of the technology, pointing to studies suggesting AI can improve the diagnostic accuracy of CT scans, MRI scans and picture archiving and communications (PAC) by 60-70%.
The growth of genomics and the shift towards precision medicine, aided by innovation in clinical research and robotic personal assistants, will be a key driver for growth, says GMI, along with an increasing volume of health-related data that will need to be mined in order to provide more efficient, cheaper care and “novel and promising applications for disease diagnosis and monitoring”.
In 2016 drug discovery accounted for just over a third (35%) of the market, and will grow by 40% year-on-year over the study period to become the largest market segment, as researchers use the technology more and more for target identification, drug discovery and design and compound screening.
Medical imaging will grow at the same rate through to 2024 and will be the second-largest segment ahead of therapy planning, hospital workflow and other applications.
The US accounted for around 42% of the total AI in healthcare markets in 2016, and will grow at a rate of around 35% per year over the following eight years thanks in part to the federal government encouraging use of the technology to improve healthcare delivery.
Meanwhile, in Europe the UK is expected to be the most active market as it has generated a fertile environment for AI business start-ups, and will reach a value of $800m in 2024. The fastest growth will be seen in China however, rising 45% a year once again backed by government initiatives.
“[The] healthcare artificial intelligence market has been gaining popularity over the years [but] the market faces a major challenge in [the] form of deployment issues,” says GMI. There are a lot of “inherent risks and difficulties in deploying these large and complex systems due to poor human-computer interaction methods”, it notes.
