Market Overview
The global Artificial Womb market size was valued at US$ YY million in 2022 and is estimated to reach US$ YY million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of YY% during the forecast period (2023-2030).
An artificial womb can be used to carry a fetus to term outside of the body. As a result, requirements include a fetal heart and an umbilical cord to maintain circulation. When these conditions are satisfied, the baby can be transferred from a natural uterus to an artificial one, simulating giving birth before delivery. EctoLife, the first artificial womb facility in the world, is a concept that, for now, is entirely powered by renewable energy. It will have the capacity to grow around 30,000 babies every year, owing to the comprehensive and groundbreaking scientific investigation of over five decades. It is the brainchild of Hashem Al-Ghaili, a science biotechnologist and communicator from Berlin. It would also let them genetically engineer the embryo before implanting it into an artificial womb.
Market Dynamics
The rising number of infertility cases, miscarriages, and stillbirths and the research on artificial wombs will promote the global artificial womb market growth in the forecast period.
The growing number of infertility cases, miscarriages, and stillbirths drive the artificial womb market growth during the forecast period.
Infertility, or the inability to get pregnant even after attempting for over a year, can be challenging for individuals and couples. Infertility is fairly ordinary, and it can even mean getting pregnant but having stillbirths or miscarriages. The growing number of infertility cases globally boosts the artificial womb market growth. For instance, UCLA Health in 2020 estimated that about 15% of couples would have trouble conceiving. Also, according to Fertility Answers, about 30% of infertility cases can be attributed solely to the female, 30% can be attributed solely to the male, 30% can be attributed to a mixture of both partners, and 10% of cases have an unidentified reason.
Moreover, the growing incidences of stillbirths and miscarriages globally will also contribute to market growth. For example, according to UNICEF.org, a stillbirth occurs every 16 seconds worldwide, which means that every year, approximately 2 million babies are stillborn, a loss that goes far above the loss of life. Roughly 1.9 million babies, or one every 16 seconds, were stillborn in 2021. According to the latest data, the global stillbirth rate in 2020 was 13.9 stillbirths per 1,000 total births, and over 40% of all stillbirths happened during labor. It has a long-lasting traumatic influence on women and their families worldwide, who often bear deep psychological torment and stigma from their communities, even in high-income countries.
Similarly, according to Yale Medicine, almost 15 to 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and roughly 2% of women experience two consecutive pregnancy losses, which could still be attributed to circumstance. Also, according to ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), almost 5 % of women have two or more consecutive miscarriages, and 1 % might have three or above. The chance of recurrent miscarriage is elevated in women over 35 or with previous miscarriages. The cases of miscarriage are mostly underreported, as many women have miscarriages before they even know they are pregnant and do not experience any signs or symptoms of the miscarriage. The bulk of miscarriages happens due to genetic anomalies in the embryo or fetus, like an extra chromosome or skipping chromosomes. These are naturally unexpected mutations that are not probably to recur. In recurrent miscarriage, nevertheless, the situation is distinct, and the doctor will examine for a typical type of mutation called a balanced translocation. Thus, from the mentioned data, it is estimated that the growing cases of infertility, stillbirths and recurring miscarriages will push the global artificial womb market during the forecast period.
The ethical concerns and the high cost of the artificial womb will restrain the growth of the global artificial womb market.
However, the ethical requirements for approval function as a market will restrain its growth in the forecast period. Again, building an artificial womb will be highly expensive because the technology is innovative and safe, making it unaffordable to low and middle-income individuals. These factors are estimated to hamper the market expansion in the upcoming years.
COVID-19 Impact.
The COVID-19 pandemic created a concern about the future of human births since, during the pandemic period; it appeared to be a higher incidence of pregnancy-related complications in SARS-CoV-2 positive mothers, such as miscarriage, restricted fetal growth, or still-birth. Such future pandemic concerns are increasing the focus on developing new ways to carry out human gestation birth. Thus, positively impacting the global artificial womb market growth.
Segment Analysis
The research centers segment is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period (2022-2029).
Due to many initial projects in the pipeline, the research centers segment dominates the market. For instance, in 2020, the JUNO Perinatal Healthcare partnership is working to create a medical device, or "artificial womb," that enables extremely preterm infants to grow safely outside the womb. These infants will ultimately have better health chances than premature infants receiving standard care. The project received a Future and Emerging Technologies grant from the European program Horizon 2020 of almost 3 million euros. In this project, the researchers plan to finish a proof-of-principle in 5 years. And in 2021, using an artificial "womb" invented by scientists at the Weizmann Institute, early-stage mouse embryos with about 250 cells successfully developed into mouse fetuses with completely developed organs, which was made in Professor Jacob Hanna's Department of Molecular Genetics lab. The novel technique addresses a key issue in developmental biology: much of what is known about embryonic development comes from non-mammals like frogs or fish or is inferred from static photographs of mouse embryos because it is difficult to imagine or implant inside the uterus. With the help of this technique, Prof. Hanna and his team have generated fetuses that live until day 11, by which time the embryo has grown tenfold and is complete with blood, a beating heart, and a completely formed brain, which might lead to the development of fresh tactics for better medical care.
Geographical Analysis
Europe is expected to hold the largest global artificial womb market share.
The growing rate of infertility, stillbirths and miscarriage in Europe is expected to contribute to the region's hold on the global artificial womb market in the forecast period. For instance, according to NHS, in England, around 1 out of 250 births is a stillbirth. Not all the reasons for stillbirth are presently comprehended, and it's impossible to prevent every stillbirth. Also, according to the Tommy's Organization, a registered charity in England and Wales and Scotland, it is estimated that 1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss during pregnancy or birth, as there were around 500 miscarriages, 2,638 stillborn, and over 60,000 were born prematurely in the UK in 2020. Moreover, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, as in many parts of the world, Europe has seen a rapid decline in fertility. For instance, according to Eurostat, over 4.071 million children were born in the EU, corresponding to a crude birth rate (the number of live births per 1 000 persons) of 9.1 in 2020. For comparison, the EU crude birth rate was 10.5 in 2000, 12.8 in 1985 and 16.4 in 1970.
Furthermore, the different initiatives in Europe to spread awareness about the declining birth rate, rising infertility rate and developments towards artificial womb research. For instance, the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, OeAW, University of Vienna) held its annual conference. The focus of the 2021 conference was on the causes and consequences of depopulation, an issue very much in the spotlight of the European Commission and beyond. Also, the Horizon 2020 EU program has awarded a research grant of €2.9 million to the Eindhoven University of Technology for researchers to develop artificial womb prototypes. In addition, Lisa Mandemaker presented a speculative design proposal for an artificial womb in close collaboration with Maxima Medical Centre (MMC) in the Netherlands. Thus, from the data mentioned, it is estimated that Europe will dominate the global artificial womb market throughout the forecast period.
Competitive Landscape
Currently, there is no present competition in the artificial womb market due to the absence of key players. Still, the market is expected to show moderate competition in the future owing to new players entering the market. Currently, only some players are working on the research project, which is expected to hold most of the market to themselves. For example,
Juno Perinatal Healthcare
Overview:
Juno Perinatal Healthcare is a spin-off enterprise of and confidante to the PLS project. The startup was established in July 2021 by engineers Jasmijn and Lyla Kok, medical engineer Beatrijs van der Hout, technician physician Dr. Myrthe van der Ven and Gynecologist prof. Dr. Guid Oei. Juno aspires to assure that the innovative perinatal life support technology developed in the PLS project will go to market.
Project:
The JUNO Perinatal Healthcare consortium is developing a medical device, an artificial womb, that supports the safe development of premature babies outside of the womb. Ultimately, these infants will have better health prospects than premature infants with conventional care.
The global artificial womb market report would provide access to approximately 40+ market data tables, 45+ figures, and in the range of 200 (approximate) pages.