Life Science Laboratory Automation Market Size, Share and Trends 2026 to 2035

Liquid-Handling & Pipetting Robots: Liquid-handling robots are the dominant technology/instrument type in laboratories with a 38.6% share, as they play an integral role in nearly all automated processes, including sample dilution, reagent dispensing, assay setup, and indexing in high-throughput testing. The combination of precision and scalable compatibility across different assay formats drives continuous demand for these types of robots. The growth of companies focused on drug discovery, genomics, and clinical studies, along with an increase in the use of new precision pipetting and multi-plate processing technologies, supports continued growth and demand for liquid-handling robots.

Automated Sample Prep & Nucleic Acid Extraction Systems: Automation of sample preparation and next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation is another rapidly growing with a 8.3% CAGR, as genomic-based laboratories continue to move towards automating their complex workflows, including the extraction of DNA/RNA, four reactions, and reagent preparation to create libraries for sequencing. The demand for using NGS diagnostics in diagnostic studies involving large numbers of subjects or patients and for studying genomic expression across multiple subjects over time is expected to increase the adoption of automation in this area. Automated systems can reduce human error, increase processing speed, and improve the consistency of results, which is critical for laboratories aiming to achieve high throughput and produce standardised results.

Drug Discovery & High-Throughput Screening (HTS): The segment has become a dominant force in pharmaceutical/biotech research with a 47.8% share, primarily due to their ability to rapidly and repeatedly screen compounds, cellular assays, and biochemical reactions. Automation reduces variability, enables assay miniaturization, and enables parallel processing of thousands of samples. Therefore, Pharma and Biotech companies continue to push for faster lead identification, shorter development times, and scalable assay automation, in turn maintaining Drug Discovery and HTS as the largest segment in the global laboratory market.

Genomics & NGS Sample Preparation: The segment is set to grow at an 8% CAGR, more rapidly than any other segment of the global laboratory market, primarily due to a rapid decline in costs and increased adoption by both clinical and research laboratories, as well as by programs related to population genomics. Automation maximizes throughput, reduces cross-contamination, and standardizes some steps in the NGS workflow (e.g., extraction, indexing, and amplification). As precision medicine continues to expand and Multi-Omics pipelines become more prominent, many laboratories will turn to Automated Systems to address the rapid increase in sample volume and the complexity of sample preparation, and the growing use of Automation in NGS has only increased.

Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies: Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are leading the life science laboratory automation market with a 40.4% share in 2025, as they have an ongoing need for high-throughput experimentation, compound screening, biologic development, and quality control testing. Automation helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies accelerate their R&D cycle, generate data with greater integrity, and conduct research to meet the strictest regulatory requirements. Additionally, investments in robotics, automated laboratory workflows, and digital solutions integrated with laboratory operations enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology organisations to maintain reproducibility of results and effectively manage their product pipelines. Thus, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will continue to dominate the marketplace.

Clinical & Diagnostic Laboratories: The segment is set to rapidly expand with a 8.1% CAGR due to a growing trend toward diagnostic workflows, rising sample volumes, the increasing use of molecular tests, and greater investment in automated diagnostic instruments. Automation improves overall laboratory quality and reduces the prevalence of human error, enables rapid turnaround times, and provides traceability in a regulated environment. Increasingly, the demand for infectious disease and genetic test development, as well as the decentralisation of laboratory services, is driving more clinical laboratories to adopt automated platforms.

Integrated/Walk-Away Automation Systems: The segment dominated the life science laboratory automation market with a 42.4% share in 2025, providing an end-to-end automated solution with minimal human intervention, enabling continuous processing of assays, plates, and samples. There are also integrated instruments, schedules, and environmental controls used in these systems, resulting in less reliance on the labor force and a more reliable operation. Labs looking to reproduce results, minimise the risk of contamination, and achieve higher operational uptime typically use Walk-Away Systems for their regular and high-throughput processes.

Cloud-Enabled Orchestration / Remote Management (SaaS): There is rapid growth in the segment expected, with an 8.2% CAGR in the coming years. A SaaS orchestration platform is a way to connect multiple instruments, show real-time analytics, and support compliance documentation. In addition to being scalable, SaaS orchestration platforms will allow smaller laboratories to use automation and provide centralised oversight of operations for larger facilities with distributed workflows.

However, this evolutionary movement is mostly driven by the U.S. Recently, a U.S.-based biotech company announced a large expansion of its AI-driven drug-design workbench, indicating how fast U.S. labs are set to be first in line to adopt new automation technologies. In May 2025, Trilobio raised USD 8 million in a seed round to scale its fully automated lab-in-a-box platform in the U.S., enabling biologists to run entire workflows reproducibly via robotics and no-code software. Additionally, leading manufacturers of automation hardware, robotics, and lab informatics have made significant investments in their infrastructure for R&D and deployment of their products. Consequently, U.S. labs serve as test beds for new automation systems, which ultimately become the standards for laboratories worldwide.

The region is expected to grow at a 9% CAGR with an increasing number of laboratories in many Asia-Pacific countries have adopted automated systems like liquid-handling robots, sample-preparation modules and fully automated workcells, to deliver the productivity, repeatability and efficiency necessary to satisfy organizations requirements for increased productivity and efficiency through a variety of factors, including increasing healthcare infrastructure investments, increasing levels of research and development in the fields of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and growing demand for diagnostic testing. The growing investment in the capacity needed to conduct research and develop diagnostic tools is fueling demand for automated lab systems, which are being deployed by both government and private entities to modernize their laboratory environments. Additionally, there is a growing demand for precision medicine, genomics, and vaccine-related testing that necessitates the use of automated laboratory technolgies to produce results at scale for multi-population genetics.

China Life Science Laboratory Automation Market Trends

China has emerged as the leading country in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of the adoption of and growth potential for laboratory automation. Through strong government support of biopharma and biotechnology innovation, the establishment and expansion of clinical and research laboratories, and the establishment of modern, streamlined regulatory processes, China leads the region in the deployment of laboratory automation technologies. China also has a vast and growing pharmaceutical industry and an enormous diagnostics market, and is developing an interest in genomics and high-throughput screening. As a result of these factors combined, China will remain the leading entry point and growth center for laboratory automation vendors in the Asia Pacific region.

Europe has significant potential for growth in its life-science laboratory automation sector. Europe has a large and established biomedical research capacity, highly organized healthcare systems, and an infrastructure of regulations focused on the accuracy, reliability, and quality of data. To support this growth trend, all European countries have invested in upgrading to new automated technologies for their academic laboratories, national reference labs, and clinical diagnostics laboratories. The growth of life-science laboratory automation in Europe is further supported by Europes strong focus on precision medicine, integrated biobanking efforts, and initiatives to utilize automated technology to enhance sustainability by minimizing waste and increasing operational efficiency. Collaboration among research institutes and industry will continue to grow, accelerating the validation and deployment of advanced life-science laboratory automation platforms across therapeutic discovery, clinical microbiology, and translational research.

Germany Life Science Laboratory Automation Market Trends

Germany is a leader in life-science laboratory automation in Europe due to its extensive engineering base, established medical technology businesses, and the high concentration of university hospitals and pharmaceutical R&D facilities. In March 2025, a German company, Covestro, announced plans to open a new automated laboratory for coatings and adhesives formulation in 2025; the lab will use robotics and AI to test tens of thousands of formulations annually. Germany has a long track record of being an early adopter of modular robotics and automated diagnostic technology; therefore, Germany has established itself as an important site for testing next-generation laboratory automation solutions.

The Middle East & Africa are becoming a potential market for lab automation as the healthcare industry moves toward modernization and diagnostic needs increase. In particular, hospitals and diagnostic companies in the Middle East are transitioning to automated processes, including automated workflows, robotic systems, and AI-based diagnostics, to enhance the speed, reliability, and efficiency of diagnostic testing. A good example of this commitment to lab automation and reducing human error was demonstrated at a hospital in Dubai, where a fully automated diagnostics lab was opened, which has automated the entire diagnostic testing process and significantly reduced the time required to provide results.

UAE Life Science Laboratory Automation Market Trends

As the leading country adopting laboratory automation in the region, the UAE (United Arab Emirates) has a considerable lead in terms of modern hospital infrastructure, a favourable regulatory environment for laboratory automation, and a willingness to invest in it. Through its large-scale investment in both digitization and precision diagnostics, the UAE is establishing itself as an early adopter and as the Regional Hub for Laboratory Modernization.

Providing automated life science laboratory solutions, Biomek automated liquid-handling workstations for high-throughput sample prep.

Provider of automated solutions for life science laboratories, Bravo automated liquid-handling platform, and BenchCel plate-management workstations.

Provides JANUS automated liquid-handling workstations for configurable sample preparation.

Global supplier of laboratory automation solutions for life sciences, clinical diagnostics, provides Freedom EVO and Fluent automated workstations for scalable liquid handling.

Automated liquid handling workstations and laboratory automation technology, Microlab STAR series automated liquid-handling platforms with VENUS software.

Atellica/Aptio integrated lab automation and total-lab automation systems.

Automation for NGS library prep and high-throughput sequencer workflows (NovaSeq).

QIAcube Connect and automatable QIAGEN kit workflows for nucleic-acid extraction.

epMotion automated liquid-handling workstations (e.g., epMotion 5075 series).