By now, the readers of Connessioni have learnt the acronym IOTA, Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis, the study that AVIXA produces every year for the sector. The last one was published close to the holiday period, and brought a lot of good news, even if most was only half valid for the EMEA area. A glass half full for the many who will inaugurate the new working year on 29 August.
The study, which examines the sector from a global perspective, also offering regional subdivisions and vertical markets, opens with the positive numbers of global growth: the easing of pandemic restrictions has given new life to events, shows, travels, which have become driving forces, without however affecting the most stable areas of growth, namely PA, energy and transport. The result is that globally the market in 2022 will exceed the peak of 2019, and will grow from $ 30.7 billion in 2022 to $ 47.2 billion (9% CAGR) in 2027.
As the statement reads: “As consumers shift their spending away from home and inflationary pressures take over, residential AV spending is set to decline. This allows transport to move upward, in line with the shift in spending to travel. While the recovery of the pandemic drives high growth in meeting places, media and hospitality, others are benefiting from more stable investments. These include public administration, energy and transport.”
However, these trends seem to touch the EMEA only partially: the APAC region promises to grow by resuming the expansion begun in previous periods, and the Americas regain altitude thanks to events and collaboration, remaining among other things the region “in which services capture most of the revenues (US $ 2.1 billion in 2022)” with control systems for information and content management. The EMEA, on the other hand, is facing the repercussions of the war in Ukraine, which is destabilising the economies of the entire region in relation to the redesigning of the balance in the energy and food supply sectors. With a look at our country, political instability certainly does not help, resulting in the elections of 25 September, and the well-known problems of managing labour, which is extremely onerous from all points of view, both economically and administratively. Finally, the increase in interest rates, a tool that governments generally choose to mitigate inflation, is fuelling fears of a recession, as a result of a reduction in demand.
In first place among the problems of our sector, this time shared with the rest of the world, is the shortage of electronic material, which translates into the now well-known shortage that makes it difficult for suppliers to keep up, after having already been hit by shortages and logistical problems in the last two years. A problem that, according to forecasts, is not destined to be solved until 2023 and for some, even 2024: the antidotes could lie in countering the monopoly of Asian production by bringing that of “evolved” chips back to the EU, also increasing the total availability for a market that demand will double in 2030 (source: Sole 24 ore); which presupposes a specific policy and medium and long-term investments.
But in Italy we are still struggling with the political elections.
