The global market for Nanotechnology which is expected decline by -17.3% in the year 2020 will recover to reach a projected US$78.2 billion by the year 2027, trailing a post COVID-19 CAGR of 9.2% over the analysis period 2020 to 2027. As a versatile technology with widespread applications in a wide range of end-use sectors, nanotechnology is currently facing a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the globe. With the world fighting its biggest public health crisis in history, nanotechnology healthcare applications are storming into the spotlight led by the focus on nano intervention in terms of designing effective ways to identify, diagnose, treat and eliminate the spread of COVID-19 infections. Nanotechnology is beginning to play a crucial role in the global vaccine development strategy as scientists race to develop a safe vaccine to bring this pandemic to an end. Their role as nanocarriers has potential to design risk-free and effective immunization strategies. In addition to vaccine development, research communities worldwide are racing to leverage the value of the technology in developing COVID-19 disinfection strategies, diagnostics, therapeutics, drugs, and treatment. COVID-19 has renewed the focus on hygiene, sanitation & infection control in hospitals & healthcare centers. With routine healthcare services now gradually opening up, the need for maintaining appropriate disinfection measures & adhering to preventive protocols is now greater. As infections spiral worldwide, hospitals are now delivering both COVID & non-COVID care raising the risk of cross-infections among the patient population.

The pandemic is emerging into an opportunity for anti-microbial nanocoatings. Control of microbial growth and contamination is both vital and critical in every aspect of life and in every environment, ranging from food and beverage, dairy processing, pharmaceuticals, electronics, construction industry to healthcare. Microbes and germs are a daily threat, and bacterial fouling is an undesirable, preventable yet an often-occurring phenomenon that plagues everybody and everything under the sun. Examples include antibiotic resistant infections in hospitals, infections of biomedical implants, degradation of protective coatings of houses, buildings, fouling of food products, loss of efficacy of pharmaceutical formulations, and many more. The latest and efficient in the long line of defenses against the bugs are anti-microbial coatings. The fear psychosis on account of the frequent outbreak of deadly diseases will continue to play a major role in driving demand for antimicrobial products in a range of application areas including HVAC, food processing and packaging, medical devices, hospitality, and household applications. This growing demand for anti-microbial coatings spells tremendous opportunities for nano-enabled anti-microbial coatings. This is because nano-particles contained in the coating is expected to offer greater durability than the regular anti-bacterial paints. Also, the world has entered into an era of pandemics which will end only when the environment is prioritized & focus redoubled on nanotechnology for sustainable development. Environmental nanotechnology will get bigger in the post pandemic world. The rising number of COVID-19 cases and the increasing desperation of the healthcare system to find effective ways and means to manage the pandemic bodes well for new investments in nanotechnology for medicine and healthcare. As countries open up their choking economies, the second wave of infections will rising sharply in the coming months. Countries like India are already witnessing massive spikes in infections as they emerge from lockdowns.

Industrial and commercial applications, on the other hand, which are sensitive to economic health and climate are being impacted severely. Aviation, transportation, hotel, and tourism industry are collapsing. The energy sector is feeling the painful blow of drastic declines in energy consumption as a result of shuttered factories, offices and commercial establishments. With the Wuhan virus spreading to over 140 countries worldwide, virtually every country's economy is severely disrupted as governments firefight to contain the virus. Governments are beefing up emergency budgets for healthcare, sanitation and social security to fight the pandemic. The shutdown has disrupted economic activities in a manner hitherto unimagined and the human cost of the pandemic is continuing to grow and is expected to deal an unprecedented blow to economies worldwide. As businesses struggle to keep afloat, job cuts and bankruptcies are expected to rise sending millions into unemployment. Unemployment rates are climbing to worrisome levels in both developed and developing economies alike. In the United States, the worst hit by the pandemic, the devastation wreaked on the country's economy can be put into perspective by the fact that currently over 50% of the country's population is now unemployed. Over 33 million Americans are unemployed and the share of population employed dropped sharply from a recent high of 62% in January 65.7% in July 2020. With the labor market in doldrums, consumer spending is plummeting. The loss in consumer confidence and erosion of household wealth and discretionary spending will impact virtually every industry and business worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has therefore pushed consumers to conserve cash. With unemployment rates rising amid the virus induced economic crisis, consumers are cutting spending budgets. Social outlook against this background remains grim with households expected witness erosion in wealth. Personal financial outlook, community, economy, job security confidence, purchasing and investment confidence are all tumbling as the human and economic cost of the global pandemic rises. For the electronics & semiconductor industry and applications for nanotechnology in this sector, this brings grim news of falling sales and revenues as consumers hold back on discretionary spending. With virtually all industrial end-use sectors now caught in the financial storm raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, market prospects for nanotechnology in these application areas is expected to remain bleak for the full-year 2020.