LONDON – Global industrial/medical electronics revenues will grow 11% to $560 billion in 2010, a research firm said today.

As the effects of the global credit crunch and recession pass, revenue growth will return to the long-term historical average of between 5% and 8% per year, according to Semicast’s preliminary findings.

The firm forecasts industrial/medical electronics revenues to grow to $850 billion in 2015.

The industrial transport sector, including construction equipment, materials handling and agricultural machinery, showed the largest revenue decline and steepest percentage fall in 2009; revenues in the industrial transport sector are forecast not to return to 2008 levels until 2012.

Similarly, factory automation revenues suffered a significant decline in 2009, although this was largely the result of a substantial fall in the value of sales of semiconductor manufacturing and test equipment, says Semicast. Revenues in the factory automation sector are forecast to return to 2008 levels next year.

Other traditional markets fared better in 2009, with the revenue loss for the test and measurement and lighting/building automation/HVAC sectors estimated at less than 3%, while revenues for chip cards and payment processing systems increased moderately.

Revenues for the medical imaging and diagnostics sector rose in 2009 and are forecast to grow steadily through 2015. Governments in many developed areas, most notably the US, Japan and the EU, continue to face social implications of a steadily aging population. As a result, ongoing government spending on national healthcare programs, particularly in areas such as increased screening, implementation of implantable electronics and greater use of tele-health services, are certain to grow, the firm said.

Renewable energy is also identified as a high growth application. Many of the most developed, and most polluting, countries have announced plans or legislation to decrease dependency on energy production using fossil fuels, with a corresponding increase in production from renewable sources such as solar (photovoltaic) and wind.