Market Trends of North America Urban Security Screening Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the North America Urban Security Screening Market according to our research experts:
Government Buildings to be the Fastest Growing End-user
- The government significantly contributes to x-ray machines in government buildings. Government agencies are increasingly adopting digital imaging to enhance productivity and provide greater access to certain information types. The increasing spending on adopting X-ray machines is expected to boost the market's growth.
- Security concerns are a significant issue. Governments and private enterprises invest considerable amounts of money owing to growing terrorist activity in the region. Security checks and surveillance are an area of concern in government buildings like courthouses, embassy houses, parliament houses, government banks, libraries, etc., and other security-critical places with a potential risk of terrorist attacks.
- The Canadian government launched many New Federal Services Divisions focused on addressing the construction needs of the public sector, which drives the market's growth. For instance, in February 2022, Govan Brown, one of Canada's top 40 contractors, announced a new division for addressing the construction needs of the public sector and enhancing the value of Canada's national assets, including government property.
- According to the US Census Bureau, the value of federal public construction in the United States declined by over USD 4 billion in 2021.
- The companies in the market are incorporating advanced features in their products to serve a wide range of customers and generate revenue from them. For instance, in October 2021, VOTI Detection Inc., a Canadian technology company that develops advanced X-ray security systems based on 3D perspective technology, was awarded a three-year contract from Global Affairs Canada to supply x-ray scanning systems to Canadian embassy locations worldwide.
- The three-year contract included an initial order for 20 scanning systems to be delivered by January 2022. Global Affairs Canada was mandated to provide x-ray machines for threat screening at Global Affairs buildings in Canada and Canadian embassies worldwide.
United States is Expected to Hold a Major Market Share
- The current macro trends in firearms ownership, mass shootings, and pandemic awareness drive the region's demand for urban security screening equipment.
- Security is a priority for healthcare leaders in the United States. However, in the wake of mass shootings, several hospitals realized gaps in their safety strategies that must be addressed. According to EvolvTechnologies, 444 million privately-owned guns are in circulation in the United States. According to the Gun Violence Archive, in 2021, there were 693 mass shootings in the United States, a record in a year when most people were not free to gather. In June 2022, a mass shooting at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, hospital left four people dead, and a second hospital shooting occurred on the same day in Dayton, Ohio, causing prominent damage.
- To mitigate such events, in August 2022, Northwell Health implemented advanced comprehensive detection systems to screen for weapons and contraband at the entrances of Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, and Lenox Health Greenwich Village in Manhattan as an effort to bring the technology to all hospitals in the health system.
- Correctional facilities in the United States are struggling to stem the flow of drugs into prisons and jails, particularly papers soaked with drugs and other harmful substances. When dried, drug-laced papers can be undetectable to humans, making the papers an ideal substrate for smuggling.
- Postal mail is a top way of smuggling illicit drugs and contraband into correctional facilities. The influx augmented the exposure risk for mail screeners and correctional officers to harmful substances and resulted in increased inmate overdoses and deaths. To combat this issue, in August 2022, RaySecur, a prominent provider of desktop T-ray security imaging scanners, announced an expansion of its T-Suite Image Processing Platform for detecting papers laced with illicit drugs. According to CBP, in 2022, till October, a total of 655,780 lbs of the drug got seized in the United States, further boosting the usage of x-ray screening products in the market.