Total revenues from the smart windows market are expected to reach $1.8 billion by 2021, rising to $8 billion by 2025, according to a recent report from n-tech Research. According to the report, much of the value added available to smart windows suppliers will flow from control systems, interfaces and related electronics. Smart windows are expected to play a role in the spread of Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems, and this development reportedly is creating opportunities for smart windows firms.

In the past, the benefits of smart windows were defined almost exclusively in terms of energy efficiency. The marketing story around smart windows is now broadening to include comfort, health and daylighting issues. Smart windows are expected to play a role in the construction, automotive and aerospace sectors.

Electrochromic (EC) technology will account for 75% of revenues in 2021, more than twice the share that it has in 2016. The advent of EC film will enable a smart windows retrofit market to emerge for the first time, as well as novel EC materials being used. EC technology is also where the bulk of investment dollars are. Other active smart windows materials platforms, such as polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) and suspended particle devices (SPDs), are expected to respond with new marketing and R&D efforts to broaden the market for these technologies. SPD, while smaller than EC technology, is expected to reach around $280 million by 2021. 

Smart windows are penetrating the construction market at a brisk rate and will contribute more than $1.3 billion in revenues by 2021, compared with just $105 million in 2016. Aerospace applications for smart windows are also attracting growing attention from both EC and SPD technology providers, but will never be much more than a niche market. The automotive market for smart windows is only just beginning to take off, and its success will depend to some extent on whether current efforts by the EC firms in the automotive space are successful. 

Producers of passive smart windows will also be looking for new markets, since they cannot be easily integrated into the IoT environment. n-tech anticipates that revenues from passive windows will struggle to reach $100 million in revenue in 2021. 

For more information, visit www.ntechresearch.com.