Voting systems to hit $400m mark in 2010

‘This equates to a sales value of nearly $400m (£240.7m), 50 per cent more than last year,’ said Colin Messenger, senior consultant, Futuresource Consulting. ‘With the bulk of business coming from the education technology market – which is highly recession-resistant – we’re going to see a lot of traction for these products.

‘The US continues to lead the way, and we predict one in 12 of its classrooms will have a voting system by the end of 2009, followed by the UK, Australia and New Zealand. We’re also seeing penetration rates closely correlating with those of interactive whiteboards, but on a four-year time lag.’

There are distinct regional variations in education models, with 40 per cent of US activity focused within higher education (17+ years), compared with five per cent in the UK. However, across the board, there are similarities in corporate and government applications, which account for around 10 per cent of the marketplace.