This JALA feature story reports the results of two surveys conducted by the Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA) to evaluate the state of industrial laboratory automation. The purpose was to gain more insight into the results of the 2006 ALA survey by posing more detailed questions based on the 2006 responses. The 2008 survey polled 43 carefully selected ALA members whose organizations use laboratory automation. These organizations represented the biotech, pharmaceutical, agricultural science, consumer goods, materials and formulation, research institute, and government business sectors. The 2008 survey also polled 12 leading laboratory automation technology providers. Questions were designed to compare the trends, needs, and priorities of the user and provider communities.
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