ABI Research is predicting that the consumer and enterprise sectors of the biometrics market will catch up and surpass the government sector in late 2017. In the meantime, it’s an overall rosy picture for the global biometrics market, with the researchers predicting a valuation of USD $13.8 million for this year.

Government has been the dominant market driver for a while now, and for good reason: As the researchers point out, the spectre of terrorism has compelled governments to adopt biometric technologies in their securitization efforts. We’re also starting to see in some countries the expansion of biometrics systems to encompass a range of government activities and initiatives; in India, for example, a growing national biometric citizen registry is used not just for security screening, but also to administer government services such as healthcare. But security remains the main driver worldwide, and the ABI researchers say that government spending on biometrics will increase until late 2016 or early 2017.

Meanwhile, in the private market the researchers point to “a plethora of wearables and smartphone technologies” driving growth. And indeed, as the buzz around wearable technology starts to produce tangible blockbusters like the Apple Watch, and as mCommerce takes off even inpreviously closed markets, ABI’s analysis seems spot-on. We can also expect biometrics to play an increasingly important role in securing the Internet of Things, which may well speed up the ascent of enterprise and consumer demand in the overall biometrics market.