The Information Network has compiled a list of growth markets for 2009. Here are the markets, which could buck the downturn trend:

Solar panels

''The solar panel market will reach only 7.1 GWatts in 2009, equivalent to a global growth rate of 26 percent, down from a 48 percent growth in 2008,'' according to the firm. ''Panel prices will likely fall between 20-to-30 percent in 2009 as global supply of polysilicon doubles.''

Hard-disk drives

''The HDD market will grow 12.5 percent in 2008 to 567 million units, and we project the shipments to reach 618 million units in 2009, a growth of 9 percent,'' according to the firm. ''Competition is coming from solid state drives (SSDs) such as flash for small form factor products such as iPods and at the enterprise level for 2.5 inch drives. In 2009, we will see pilot lines for Discrete Track Recording (DTR) technology.''

Nanomaterials

''Nanomaterials consumption for electronics applications will grow 40 percent in 2009. Nanomaterials utilization in semiconductor applications will have a 62.6 percent share of the $800 million market in 2009, primarily because of utilization of designer molecules for DUV photoresists and for slurries for chemical mechanical planarization,'' according to the research firm.

LCDs

''Demand for large-sized LCDs in 2008 will be 423 million panels up 16 percent from 2007. The market will grow another 15 percent in 2009. LCDs for notebook computers will reach 199 million units while LCDs for TVs will hit 114 million units,'' it said.

MEMS

''However, growth is not across all sectors. One of the largest is the automobile sector. The $1.4 billion market will be flat in 2008 and down about 10 percent in 2009. The consumer sector is another area impacted by the recession and downturn in consumer confidence. The sector will grow only 5 percent in 2008 to $3.3 billion and another 9 percent in 2009,'' it added.