IDTechEx is launching the Wearable Technology LIVE! event on 19-20 November 2014 in Santa Clara, California. This is an international tradeshow and conference focused on wearable technologies with a particular emphasis on the critical enabling technologies that will shape the future of wearable devices. IDTechEx  forecasts that the wearable technologies market, as defined by its analysts, will grow to $70 billion in 2024.

 

Wearable Technology LIVE! is co-located alongside a series of highly-relevant and synergic tradeshows and conferences on Printed Electronics, Energy Harvesting and Storage, and the Internet of Things. The speakers, attendees and exhibitors will all have access to all co-located events.

 

 

Dr Khasha Ghaffarzadeh, the Head of Consulting at IDTechEx, says that "this co-location makes every sense as all these technologies are all parts of the same evolving ecosystem that will enable the future of wearable technologies. They all fit tightly together and are indeed all parts of the same puzzle that our event will help piece together."

 

Each of these events is a leading business-orientated event in its own right, attracting key players across the value chain from investors and end users to component and material suppliers. These well-established events attract in excess of 2,500 attendees and 200 exhibitors.

 

Wearable Technology LIVE! itself will have a two-day programme consisting of over 50 speakers that cover (a) the end user view from a variety of sectors such as health & fitness, sportswear, textiles and consumer electronic industries; (b) enabling technologies such as low-power electronics, wireless power transfer, thin and flexible energy storage, energy harvesting, smart textiles, and flexible and/or stretchable electronics; and (c) gadget makers showcasing their latest exciting product development work.

 

Wearable technology is the emerging battleground for electronic devices. It will create a stage upon which giants from the electronics, software, fashion, healthcare, military, and textiles will clash horns. It is a broad field that can include devices located in, on or near the human or animal body. It is also an industry that can appear in many shapes and forms such as in glasses, headgear, wristwear, footwear, skin patches, implants and e-textiles etc. Wearable Technology LIVE! Will bring together players from all the different aspects of the field of wearable technologies.

 

Wearable devices also come in a variety of forms aimed at an array of purposes and customers. In the short term, wearable devices will be existing rigid electronic devices re-designed to be worn by users. These devices will evolve to become increasingly thinner and more flexible in the medium term, while they will transform to merge into textiles to become truly stretchable, conformal and wearable in the longer term. This transformation in form from rigid to flexible to textile will necessitate a paradigm shift in the underlying technologies. It will also alter the business landscape and change the supply chain. This process is already in motion and Wearable Technology LIVE! will cover the key technology aspects of this transition.