Wearable Technology

Thalmic labs are a Canadian startup that makes the Myo armband. It is worn on the forearm and enables a variety of gesture control functions using EMG sensing and an accelerometer.

Samsara S.r.l. is a holding group which controls several brands around luxury textiles. Their Dreamlux brand involves a series of products and projects around the integration of fiber optic lighting in textiles.

Quell utilizes NeuroMetrix's proprietary non-invasive neurostimulation technology to provide relief from chronic pain, such as due to diabetes, sciatica, fibromyalgia, and degenerative knee conditions.

Wireless Thermometer in the Form of a Soft, Comfortable Patch Continuously Monitors Body Temperature, Sends Temperature Alerts to Mobile Devices; FDA 510(K) Pending.

The Sproutling Baby Monitor has been named a 2015 CES Innovation Awards Best of Innovation Honoree in the Wearable Technologies product category.

Stretchsense makes stretch and pressure sensors intended for use in measuring human body motion. They are a startup that spun out of the Auckland Bioengineering institute in 2012.

In 2025 over $25 billion will be spent on formulations and intermediate materials for wearable technology, as forecast by analysts IDTechEx in the brand new report Wearable Technology Materials 2015-2025.

IDTechEx interview Alfred Poore (Health Tech Insider) Dan Rosenbaum (Wearable Tech Insider) at Wearable Technology LIVE! in November 2014, hosted by IDTechEx.

Vivalnk started selling a new product in 2014. They make a wearable skin patch that use NFC pairing to unlock a smartphone. They call it the eSkin Tatoo. Vivalnk is now developing new functionalities for their eSkin Tatoo, including temperature sensing.

In 2014, attention was focussed almost entirely on wearable technology WT for humans rather than the market less than one tenth of the size for wearable technology for animals. There was very rapid growth in manufacturers but there were no major blockbusters and products, strongest focus being on internet connected devices. Wild enthusiasm was rarely matched by achievement but there is substance here for the future. Unlike wearable technology, it is quite difficult to find the genuinely major new business in the IoT firmament. Everyone is claiming to be central to it to jump on the bandwagon, including Bluetooth, ZigBee, NFC and RFID proponents. The Internet of People which consists of web-connected tablets, laptops, phones and wearables has often been conflated with it though IoP has completely different maturity, technology, application and challenges.

Medtronic are one of the largest medical device manufacturers in the world. Their operational headquarters is in Minnesota, with their corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland following a high profile merger with Covidien plc. This merger moved the company to be the second largest medical device manufacturer at the time, just behind Johnson & Johnson. They manufacture a very broad range of components and devices for medical use.

The development of an attachable Single-Lens Display Module that can turn eyewear of varying designs into smart devices.

Teiimo are a small but experienced e-textile company based in Germany. They have recently completed demonstrators for biometric sports apparel which they demonstrated at the IDTechEx Show in Berlin.

The progress of virtual reality headsets.

IDTechEx report from the Protein event.

IDTechEx report from a recent event on Wearable Technology in Fashion

BeBop sensors spun out from KMI in 2014. They provide flexible, smart textile sensors for OEMs, mainly based around measuring pressure, strain or torsion. They use print sensors onto fabrics using stretchable inks, and have excellent form factor.

Johnson & Johnson Innovations are a technology scouting, analysis and acquisitions arm of Johnson & Johnson. They have 4 innovation centres in the world; two in the USA (West & East Coast), in London and in Shanghai. Their role is to identify current research in their fields of interest, and then help to develop it towards commercial applications. This discussion is centered around wearable technologies.

DuPont Microcircuit Materials has introduced a suite of stretchable electronic ink materials for use in smart clothing applications and other wearable electronics.

Runtastic GmbH produce apps, products and services for fitness and exercise tracking. Alongside a suite of niche hardware, the Runtastic Orbit is a waterproof fitness tracker wristband for general fitness and sleep monitoring. They also produce a suite of 18 mobile apps for fitness which have been downloaded 95 million times.