Our New Report

WEARABLE HEALTHCARE: USD40 BILLION IN 2020

Mobile devices, smart algorithms and the existence of huge, easily accessible health databases are disrupting the health industry. Today, the global size of this market (devices, software and directly linked services) is estimated at around USD 2 billion. By the year 2020 this market is estimated to reach USD 41 billion. This equals a compounded annual growth rate of 65%. Diabetes, sleep disorders, obesity and cardiovascular diseases are the biggest growth segments in this market. These are key findings of our new report “Smart Wearable Healthcare 2014” for which Soreon Research analyzed more than 250 development projects/products in the area of smart wearable healthcare worldwide and projected market growth in ten key market segments worldwide.

Our report shows that today we are at the mere beginning of this deep transformation of the healthcare sector. New technologies are being developed by innovative medtech companies, pharma, mobile phone manufacturers, software companies, start-ups and research organizations around the world. The penetration of smart wearable healthcare technology will take years, even decades in some cases. However, the combination of enormous clinical benefits with the potential for cost savings will result in a strongly growing market. (more info on report)

2014 Ranking

TOP 3 MOST DISRUPTIVE PLAYERS

In our latest report Soreon Research has selected the 30 that will be most disruptive among more than 250 products and companies that were analyzed. The selection was based on nine criteria in the areas of innovation, market potential and execution power. Here are the Top 3:

Jawbone/Up24 (16/20 points): a user-friendly and comfortable-to-wear tracker for self-monitoring of physical activity and sleep. With its large number of clients, a multi-billion US dollar valuation and the acquisition of BodyMedia, Jawbone is well positioned to play a key role in the area of smart wearables.
Abbott Laboratories/FreeStyle Libre Flash (16/20 points): a cutting edge continuous glucose monitoring system conveniently worn for up to two weeks via an adhesive sensor. Continuous glucose monitoring helps diabetes patients observe important trends in their glucose levels rather than just infrequent snapshot insights.
Google/Smart Contact Lenses Project (15/20 points): Google’s Smart Contact Lenses Project carried out in cooperation with Novartis is a visionary but credible approach to continuously measuring glucose levels. The contact lenses, which non-invasively read glucose levels from tear fluid, could prevent hypo- and hyperglycemic events by taking around-the-clock measurements.

The top 30 providers of smart wearables come from 10 different countries. 15 of the top 30 companies are headquartered in the United States, the global center of innovation for smart healthcare wearables. Within the United States, about half of these companies are based in the Silicon Valley. Switzerland is another center of this emerging industry, with six of the analyzed companies having their headquarters there.

Strategy

HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY NEEDS TO ACT

According to Soreon Research, wearable healthcare technology will be an important growth driver for companies in this sector. There is no time to lose to take advantage of this massive opportunity. Tech behemoths like Apple and Samsung, as well as hundreds of nimble start-ups, are gearing up their efforts in smart wearable healthcare and the latest Soreon Research report stresses that this opportunity must be high on the agenda of every healthcare and medtech executive. Bystanders and laggards will be steamrollered by a wave of technological innovation as never witnessed before.

Learning from the most promising and successful projects, our analysts have developed an extensive list of recommendations for the healthcare and medtech industries in order to get the most out of the smart wearable revolution. The following five recommendations reveal the essence of our discoveries:

No time to lose. As tech behemoths like Apple and Samsung, as well as hundreds of nimble start-ups, are gearing up their efforts in smart wearable healthcare, this opportunity must be high on the agenda of every healthcare and medtech executive. Bystanders and laggards will be steamrollered by a wave of technological innovation as never witnessed before.
Focus is the key to success. A solid use case focused on a specific patient segment is the strategic key to success, rather than a “nice-to-have” product.
Get healthcare professionals on board. Hardware developers, programmers and business people speak a different language than medical doctors, nurses and health insurance experts. The integration of medical professionals at the beginning of every project is crucial.
Clinical improvement AND cost reduction. Healthcare systems are under high cost pressures. Consequently, it is not enough to just create a product that positively impacts clinical outcome. In order to be successful, a solution must also contribute to cost savings.
Ease of use. This advice sounds simple and self-evident, but too much complexity may be the single most important reason for the failure of smart wearable projects.