Professional Documents
Culture Documents
October 2014
Soreon Research Report
1st edition
CONTENTS
1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3.0
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
9
9
10
11
12
4.0
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
METHODOLOGY
SELECTION OF PATIENT GROUPS
IDENTIFICATION OF BEST PRACTICE PROFILES
BEST PRACTICE PROFILES EVALUATION PROCESS
BEST PRACTICE PROFILES
DISRUPTIVENESS RANKING
MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH
INDUSTRY DATABASE
20
20
21
22
23
24
26
26
5.0
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
27
27
28
29
30
33
36
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
13
15
16
17
18
40
40
41
42
43
47
51
54
54
55
56
57
60
63
66
66
67
68
69
73
76
79
79
79
80
81
85
88
88
89
90
91
94
98
98
99
100
101
104
107
110
110
110
111
112
115
119
122
122
122
123
124
127
203
17.0 DISCLAIMER
IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMERS
204
204
131
131
132
137
140
144
146
149
152
The focus of healthcare will shift from disease treatment to prevention, as the
convenient and continuous monitoring of the human body will detect early warning
signs.
Future medical care will be highly personalized, compared to the one size fits
all approach we are seeing today.
New players will change industry dynamics. Software and hardware companies
are playing an increasing role in the medical field, thereby challenging the
established relationship among patients, doctors and hospitals.
Today, we are at the mere beginning of this deep transformation of the healthcare sector.
Even as we write this report, new technologies are being developed by hundreds of startups and established medtech companies. However, heavy regulation of the healthcare
industry and the inherent conservatism of many healthcare professionals will somewhat
hinder the adoption of these new technologies. The penetration of smart wearable
healthcare technology will take years, even decades in some cases. However, the ubiquity
of mobile devices and networks even in the remotest areas of the world and consumers
growing savviness about mobile technology are pushing the adoption of these
technological innovations.
Smart wearable healthcare market growing exponentially to more than USD 40 billion
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. The
main driver of growth is the rapidly increasing rate of these medical conditions around
the world, especially in emerging markets; as the population is aging, people are reaching
higher income levels and changing their diets and physical activities accordingly. A second
growth driver is the availability of mobile technology itself, which is able to measure,
conveniently and cheaply, many of the critical variables that are directly associated with
such lifestyle-related conditions as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Top 30 companies that are developing the most disruptive wearable healthcare
technology
Our analysts at Soreon Research cast their nets widely and analyzed more than 200
development projects/products in the area of smart wearable healthcare worldwide. Thirty
companies were selected as having developed the most revolutionizing and gamechanging technologies. Based on nine criteria in the areas of innovation power, market
potential and enabling factors like funding and team expertise, our analysts have ranked
these companies with regard to their disruptiveness potential.
Worldwide the three most disruptive smart healthcare companies/solutions are:
Rank 1 (shared): Jawbone / Up24 (16 points out of a maximum of 25): ( more in full
report)
Rank 3: Google/Smart Contact Lens Project (15 points): ( more in full report)
The top 30 providers of smart wearables come from 10 different countries. ( more in full
report)
15
14
14
13
13
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
9
9
9
9
8
8
8
6
11.0
2
2
2
3
2
2
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
2
1
3
1
1.9
0
2
1
0
0
2
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
0
0.8
Ease of market
penetration
(2 p.)
...
16
16
Market growth
(2 p.)
4
4
6
6
6
6
10
10
10
13
13
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
22
22
22
22
22
27
27
27
30
UP24
FreeStyle
Libre Flash
Diabetes
Contact Lens
...
AVERAGE
Market
potential (3 p.)
Jawbone
Abbott
Laboratories
Google
Market Potential
Team
(2 p.)
Financing
(2 p.)
1
1
Enablers
Decrease of cost
(2 p.)
Protection from
competition
(2 p.)
Innovation
Degree of
implementation
(2 p.)
Best
Practice
Product
Novelty,
disruptive
potential of idea
(3 p.)
Best
Practice
Company
Total
(20 p.)
Rank
2014
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
2
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
0.7
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
0
2
1
1
1
1
1.3
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
2
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
1.5
2
1
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1.6
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
0
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
0.9
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
2
0
0
0
2
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1.1
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
0
0
2
1
1
1
2
2
0
0
0
2
0
1
0
0
1.2
3.2
Wearable technologies in medicine are nothing new: eyeglasses were invented in the 13th
century, and millions of people around the world are wearing hearing aids. Smart
wearables build on these technologies. However, unlike conventional wearables, many of
them include physiological sensors and are connected to the Internet. This
connection opens up a wide variety of use cases, based on large databases and almost
unlimited processing power.
While smart wearables are hardware-based, they include a software-based back-end. In
fact, this is where the value is created. Connection between the device and the back-end
is frequently made via mobile phones. In some cases, smart wearables access the Internet
directly via mobile phone or Wi-Fi technology, while in other cases they require a
dedicated device for data upload.
( more in full report)
3.3
Smart wearables have four key benefits for patients, healthcare professionals and the wider
health system:
( more in full report)
3.4
The annual market volume for smart wearables will grow from USD 2 billion in 2014 to
USD 41 billion in 2020 (compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 65%).
( more in full report)
3.5
There are various places on the body where smart wearables can be placed:
( more in full report)
3.6
The top 30 providers of smart wearables with the highest potential for innovation were
selected as best practice profiles by our analyst team (see chapter 4.2) and come from 10
different countries.
( more in full report)
3.7
Various factors will contribute to the future success of smart wearables in the healthcare
space:
( more in full report)
3.8
KEY CHALLENGES
Despite the outlined future growth potential of smart wearables, there are considerable
challenges to overcome:
( more in full report)
3.9
Soreon Research has analyzed more than 200 development projects in the field of wearable
technologies, both in the start-up scene as well as with big corporates. As tech giants 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 executive. Bystanders and laggards will be steamrolled by a wave of
technological innovation as never witnessed before. The following list of
recommendations provides the essence of our learnings with regard to making smart
wearables a success:
( more in full report)
4.0 METHODOLOGY
4.1
This study analyzes the development and evolution of smart wearable technology in
healthcare for ten patient groups. The ten selected patient groups represent the largest
such groups in the context of smart wearable healthcare systems.
Each patient group is discussed separately in this report, which presents a working
definition, market overview, market size 2014-2020, growth factors and three best practice
profiles for each patient group. The patient groups included in this report are:
Diabetes
Sleep disorder
Obesity
Cardiovascular disease
In-hospital monitoring
Asthma
Alzheimers
Epilepsy
Others
In-hospital monitoring is not a medical condition in itself but rather a major field in
healthcare in terms of cost factor and the excellent opportunity for smart wearables to be
a game changer. To represent the breadth of available solutions, one group was labelled
Others- where we included all solutions that do not fall within the other segments.
Within every patient group our analysts researched the most relevant use cases. Use cases
are defined as possible applications of smart wearables within a patient group. Use cases
can be monitoring, diagnosing or treating a medical condition with a smart wearable.
Examples are detection of asthma through acoustical monitoring of wheeze (one of the
major symptoms of an asthma attack), where the monitoring is the use case and wheeze
is the proxy for the asthma attack.
The majority of applications fall in the category of monitoring, followed by diagnosing and
treatment as the least represented group. In some cases one product may cover more than
one use case, for example Pancreum, a wearable artificial pancreas (see chapter 7.5) that
integrates both a sensor for monitoring blood glucose levels and an insulin pump for the
treatment of low level blood glucose.
In the best practice profiles this report presents example products for the different
identified use cases.
4.2
Our main focus in the identification of best practice profiles is threefold: giving an
overview of the available applications on the market, identifying the most innovative
players in the industry and providing a truly global picture of vendors of smart wearable
tech in healthcare. We have applied the following definition criteria for smart wearables:
Wearable device: the device should be wearable on the body, in terms of size and
supportive material. Small portable devices may be included if they can be worn in a
pocket near the body. The device is therefore neither bulky nor implanted into the
patients body.
Continuity of wearing: the device can be used over a longer period of time, for
continuous measurements. Singular applications, such as taking a single sample, are
not included.
Medical purpose rather than lifestyle: the product is for a clear medical purpose
rather than for wellness or fitness needs.
Connectivity: the device is connected to the Internet, cloud or software that enables
the analysis of measurement data in real time or once connected to the receiver device.
4.3
Once the best practice profiles were selected, they were integrated into a profile and
ranked against a set of criteria. The evaluation of the wearable healthcare solutions chosen
for inclusion in this report took place in August and September 2014.
Each best practice profile was analyzed independently by two analysts, and the analysis
and evaluation were repeated after an interval of six weeks. Given the quantity of
information that had to be analyzed, the possibility of overlooking some information in
individual cases cannot be ruled out.
The initial information gathering phase of our research included data sources like the
company website and reports, user guides as well as secondary data such as newspaper
reports, specialist publications and professional reviews of wearable healthcare
technology. Our analysts have reviewed all written material as well as images and video
files, and last but not least clinical studies that were publicly accessible. The bulk of the
information gathered was provided by the company or specific product websites.
Marketing materials and product videos were subjected to careful analysis to elicit as
much hard data about the solutions as possible.
All the companies in this report were provided with a questionnaire one month in advance
of the publication of the report in order to further clarify all aspects of their products. The
questionnaire is accessible in the data appendix of this report.
4.4
Company profile: basic data such as founding year and headquarters and a brief
descriptive company profile
Key product information: price, use case and required regulatory approval as well as
unique selling proposition
Use case: table listing criteria connected to use case and user experience
Review: discussion of the main benefits and market position of the product
4.5
DISRUPTIVENESS RANKING
The disruptiveness ranking aims to rate all best practice profiles in three core parameters:
innovation, enablers and market potential. All best practice profiles were tested against
nine criteria in these core parameters. They could achieve up to a maximum of 20 points.
Whether a best practice profile achieved a higher or a lower score for one criterion
depended on the degree to which it fulfilled the criterion as described. For each criterion
a description of the different valuation and its meaning are available.
In the final category of the ranking criteria, our analysts estimated the market potential of
each best practice product. Market potential was estimated based on the number of
patients in a specific area, multiplied by the annual cost of a suitable smart wearable and
available income/number of people who can potentially afford it.
INNOVATION
Novelty/disruptive potential of
idea
Degree of implementation
Decrease of cost
ENABLERS
Team
Financing
Market potential
Market growth
MARKET
4.6
For each patient group our analysts estimated the potential size of the market for the
period 2014-2020. The starting point is an in-depth study of todays market size for each
specific patient group. Based on this, our analysts calculated projections on growth and
market development. This was done considering the specific patient group, evolution of
available technologies, reimbursement in key markets and other relevant input factors
(see appendix Market Sizing Model, Excel spreadsheet).
4.7
INDUSTRY DATABASE
The initial long-list of companies from which our analysts chose the best practice profiles
integrates a large number of smart wearable manufacturers, research projects and
vendors. The complete list with company headquarters, description of the core business,
website and patient group has been integrated into the industry database. This database
concludes the report and can be found in the last chapter of this paper. Additionally, the
database is accessible in an Industry database file that is included as a data appendix for
this report.
( more in full report)
16.0
RESEARCH TEAM
Koenig, Pascal
- Research Director Pascal is responsible for medtech industry insights and
market sizing. He has more than ten years of experience in
the field of wearable health technologies. In the past, he
built up a company offering a wrist-based emergency
system, a telemetry company, and a research company in
the field of smartwatches. Before focusing on wearable
technologies, he worked as a product manager at medtech
company Synthes (now part of Johnson&Johnson) and as a
business consultant at McKinsey. Pascal has studied at the
University of St. Gallen / Switzerland and Columbia
Business School in New York.
Elsler, Laura
Analyst Laura has researched the industry landscape of wearable
health technology. She contributes to this report with
analytical experience and knowledge of disruptive
technologies. Generally her research focus lies on the
disruptive impact of wearable technologies in the health
sector. She specializes in wearable technologies, eHealth
and medtech industry developments. Prior to this, she
worked in research for a financial research company, a nonprofit organisation in Asia and in communication strategy
development for a German accountancy office. She holds a
B.A. in Asian Studies and Management from University of
Applied Science Konstanz (Germany).
Binder, Steffen
- Research Director Steffen has provided strategic and methodological guidance
throughout this report. He contributed with knowledge
about new and disruptive technologies for the consumer
markets. In his daily work he is responsible for creating and
developing powerful concepts, methodologies and relevant
content to help our clients navigate a rapidly changing
digital environment in the health care sector. Prior to this,
Steffen was Managing Director of Forrester Germany,
Switzerland and Austria, responsible for leading all analyst
teams and setting the research agenda with a focus on the
impact of disruptive technologies on various industry
sectors.
17.0
DISCLAIMER
Disclaimers
There are no warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or results
obtained from any information set forth in this report. MyPrivateBanking GmbH will not
be liable to you or anyone else for any loss or injury resulting directly or indirectly from
the use of the information contained in this report, caused in whole or in part by its
negligence in compiling, interpreting, reporting or delivering the content in this report.
Conflict of Interest
Research Director Pascal Koenig has been involded in establishing and building up
Limmex AG. The company is featured as best practice case study in this report. To ensure
the unbiased and objective evaluation of the product and the company, an independent
analyst has been responsible for profile and benchmarking of Limmex.
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