Market Industry Reports (MIR) has published a new report titled “Wearable Medical Devices Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2019–2030.” According to the report, the wearable medical devices market is estimated to be over US$ 12.5 billion in 2019. It is anticipated to grow at a ~22% CAGR from 2019 to 2030.

Read more: Global Medical Wearables Market Size to Reach US $85.6 Billion by 2027: Polaris Market Research

The growth of the wearable medical devices market can be attributed to several factors such as technological advancements, innovations in the field of healthcare, and the rising adoption of smartphones among others. Moreover, growing consciousness regarding benefits associated with a healthy lifestyle has been critical in contributing to the wide-scale adoption of wearable medical devices, worldwide. A sample copy of Wearable Medical Devices Market is available at: https://www.marketindustryreports.com/pdf/249

Key players in the medical device market, according to Market Industry Reports are:

• Fitbit
• Koninklijke
• Philips N.V.
• Omron Healthcare
• Drägerwerk AG & Co.
• KGaA,
• Polar Electro
• VitalConnect
• World Global Network
• Garmin Ltd.
• Xiaomi and ten3T Healthcare

The rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases coupled with the rising geriatric population is fueling the demand for wearable medical devices market. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the U.S., approximately 18.2 million adults aged above 20 years suffer from Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).

Technological advancements in the sector of wearable medical devices have been significant in encouraging manufacturers to explore and develop advanced devices with superior functionalities. Moreover, Many devices have been introduced in the market by key players to help individuals track their health and manage diverse conditions. For instance, in January 2019, Omron Healthcare, Inc., a global leader in personal heart health and wellness technology launched HeartGuide, a wearable blood pressure monitoring system. The company has also received the 510K FDA clearance for the same.

The Wearable Medical Devices Market is segmented on the basis of Product, Modality, Cancer Type, End-Users and region.

By Type:

Smart Watches, Activity Monitors, Smart Clothing, Smart Patches

Distribution Channel:

Online Channel, Pharmacies and, Hypermarket

Device Type:

Diagnostic & Monitoring Devices and Therapeutic Devices

Application:

Sports & Fitness, Remote, Patient Monitoring and, Home Healthcare

Research Approach:

As a standard protocol at MIR, all research assignments go through the following rigorous processes.

• Secondary Research
• Primary Research
• Market Size Estimation & Forecasting
• Data Validation & Triangulation
• Report Generation

Read more: Diagnostic Wearable Medical Devices Market Anticipated to Grow Substantially Through 2025

Market Industry Reports is a global leader in market measurement & advisory services, Market Industry Reports is at the forefront of innovation to address the worldwide industry trends and opportunities. We identified the caliber of market dynamics & hence we excel in the areas of innovation and optimization, integrity, curiosity, customer and brand experience, and strategic business intelligence through our research.

Most machine learning algorithms can’t learn from experiences beyond initial training. Now, MIT researchers have developed a type of neural network that learns on the job, not just during its training phase. These flexible algorithms, dubbed “liquid” networks, change their underlying equations to continuously adapt to new data inputs. This liquid neural network has a kind of built-in “neuroplasticity.” That is, as it goes about its work—say, in the future, maybe driving a car or directing a robot—it can learn from experience and adjust its connections on the fly.

Read more: MIT Researchers Develop Skin-Like Device That Can Help ALS Patients Communicate

“This is a way forward for the future of robot control, natural language processing, video processing — any form of time series data processing,” says Ramin Hasani, the study’s lead author. “The potential is really significant.”

Hasani said the system is inspired by a tiny worm the C. elegans, which has 302 neurons in its nervous system yet it can generate unexpectedly complex dynamics.

The research will be presented at February’s AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. In addition to Hasani, a postdoc in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), MIT co-authors include Daniela Rus, CSAIL director and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and PhD student Alexander Amini. Other co-authors include Mathias Lechner of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and Radu Grosu of the Vienna University of Technology, reports MIT News.

“The real world is all about sequences. Even our perception — you’re not perceiving images, you’re perceiving sequences of images,” Hasani says. “So, time series data actually create our reality.”

He points to video processing, financial data, and medical diagnostic applications as examples of time series that are central to society. The vicissitudes of these ever-changing data streams can be unpredictable. Yet analyzing these data in real-time, and using them to anticipate future behavior, can boost the development of emerging technologies like self-driving cars. So Hasani built an algorithm fit for the task.

Hasani says his liquid network skirts the inscrutability common to other neural networks. “Just changing the representation of a neuron,” which Hasani did with the differential equations, “you can really explore some degrees of complexity you couldn’t explore otherwise.” Thanks to Hasani’s small number of highly expressive neurons, it’s easier to peer into the “black box” of the network’s decision making and diagnose why the network made a certain characterization.

In tests, the network performed promisingly in predicting future values in datasets, ranging from atmospheric chemistry to traffic patterns.

Read more: Scientists From NTU Singapore Develop AI System For High Precision Recognition of Hand Gestures

Hasani plans to keep improving the system and ready it for industrial application. “We have a provably more expressive neural network that is inspired by nature. But this is just the beginning of the process,” he says. “The obvious question is how do you extend this? We think this kind of network could be a key element of future intelligence systems.”

Chinese wearables giant Huami has just launched the Amazfit GTR 2e and Amazfit GTS 2e on the US market and now it seems there is already yet another model in the works to join the GTR 2 and GTS 2 family. The next in the lineup will be the LTE version of GTR 2 – the Amazfit GTR 2 LTE. The design is based on the regular GTR 2 smartwatches, so it has a round face with a classic watch design. The story was leaked by Niels Ahrensmeier, reports NoteBookCheck.

With the new Amazfit GTR 2 LTE you will be able to make 4G LTE phone connections. This way you won’t need to carry a smartphone around all of the time. It’s expected that only the GTR 2 will get an eSIM version.

Read more: Huami Amazfit Ranked No. 1 by Shipments in Spain, Indonesia and India

Huami announced the release of LTE versions of Amazfit GTR 2 at the CES 2021. However, there seem to be two versions. Along with the Amazfit GTR 2 LTE codenamed “volgaw”, there will also be an eSIM version called the Amazfit GTR 2 eSIM codenamed “volga”.

Amazfit GTR 2e will be available for purchase via Amazon and Amazfit's India website. It will be offered in Obsidian Black, Slate Grey, and Matcha Green color variants.

Amazfit T-Rex Pro / T-Rex 2

The Amazfit T-Rex was launched last year as the manufacturer's first reliable smartwatch. It was also one of the first products announced by the manufacturer in 2020. A successor is now on the way and it could be released as the Amazfit T-Rex Pro. This model also has the commercial name T-Rex 2. While there are no specs or details about the watch, it has been cleared through the FCC.

Read more: Huami Launches Amazfit Zenbuds With Sleep Monitoring Via Indiegogo Crowdfunding

Niels revealed in a tweet that the Amazfit T-Rex Pro is codenamed "blancw". Niels also mentioned another model – the Amazfit Health Watch Pro.

At the Innovation Conference 2021, Chinese wearable brand Huami announced that it will soon launch its third-generation wearable chip. Huami Founder and CEO, Huang Wang, has reportedly revealed that the company is planning to launch its third-generation self-developed Huangshan wearable chip.

Read more: Huami Launches Amazfit Zenbuds With Sleep Monitoring Via Indiegogo Crowdfunding

He feels that with the technology on chips advances, the capital investment also jumps up. This can look bad at the start; however, this is reaching the end consumer. As a result, the overall production cost can be reduced.

Huami, which has been a pioneer in Smartwatches, AI-based smart wearable, stepped into the world of self-developed wearable chips in 2018. It was the world’s first AI-powered Huangshan No.1 chipset. Huami used the chipset in many of its smart products. It has an architecture based on the RISC-V instruction set. It also has a C2 co-processor and an independent Neural Processing Unit. The AI deep learning depends on the NPU that enables it to make predictions from the available dataset. Hence, we can expect the company to upgrade the NPU and the instruction set to get a leap in performance on the third-gen, reports GizChina.

Although Mr. Wang didn’t name the chipset yet, we can guess that the company will keep its naming structure and call it Huangshan No.3.

Read more: Huami’s Amazfit Smart Scale Will Monitor A Slew Of Health Metrics In Addition To Weight

In other news, according to the 2019 financial report, Huami’s revenue in 2019 reached 834.9 million US dollars with 59.4% year-on-year growth and 42.3 million shipments in total. Mr. Wang Huang said in the earning call: "As a strategic partner, Huami and Timex have cooperated closely in product development and new technology exploration. At present, the first product with exciting experiences R300 GPS has been launched in the North American market. At the same time, the partnership with Xiaomi is continuing, and it is expected that the Mi Band 5 will be seen later this year.”

Mental health in the workplace has long been a concern for employers. Covid-19 lockdowns and remote working have worsened the issue. Even before the pandemic depression and anxiety estimated to have cost the global economy $1 trillion, according to the World Health Organization. Now, a UK-based startup has developed a wristband that allows employers to track their workers’ emotional health. Called Moodbeam, the smart wristband allows its wearer to log how they feel at the click of a button.

Read more: Moodbeam Receives $583k Seed investment To Boost Workplace Wellbeing

Moodbeam links to a mobile app that you can download and to a web interface and features two buttons. One yellow and the other blue. The idea is you press the yellow one if you are feeling happy and the blue one if you're feeling, well, blue.

Moodbeam is aimed at companies that wish to monitor the wellbeing of staff who are working from home. Employees are encouraged to wear the wristband (it’s optional) and press the relevant button as they see fit throughout the working week, reports BBC.

Managers can then view an online dashboard to see how workers are feeling and coping. With bosses no longer able to check-in physically with their team, Moodbeam hopes to bridge the gap.

"Businesses are trying to get on top of staying connected with staff working from home. Here they can ask 500 members: 'You ok?' without picking up the phone" says Moodbeam co-founder Christina Colmer McHugh.

McHugh told BBC that she came up with the idea for this wristband after she found out that her daughter was struggling at school and she wanted a way for her child to let her know how she was feeling.

She said it started out as an anonymous system, but after lots of testing, they realized most people want to be identified when they send their mood.

Read more: Wearable Devices Can Predict and Stop Bad Mood Even Before They Strike

Some of its other features are that it is waterproof and has a five-day battery life, according to the website and also can count steps.

Available for both IOS and Android, the Moodbeam App is the perfect partner to visualize and understand more about your mood.

U-blox, a global provider of leading positioning and wireless communication technologies and services, announced the ALEX-R5, a miniature cellular module that integrates low-power wide-area (LPWA) connectivity and GNSS technology into an ultra-small system-in-package (SiP) form factor. Comprising hardware components designed fully in-house, ALEX-R5 is based on the secure UBX-R5 LTE-M / NB-IoT chipset platform with out-of-the-box Secure Cloud functionality and the u-blox M8 GNSS chip for location accuracy.

Read more: Maxim Integrated and Mouser Launches New eBook that Explores Next-Gen Healthcare Wearables

ALEX-R5 stands out for its miniature 14x14 mm footprint, achieved thanks to its SiP design, reducing its size compared to the functionally equivalent u-blox SARA-R5 module by half. Its tiny dimensions make it a perfect fit for size constrained applications, the company said in a press release.

Zero compromises on cellular and GNSS performance

ALEX-R5 makes zero performance compromises in terms of the technologies it features. Its 23 dBm cellular transmission power guarantees that end devices operate effectively in all signal conditions, even at cell edges, underground, or in other challenging scenarios. And a dedicated GNSS antenna interface enables fully independent, simultaneous operation of the u-blox M8 GNSS chip, matching the performance of a stand-alone u-blox M8 module. u-blox IoT Location-as-a-Service with CellLocate(R) and AssistNow (online, offline, and autonomous) further enhance positioning performance.

Optimized for power-sensitive and battery-dependent applications

ALEX-R5 is optimized for power-sensitive and battery-dependent applications, addressing common pain points of size-constrained applications such as wearables and connected medical devices. It achieves this by leveraging the lower power modes of the u-blox UBX-R5 and UBX-M8 chipsets and giving users options to further balance power consumption and performance using GNSS Super-E mode.

Its rugged SiP construction makes it a perfect fit for harsh environments, where moisture or vibration would be a concern for conventional modules. ALEX-R5 is rated at moisture sensitivity level 3 (MSL 3), offering reduced handling and device production complexity.

Designed to last an IoT lifetime and 5G-ready

By bringing all technology building blocks in house and having full hardware and software ownership, u-blox can guarantee long-term device availability and provide lifetime support for the entire platform, down to the chipset level. Secure Cloud functionality supporting IoT-Security-as-a-Service based on an internal, hardware-based secure element enables a lightweight pre-shared key management system specifically designed for LPWA devices.

Read more: Valencell Launches Software Library, Helping Manufacturers to Integrate the Company’s Software Into Their Wearables

ALEX-R5 future-proofs IoT devices and solutions by enabling customers to software upgrade deployed devices for compatibility with 5G networks, offering a seamless transition to the next generation of cellular technology as 5G networks are rolled out by mobile operators.

Engineering samples of the ALEX-R5 SiP will be available by Q1, 2021.

Mouser Electronics, Inc., the New Product Introduction (NPI) leader empowering innovation, announced a new eBook in collaboration with Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. highlighting the future of wearable technology in healthcare. In Empowering Design Innovation for Healthcare Wearables, subject matter experts from Maxim Integrated and Mouser provide in-depth technical explorations into the nuanced design and development of wearable devices, including challenges related to power supply, sensor data, and accurate monitoring technology.

Read more: Maxim’s New Wrist Form Factor Reference Design Reduces Health Wearable Development Time By Six Months

Wearable healthcare devices offer an important monitoring solution at a time when more and more patients struggle to access traditional face-to-face medical care. A combination of technological innovation and advanced artificial intelligence has facilitated a new generation of wearable devices, allowing healthcare professionals to better respond to incoming patients using remotely collected data. The new eBook from Maxim Integrated and Mouser features a combination of detailed technical walkthroughs, videos, and product information, providing engineers with the actionable knowledge required to begin developing wearable devices, reports EEJournal.

Featuring a combination of detailed technical walkthroughs, videos, and product information, the new eBook from Maxim Integrated and Mouser provides engineers with the actionable knowledge required to begin developing wearable devices. Maxim Integrated’s medical solutions include sensors, ICs, power supplies, and evaluation kits, providing the key components for the development of wearable healthcare devices such as rings, wristbands, patches, and earpieces. Empowering Design Innovation for Healthcare Wearables includes convenient links and ordering information for 10 of the latest cutting-edge products from Maxim, including the MAX32630FTHR Pegasus rapid development platform.

The MAX32630FTHR platform supports battery-optimized solutions for wearable devices through advanced power conversion and battery management. The platform includes a variety of peripherals, offering a versatile solution for rapid proof-of-concept and development. Maxim Integrated’s MAXREFDES117 reference design is a low-power optical heart rate module that can be placed on a finger or earlobe to accurately detect heart rate. The minuscule board can be easily integrated into a range of wearable devices using either Arduino or mbed platforms.

Read more: Healthcare Wearables Market to Reach $60 Billion by 2023, Says Juniper Research

As a global authorized distributor, Mouser offers the world’s widest selection of the newest semiconductors and electronic components — in stock and ready to ship. Mouser’s customers can expect 100% certified, genuine products that are fully traceable from each of its manufacturer partners. A Berkshire Hathaway company, Mouser’s website hosts an extensive library of technical resources, including a Technical Resource Center, along with product data sheets, supplier-specific reference designs, application notes, technical design information, engineering tools and other helpful information.

Garmin has designed a smartwatch specifically for women and it is just around the corner, according to the German site WinFuture. The Garmin Lily, as it is named, is yet to launch but we found out some details from the leak.

WinFuture.de reports that the smartwatch will come in two variants – Classic version and a Sport version. What sets these two apart are the choice of material. The classic version has a metal casing with leather straps while the sport version has a fiber-reinforced plastic casing with silicone straps. It comes with a variety of color, metal and interchangeable band options — including leather and silicone.

Read more: Garmin Adds Pregnancy Tracking Alongside Health and Wellness for Moms-To-Be

According to the leaked report, the LCD screen only displays (display size 1.00” x 0.84” (25.4 mm x 21.3 mm) white over a colored background. And that may be the reason the smartwatch boasts five days of battery life.

This stylish smartwatch is the first of its kind from Garmin with an incredibly small, 34 mm watch case and a stylish patterned lens. Just tap or twist your wrist to reveal the bright touchscreen display.

The watch tracks your steps, sleep, hydration, respiration, stress, and energy levels. The Body Battery energy monitoring lets you see your energy levels throughout the day so you can find the best times for activity and rest.

The watch constantly samples your heart rate and can be set to alert you if it stays too high or too low.

The Pulse Ox Sensor spot-checks your blood oxygen saturation at any point during the day, or for part of the night as you sleep, to show how well your body is absorbing oxygen.

With advanced sleep monitoring, get a full picture of how you’re sleeping, with a breakdown of your light, deep and REM sleep stages as well as Pulse Ox and respiration data.

Read more: Garmin Joins Forces with Children’s Mercy Kansas City to Keep Kids Active During COVID-19 Pandemic

Smart notifications. Receive emails, texts and alerts right on your watch when paired with a compatible smartphone. You can even respond to texts if you have an Android phone.

San Francisco-based chipmaker Atlazo announced the launch of its first-generation AI SoC, AZ-N1, for smart tiny devices like TWS earbuds, smart hearing aids, and more. The device is the industry's first fully-integrated AI SoC featuring a highly power-efficient Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning processor (Axon ITM) for audio, voice, health monitoring, and sensors. Atlazo's hyper-low-power AZ-N1 AI SoC also integrates a low-power CODEC supporting up to 4 microphones, a battery charger, DC/DC regulators, and Bluetooth connectivity. The AZ-N1 AI SoC can handle the most challenging tasks required to process audio, sound, biometrics, and other sensor signals, and classify activities in a fraction of the power budget used by comparable solutions on the market today.

Read more: MediaTek Launches New Dimensity 5G Smartphone Chipsets with Unrivaled AI and Multimedia

A single Axon ITM processor supports a variety of AI/ML networks including DNN, LSTM, and GRNN and popular feature extraction techniques such as MFCC. Computing an audio DNN network, for example, Axon ITM performs more than 130 inferences per second, Altazo said in a press release.

Customer applications currently being developed with the AZ-N1 AI SoC include smart TWS earbuds, hearing aids, Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAPs), and fitness and health monitoring devices.

“Atlazo's mission is to enable smart tiny edge devices with a new level of always-on AI capabilities and analytics in an SoC form to unleash new features and applications. We provide comprehensive support to our customers from system design to algorithm development enabling them to add new features to expand their addressable market,” said Dr. Karim Arabi, co-founder and CEO of Atlazo, Inc.

AZ-N1 AI SoC is sampling to select customers now with a complete hardware and software development kit and key AI algorithms such as keyword spotting and speaker verification.

Read more: Raspberry Pi Launches $4 Microcontroller Running on a Custom Processor

Atlazo is a leader in always-on AI processor, sensor interface design, and energy management for tiny edge devices. Founded in 2016, the company is dedicated to addressing the global demand for smarter and more power-efficient tiny devices targeting the rapidly growing smart TWS earbud, hearing aid, wearable and health-monitoring devices. Atlazo brings cutting edge innovations in hyper-low power semiconductor design, on-device AI processor, and accurate sensing.

Chinese tech giant Huawei is planning to push forward its research and development of its wearables that would focus on healthcare. The move is part of the company’s efforts to grow into new areas amid U.S. trade sanctions.

Read more: Huawei’s New Health Lab to Explore Innovation of Sports and Health Technology Via Wearables

The initiative could also enable Huawei to catch up with its rival Xiaomi, the world’s second-biggest wearables vendor behind Apple, reports SCMP.

Just last week, at an online event, Huawei said it is taking on three health research programs on hypertension management, body temperature, and coronary heart disease.

“The whole industry is expecting [wearable] products which can really help consumers better manage their health [concerns], especially chronic diseases that both young and old people are likely to get,” said Jason Low, an analyst at tech research firm Canalys. “But there is still a long way to go because this requires a lot of R&D investment, as well as cooperation between smart hardware and technology companies.”

In December, Huawei announced the implementation of its brand-new HUAWEI Health Lab in Xi’an, China. The aim is to have researchers, engineers, and developers to jointly explore the innovation and application of new sports and health technology, bringing the scientific and convenient sports experience to global consumers. The Health Lab includes an experimental smart wearable product testing area and a sports health innovation area. In the experimental smart wearable product testing area, the engineers have set up more than ten reliability tests based on strict standards. All of the HUAWEI smart wearables will stand up to destructive test repeatedly.

Huawei’s smartwatches can monitor heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and blood pressure. In Q3 last year, the Shenzhen-based Huawei was the world’s No. 3 wearables vendor. The IDC report stated that the company continues to double down on other growth areas amid US sanctions, which affected the supplies of hardware and software for its smartphone and networking equipment businesses.

Read more: Huawei Watch GT Comes to the US for $199 with Two-Week Battery Life

According to IDC report, the global wearables market reached 125 million units in Q3 2020, up 35.1% from the same period in 2019. Huawei shipped 13.7 million units in the third quarter, behind Apple’s 41.4 million total and 17 million from Xiaomi.

Theranica, a prescribed digital therapeutics (PDT) company developing advanced electroceuticals for migraine and other pain conditions, announced that its Nerivio therapeutic device has received the Food and Drug Administration clearance to market for an expanded indication for acute treatment of episodic or chronic migraine in people 12 years and older. The use of the device in the treatment of adolescents is supported by a study recently published in Headache.

Read more: Theranica Made the List of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020

According to Migraine Research Foundation, 10% of all school-age children and up to 28% of teens between the ages of 15-19 live with migraine. 37% of children find that their schoolwork suffers from a headache and it can negatively affect a teen's social life as well.

Theranica's FDA-cleared prescribed therapeutic wearable Nerivio® is worn on the upper arm for 45 minutes and utilizes Remote Electrical Neuromodulation to activate the brain's native Conditioned Pain Modulation mechanism to treat pain and associated migraine symptoms. Nerivio was cited as one of TIME's best inventions of 2019, says a press release.

“Having this drug-free migraine therapy available for the adolescent migraine community could positively impact patient compliance,” said Dr. Jennifer McVige, a board-certified physician in pediatric neurology, adult and pediatric headache and neuroimaging at the DENT Neurologic Institute, who was one of the investigators in the clinical study which led to this indication expansion. “Teens do not always want to take pills, and some may be unable to do so due to various contraindications. Additionally, teens tend to easily adapt to tech. Nerivio is an efficacious smartphone-controlled tech solution that can be worn inconspicuously and is the perfect design for teens who may, unfortunately, begin to experience migraine attacks. As a mother of two teenagers with migraines, and someone who sees many adolescents in my practice, Nerivio is a promising new option with the potential to help thousands of young patients.”

A study published in Headache revealed 71% of the adolescent participants using Nerivio experienced pain relief after two hours while 35% experienced complete freedom from pain. Pain relief and pain freedom were sustained for 24 hours in 90% of cases. 69% of the patients experienced an improvement in their functional ability, defined by the ability to do schoolwork and perform "usual activities," at two hours. There were no device-related serious adverse events.

“This new indication is a dramatic step in our committed effort to serve the migraine community as a whole,” said Theranica's CEO and co-founder Alon Ironi. “Throughout 2020, we continued pursuing clinical data regarding how Nerivio can help this all-too-large patient population. As a result, Nerivio is now widely available as a drug-free alternative to treat migraines. Teens are one of the most vulnerable migraine populations and we are happy to provide them with a user-friendly tool to get them back to their daily lives as quickly as possible.”

Read more: Theranica Envisions a World of Non-Pharmacological Medical Therapy Wearables

Eligible for insurance coverage, Nerivio is available by prescription by any licensed healthcare provider including via telemedicine platforms such as Cove and UpScript. Nerivio is delivered directly to the patient's home. Every Nerivio unit is good for 12 treatments, after which it can be recycled, and the prescription refilled with a new device.

Aktiia today announced the first 24-7, automated blood pressure monitoring system that easily and comfortably gathers data during the day and while sleeping. This groundbreaking medical innovation will now provide people and their physicians comprehensive insights into blood pressure patterns that will better inform the diagnosis and management of hypertension. Now available for sale in the United Kingdom, Aktiia has received its CE Mark as a Class IIa medical device - signifying that the device has been assessed to meet high safety, health and environmental protection requirements in Europe. With the CE Mark, Aktiia now has access to over 40 countries worldwide.

See a video of the Aktiia product HERE.

Millions of people worldwide are at risk for severe health complications and death due to untreated or uncontrolled hypertension. The average person with hypertension measures their blood pressure only once per week due to the inconvenience and discomfort associated with a traditional cuff. Aktiia is the first product to automatically measure blood pressure over the course of hours, days and weeks without any effort required by the wearer. The data is then visualized in a free companion application, and with a simple click, a digital summary can be easily shared with a physician or family member.

The core technology was first developed at the prestigious Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM). Aktiia was then founded in 2018 by Dr. Mattia Bertschi and Dr. Josep Sola. Aktiia’s team has some of the world's leading scientific and technical experts in optical blood pressure monitoring, including CTO, Dr. Josep Sola, a pioneer in cuffless blood pressure monitoring and editor of "The Handbook of Cuffless Blood Pressure Monitoring.” Aktiia has been validated in multiple clinical studies across a diverse population of wearers in multiple body positions. Aktiia's pivotal clinical trial was conducted at University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV) following international standards of validation and enrolling participants across a representative sample of age, BMI, and skin tone. Its results have been peer reviewed and accepted for imminent publication by the reference journal in the field: "Blood Pressure Monitoring."

“Hypertension is the #1 cause of cardiovascular disease and premature death worldwide,” said Dr. Neil Poulter, Professor of Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine at Imperial College London. “Accurate blood pressure measurement and particularly 24/7 monitoring of blood pressure is increasingly recognised as being important to improve the diagnosis and control of raised blood pressure, thereby improving patient outcomes. Tracking blood pressure over long periods, without alerting the patient, represents a potential game changer in the diagnosis and monitoring of hypertension.”

How It Works

Aktiia’s Optical Blood Pressure Monitoring (OBPM) algorithms leverage optical sensors worn on the wrist and provide blood pressure values using photoplethysmography (PPG) to analyze the changing diameter of the arteries occurring at each heartbeat. This optical measurement is done automatically, so users are not aware and stressed, and do not have to interrupt their day or their sleep to take a measurement.

“With cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death across the world, people need to better understand the impact of their lifestyle choices and physicians need the ability to more deeply understand blood pressure patterns so they can change the way that they diagnose and treat people living with hypertension,” said Mike Kisch, Aktiia CEO. “After 15 years in development and one million blood pressure readings, Aktiia has cracked the code to bring to market the world's first automated 24-7 blood pressure monitoring system.”

Pricing & Availability

Aktiia is available to pre-order in the UK starting on January 26, 2021. During the pre-order period, the limited time promotional price will be £159 (inclusive of VAT and Free Shipping), which includes the Aktiia Optical Bracelet, Mobile App (available on iOS and Android), and Initialization Cuff.  This represents a 20% discount off the standard price of £199. Pre-order customers will also receive free ongoing access to the Aktiia 24/7 blood pressure monitoring service, which is normally an £8.99/month subscription fee after the first year.

About Aktiia

Founded in Switzerland in May 2018 out of a passion to turn insights into action in the fight against hypertension, Aktiia’s groundbreaking medical technology provides people and their physicians comprehensive insights into blood pressure patterns that will inform the diagnosis and management of hypertension. Now available in the United Kingdom, Aktiia has received its CE Mark as a Class IIa medical device - signifying that the device has been assessed to meet high safety, health and environmental protection requirements in Europe. To learn more, visit Aktiia.com.

In 2020, True Wireless Stereo (TWS) hearables were able to hold the most amount of stakes in the current wearables market, with Apple and Xiaomi leading their sales by a wide margin, according to a report by Counterpoint Research.

Read more: Audio Streaming and New Bluetooth Technology to Drive Hearables Market, Reaching $80 billion in 2025

The wearables market is divided into five distinct segments, of which earwear and wristwear comprise the majority of devices. Combined, they accounted for 93% of the overall market in Q3 2020, with earwear growing fastest on product changes from vendors and shifts in consumer demand, the Counterpoint Research report said.

“The trend around removing jacks and earphones from devices and boxes is becoming a big driver for TWS segment growth,” says Counterpoint Research senior analyst Liz Lee. “It also helps that mobile media consumption continues to grow, making TWS the next must-have accessory.”

In terms of smartwatches, demand is expected to wane in 2020 but should pick up this year, according to senior analyst Sujeong Lim, who covers IoT and emerging technologies. “The normalization of economies coupled with increased interest in health and fitness will help the smartwatch market grow. We expect low double-digit growth through the medium term – possibly higher if average selling prices decline quickly.”

Based on the latest figures from Counterpoint Research’s TWS Market Tracker and Smartwatch Model Tracker, premium products continued to lead, with Apple products comprising 29% and 28% of TWS and smartwatch shipments, respectively, in Q3 2020. Lim observed that “Apple’s powerful iOS ecosystem, typically comprised of consumers with larger disposable incomes, has been the main driver for growth – especially in terms of revenues. High-end stalwart Samsung has also performed consistently.”

“But there is big potential in the budget, and we’re already seeing the impact in hearables. In Q3 2020, half of the top 10 were budget brands with sub-$50 and even sub-$20 offerings; Xiaomi best illustrated the trend as it consolidated its number two spot.”

Read more: Growing Hearables Market Lead Worldwide Wearables Shipments, Surging 94.6% in 3Q2019

realme was another notable budget brand to place in the TWS top-10 during the third quarter. “Building on strong hearables momentum, a recent entry into smartwatches and strength in online, realme could repeat its smartphone success to become 2021’s dark horse in wearables,” commented Lee. “Our User Choices and Preferences Surveys for TWS and smartwatches show that a big portion of consumers buy wearables via online channels; vendors with a strong online pedigree should outperform.”

Boston Scientific announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Preventice Solutions. Minneapolis-based Preventice designs mobile health solutions and remote monitoring services for patients with cardiac arrhythmias.

Related: Boston Scientific Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for the LUX-Dx Implantable Cardiac Monitor System

The transaction consists of an upfront cash payment of $925 million, and up to an additional $300 million in a potential commercial milestone payment. Boston Scientific has been an investor in Preventice since 2015 and currently holds an equity stake of approximately 22 percent, which is expected to result in a net payment of approximately $720 million upon closing and a milestone payment of up to approximately $230 million. Preventice recorded net sales of $158 million in 2020 – a 30 percent growth rate from the previous year.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality globally, accounting for nearly 17.9 million annual global deaths and highlighting the need for early detection and management for individuals who may be at risk of a cardiac event. Physicians may ask at-risk patients to wear an external cardiac monitor to assess how their heart is functioning, which may lead to the diagnosis of a potential heart rhythm problem known as an arrhythmia. The recordings taken by the monitor can then help physicians develop an optimal and personalized treatment plan, says a press release.

Preventice’s wearables include the PatientCare platform and BodyGuardian family of wearable monitors for adult and pediatric patients. The BodyGuardian monitors use a fully-integrated, cloud-based platform supported by an independent diagnostic testing facility, where clinical technicians and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms provide insights that may lead to improved clinical diagnoses and outcomes. The company’s BodyGuardian Mini Plus, the newest system in its portfolio, features multiple electrode options to enhance rhythm detection while it is also waterproof, repositionable and can be used in all modalities of short-term and long-term monitoring.

“This acquisition will provide Boston Scientific with a foothold in the high-growth ambulatory electrocardiography space, which strongly complements our recent entrance into the implantable cardiac monitor market and will serve as an important component of our category leadership strategy in cardiac diagnostics and services – a nearly $2B market anticipated to grow double digits annually," said Scott Olson, senior vice president and president, Rhythm Management, Boston Scientific. “We are confident that by adding the broad technology portfolio and expertise of Preventice, our combined teams can continue to deliver rapid growth in these highly-attractive markets while also establishing an important adjacency to our core cardiac rhythm management and electrophysiology businesses.”

Related: Preventice Solutions Receives Tender to Provide BodyGuardian MINI Cardiac Monitor for Cardiovascular Study

“We have been humbled to provide thousands of physician practices with services based on near real-time clinical data to enable the diagnosis and management of more than one million cardiac patients, without needing to interrupt their daily activities,” said Jon Otterstatter, chief executive officer of Preventice Solutions. “Boston Scientific has been a key investor in Preventice for more than five years and we believe the company has the commercial reach, diagnostics expertise and operational infrastructure to bring these advanced monitoring technologies to more patients worldwide.”

Raspberry Pi has launched its first microcontroller, Raspberry Pi Pico. The $4 microcontroller is powered by the company’s own chip RP2040. The 7x7mm chip has 40nm silicon with a dual-core Arm Cortex-M0 processor.

Read more: Valencell Launches Software Library, Helping Manufacturers to Integrate the Company’s Software Into Their Wearables

Microcontrollers let you control other parts or other devices; they are specifically designed to interact with other things.

The Raspberry Pi Pico is a standalone board that can be used as a companion to a Raspberry Pi computer. It can also be used to run code or make projects by having it interact with other devices. There are dozens of input and output pins on the sides of the Raspberry Pi Pico. These pins act as the interface with other components. For example, you can make your microcontroller interact with an LED light, get data from various sensors, show some information on a display, etc, reports TechCrunch.

There are also 8 programmable I/O state machines allowing for custom peripherals, an accurate on-chip clock, temperature sensor, and low-power sleep and dormant modes. You can solder the module to another board if you want to.

The Pico is designed to offer a low barrier to entry for hobbyists and beginners alike. There's full support for programming in MicroPython or C/C++, with the ability to drag and drop code over to the Pico using the USB port.

Read more: MediaTek Launches New Dimensity 5G Smartphone Chipsets with Unrivaled AI and Multimedia

List of specs for the Raspberry Pi Pico:

• Dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ @ 133MHz
• 264KB of on-chip RAM
• Support for up to 16MB of off-chip flash memory via dedicated QSPI bus
• DMA controller
• Interpolator and integer divider peripherals
• 30 GPIO pins, 4 of which can be used as analog inputs
• 2 × UARTs, 2 × SPI controllers, and 2 × I2C controllers
• 16 × PWM channels
• 1 × USB 1.1 controller and PHY, with host and device support
• 8 × Raspberry Pi Programmable I/O (PIO) state machines
• USB mass-storage boot mode with UF2 support, for drag-and-drop programming

The Raspberry Pi Pico is available now from approved resellers for $4.

Four of Europe’s largest operators – Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange S.A., Telefonica S.A., and Vodafone Group Plc – are joining forces to support the rollout of Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) as the technology of choice for future mobile networks to the benefit of consumer and enterprise customers across Europe.

Read more: MediaTek Launches New Dimensity 5G Smartphone Chipsets with Unrivaled AI and Multimedia

Open RAN is not necessarily a new technology in itself but represents a combination of existing technologies, e.g. virtualization, AI, commercial off-the-shelf parts and open interfaces. Its proponents promise more secure networks without ‘high-risk vendors’ but Open RAN could introduce new systemic risks that must be addressed due to its reliance on open-source software.

“OpenRAN is about network innovation, flexibility, and faster rollout. Deutsche Telekom is committed to its promotion, development and adoption to ensure the best network experience for our customers. To seize this opportunity, it is critical that we join forces with our leading European partners to foster a diverse, competitive and secure 4G/5G ecosystem based on OpenRAN solutions,” said Claudia Nemat, Chief Technology Officer of Deutsche Telekom.

“Through our open labs and community activities, we facilitate smaller players to enter the market with their solutions. To build on this foundational work, we urge government support and funding for community activities that will strengthen the European ecosystem and leadership in 5G.”

Open RAN attracts operators because it would allow them to mix and match vendors, using radio software from one vendor in tandem with general-purpose equipment developed by another. Traditional radio access networks typically force operators to buy all their components from the same supplier, reports LightReading.

“OpenRAN has the power to stimulate European tech innovation using the expertise of the companies that develop it and the governments who support it. Opening up the market to new suppliers, with our ambition and government advocacy, will mean faster 5G deployment, cost-saving network efficiencies, and world-class services,” said Johan Wibergh, CTO of Vodafone Group.

Read more: Will Combined Power of 5G and Artificial Intelligence Change Tech Innovations of Tomorrow?

“We remain committed to rolling out our OpenRAN program across Europe, and we’re taking it even further. We aim to open R&D labs for new, smaller suppliers to develop their products. But to do this we need a supportive investment environment and political backing, and we urge European governments to join us in creating the OpenRAN ecosystem,” Wibergh concluded.

Valencell, a specialist in healthcare wearables, has launched a new software library that will make it easier for manufacturers to integrate the company’s software into the design of existing products. Wearables manufacturers can now easily embed Valencell’s patented biometric sensor software available on their ARM Cortex M4F microcontroller unit (MCU) of choice. This allows device makers to upgrade existing device designs and enhance future products without changing fundamental elements of their hardware designs. The Valencell Library is available starting today for an evaluation.

Related: Valencell Expands Its Groundbreaking Cuffless Blood Pressure Monitoring System to the Finger and Wrist

In addition, Valencell announced the next generation of its Benchmark® Sensor Systems designed for wrist devices and other wearables – BW1.5, BW5.0 and BW6.0. All three are library-ready, biometric sensor systems including the hardware (emitters, detectors, optical lensing) and software (firmware and algorithms) in flexible integration configurations, reports Valencell.

• 5 is the next generation of 3-LED sensor system that improves power efficiency and simplifies design and integration requirements.
• 0 and BW6.0 are the smallest sensor systems Valencell has ever designed for wearable devices and, despite the smaller footprint, continue to deliver highly accurate biometric monitoring that is expected of a Valencell solution. The primary difference between BW5.0 and BW6.0 is that BW6.0 provides motion-tolerant multi-wavelength outputs for use in ambulatory health monitoring applications and medical wearables.
• All three sensors come in lens-free versions, which allow for seamless industrial design while maintaining the highest degrees of accuracy in biometric wearables.

“Valencell has been a long-time proponent of designing our software and hardware to work together in a complete sensor system, but we also recognize that the massive growth in the wearables market has created a need to support the diversity of hardware configurations in the market today,” said Matt Smith, Vice President of Product Management at Valencell. “The Valencell Library has been one of our most requested roadmap items from Valencell customers and we’re happy to give customers the flexibility to meet their design and performance requirements.”

BW1.5 is available for sampling, while BW5.0 and BW6.0 will be available for sampling later in 1Q21.

Related: SunTech and Valencell Partner Up for New Blood Pressure Measurement Solutions

Through innovative R&D and validated technologies, Valencell develops breakthroughs and collaborate with wearables, hearables, and medical device companies around the world to deliver amazing results. Protected by more than 100 granted patents and more than 50 patents pending, Valencell’s technology can be used in wearables and hearables for virtually anyone, anywhere, doing anything. Valencell’s biometric sensor systems are currently integrated into more wearables, hearables, and other form factors than any other technology provider in the world.

VeraSci, a global clinical research company announced it has partnered with ActiGraph, a leading provider of medical-grade wearable activity and sleep monitoring devices. VeraSci's Innovation Lab will be incorporating ActiGraph's CentrePoint Insight Watch into an NIH-funded study examining the relationship between real-time measurements of gait and actigraphy collected by industry-grade wearables and established cognitive and functional endpoints that are sensitive to decline early in the Alzheimer's disease continuum.

Read more: Koneksa Publishes Data Assessing Wearable Devices for Clinical Trial Participants

Preliminary data have indicated a correlation between remotely captured gait and actigraphy measures and established cognition and function measures. These data suggest that wearables can provide meaningful information regarding cognitive health and may ultimately contribute to continuous assessment of cognition and function in clinical trials, says a press release.

“Wearables present an incredible opportunity to gather data in ways that haven't been feasible before. We can gather information directly while patients are engaged in their daily lives,” says VeraSci CEO Dr. Rich Keefe, “Our partnership with ActiGraph advances our commitment to pairing scientific knowledge with cutting-edge technology to improve the tools and measurements available in clinical trials.”

“This partnership between ActiGraph and VeraSci provides an exciting opportunity to better understand the relationship between real-world physical behavior, function, and cognition,” said Matt Biggs, ActiGraph's Head of Business Operations. “We believe that these types of collaborations will help to jumpstart the creation of novel digital endpoints for global health communities.”

The research was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Read more: Spark Biomedical Launches Clinical Trial to Validate its Auricular Neurostimulation Device for Opioid Withdrawal Relief

About VeraSci:

VeraSci brings scientific expertise, strategic innovation, and unwavering commitment to each project, helping clients worldwide develop novel therapies.

About ActiGraph:

ActiGraph's FDA-cleared wearable actigraphy monitors and robust analytics platform have been widely used to quantify human movement in academic and population health research for nearly two decades. In recent years, the company's monitoring solutions have been steadily adopted by pharmaceutical and life sciences organizations seeking to capture real-world objective outcomes related to physical activity, mobility, and sleep behavior for patients enrolled in clinical trials.

MediaTek today unveiled its new Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 5G smartphone chipsets with unrivaled AI, camera, and multimedia features for powerful 5G experiences. The addition of the 6nm Dimensity 1200 and 1100 chipsets to MediaTek's 5G portfolio gives device makers a growing suite of options to design highly capable 5G smartphones with top-of-the-line camera features, graphics, connectivity enhancements, and more.

Read more: MediaTek’s Dimensity 1000 5G Chipset Delivers Ultra-Fast Speed and Seamless Connectivity

“MediaTek continues to expand its 5G portfolio with highly integrated solutions for a range of devices from the high-end to the mid-tier,” said JC Hsu, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit. “Our new Dimensity 1200 stands out with its impressive 200MP camera support and advanced AI capabilities, in addition to its innovative connectivity, display, audio, and gaming enhancements.”

Key features of MediaTek Dimensity 1200 and 1100 5G chipsets include:

The Most Out of 5G Every Day: The Dimensity 1200 and 1100 pack a highly integrated 5G modem with MediaTek's 5G UltraSave technology for big power savings. Both chipsets support every connectivity generation from 2G to 5G, in addition to supporting the latest connectivity features including 5G standalone and non-standalone architectures, 5G carrier aggregation (2CC) across frequency division duplex (FDD), and time division duplex (TDD), dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), True Dual SIM 5G (5G SA + 5G SA) and Voice over New Radio (VoNR). The chipsets also integrate 5G HSR Mode and 5G Elevator Mode enhancements to ensure a seamless, reliable 5G connection across networks, MediaTek said in a press release.

Flagship AI Multimedia: The Dimensity 1200 supports 200MP photos for stunning photography with its five-core HDR-ISP. It boasts staggered 4K HDR video capture for a significantly greater dynamic range. The chipset integrates an updated version of MediaTek's hexa-core AI processor (MediaTek APU 3.0), which has an enhanced multi-task scheduler that reduces latency and improves power-efficiency. The Dimensity 1100 also packs impressive camera capabilities with its 108MP camera support and integrates MediaTek's existing APU 3.0 for high-performance computing that's also super power-efficient. Both chipsets support AI camera features including AI-Panorama Night Shot, AI Multi-Person Bokeh, AI noise reduction (AINR) and HDR capabilities. The chipsets also support new AI-enhanced video playback features including AI SDR-to-HDR.

Premium Performance: The Dimensity 1200 has an octa-core CPU designed with an ultra-core Arm Cortex-A78 clocked up to 3GHz for extreme performance, three Arm Cortex-A78 super cores, and four Arm Cortex-A55 efficiency cores. With a nine-core GPU and six-core MediaTek APU 3.0, the Dimensity 1200 delivers a new level of premium performance. The Dimensity 1100 is designed with an octa-core CPU which includes four Arm Cortex-A78 cores operating at up to 2.6GHz and four Arm Cortex-A55 efficiency cores, along with a nine-core Arm Mali-G77 GPU. Both chipsets are manufactured on TSMC's advanced 6nm process technology.

Incredible Displays: The Dimensity 1200 supports ultra-fast 168Hz refresh rates for a fast, fluid user experience. The Dimensity 1100 also supports cutting-edge displays with 144Hz refresh rates for ultra-sharp, zero-lag visuals. Both chipsets support MediaTek's HyperEngine 3.0 gaming technologies, which includes 5G call and data concurrency for more reliable connectivity, plus multi-touch boost touchscreen responsiveness. The new chipsets also support ray tracing in mobile games and artificial reality applications for more realistic visuals, along with super-hotspot power savings which let users go longer in between charges.

Dual-Link True Wireless Stereo Audio: Dimensity 1200 and 1100 both support Bluetooth 5.2, which lets users stream to multiple wireless devices simultaneously. The chipsets also support ultra-low latency true wireless stereo audio and LC3 encoding for higher quality, lower latency streaming audio that's also very power-efficient to prolong the battery life of wireless earbuds.

Read more: MediaTek’s New MT8516 2-Mic Development Kit to Accelerate Integration of Alexa

Dimensity 1200 has already received TÜV Rheinland certification for its 5G performance, with tests covering 72 real-world scenarios. The certification verifies that the chipset provides reliable, high-performance 5G connectivity and offers users high-quality 5G experiences across a wide variety of scenarios.

Many OEMs, including Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO and realme, expressed support for MediaTek's new Dimensity chip. The first devices with the new MediaTek Dimensity 1200 and 1100 chipsets are expected to hit the market at the end of Q1 and the beginning of Q2 this year.

Digital health company etectRx has entered into an agreement with Pear Therapeutics, Inc. to develop up to two product candidates in the Central Nervous System (CNS) space combining Prescription Digital Therapeutics (PDTs) and adherence sensors. The collaboration is the first of its kind to explore the use of digital pill solutions with PDTs.

Read more: Pilloxa Collaborates with Sandoz Nordics to Improve Medication Adherence

“This collaboration between etectRx and Pear Therapeutics comes at a critical time for the mental health field, an area that is in dire need of immediate solutions,” said Valerie Sullivan, president and CEO of etectRx. “Our goal for this collaboration is to bring concrete solutions to those who need it.”

The ID-Cap System is a four-part FDA cleared system that consists of an ID-Capsule, Reader, Patient App, and Clinician Dashboard.  The ID-Capsule is a digital pill with an embedded ingestible sensor. The sensor communicates a digital signal shortly following ingestion and capsule dissolution. The sensor is naturally and safely eliminated through the patient's GI tract, says a press release.

The Reader is a wearable device that detects messages transmitted from the ingested sensor and forwards them to the Patient App and Clinician Dashboard. The Patient App allows patients to view ingestion events in real-time as well as medication use history. The app can send notifications to remind patients to take their medication. The Clinician Dashboard displays the information flow that starts with the ingestion of the ID-Capsule and provides the clinician with both real-time notifications and a history of their patients' ingestion events. The ID-Cap System is intended to log, track, and trend intake times and enables unattended data collection for clinical applications.

Read more: How Smart Patches and Smart Pills Are Changing Health Monitoring and Drug Delivery

“We see a significant opportunity for PDTs that involve digital pill technologies, like the ID-Cap System,” said Corey McCann, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Pear Therapeutics. “Optimized medication dosing presents a treatment lever for PDTs and creates an opportunity for a whole range of drug/software combination products.”