The Emergence of COVID-19 to Augment the Growth of the Wearable Sensor Market

 

Wearable sensors are collect information about physical and biological properties of the body and environment, and then utilized this information to measure the output information of the user’s body. These sensors are implemented in wearable devices to track or to collect health warning signs such as room temperature, body temperature, stress level, heart rate, blood pressure, heart pressure, speed, movements, etc. Wearable sensors are widely used in smart-watched, body-wear, smart shoes, fitness watch, virtual reality headsets, eyewear, sleep masks, etc. Growth of the wearable sensor market is mainly driven by the emergence of COVID-19.

The pandemic has focused on the need to exploit and leverage digital infrastructure for remote patient monitoring. Wearable sensors can help detect and monitor individual and population health, as current viral tests and vaccines are slow to emerge. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), worldwide, as of 7 April 2021, there have been 132,046,206 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 2,867,242 deaths. Wearable devices, which allow physiological signals to be continuously monitored, can be used in the early detection of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic cases of COVID-19. Wearable devices can provide unique insights about individual and population health and well-being.

In January 2021, NeuTigers announced the launch of CovidDeep, a clinically validated solution that can triage those needing further testing for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) using physiological sensors data derived from wearable devices. The app predict whether a person is virus-positive or virus-free. Wearable devices are increasingly being used in healthcare and consumer infotainment. In the span of three years, from 2016 to 2019, the number of connected wearable devices has doubled from 325 million to 722 million. Wearable sensors are an integral part of the wearable devices and are emerging as a revolution in monitoring healthcare and fitness parameters and reducing overall hospital costs for patients.

Thus, the demand for wearable sensors is increasing with a rapid pace, which, in turn, driving the wearable sensor market growth. Moreover, miniaturization trend in sensors, the increasing trend towards smaller, smarter, and cheaper sensors, mounting benefits of wearable devices in the healthcare sector, and advent of platforms such as IoT, AR, and M2M are some of the major factors augmenting the growth of the wearable sensor market. For instance, in May 2020, Royal Philips received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its wearable biosensor, named Philips Biosensor BX100, to help manage confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients in the hospital.

Furthermore, in February 2019, VivaLNK launched its IoT-enabled medical wearable sensor platform that captures human vitals and biometrics, and delivers data from the patient to edge computing devices, as well as to the cloud, for application integration and analysis. Such technological advancements are also expected to boost the wearable sensor market growth.