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A recently published research paper by healthcare technology provider Validic states that the global pharma and biotech will increasingly turn to digital health tools over the next five years to better collect, analyse and act on patient-generated health data (PGHD). This growth is attributed to increased pressures to reduce trials costs, streamline processes, demonstrate real world-efficacy, address medication adherence and improve treatments for chronic diseases.

The survey...

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US-based Vuzix-owned next generation M300 Smart Glasses has been awarded the Enterprise Wearable Device of the Year by Compass Intelligence, a market analytics and consulting firm that specializes in metrics-driven market intelligence, advisory, marketing support, and insights for the mobile, IoT, and high-tech industries.

The Vuzix M300 is designed to address customer feedback from more than two years of productive use of the earlier M100 Smart Glasses. Its advanced ergonomic design and...

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A new report from ABI Research predicts that the global wearable device shipments will increase from 202 million in 2016 to more than 501 million by 2021.

Analysts say that 17% of the shipments are attributed to enterprise end users in 2016, which will see the segment to nearly double at a CAGR of 35% by the end of the forecast period. It is also estimated that more than 16 million wearables – from activity trackers to healthcare monitors and from 3D motion trackers to...

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Canada-based wearable sports tech manufacturer OMsignal has announced its latest product – the OMbra.

The OMbra is a smart sports-bra that offers a digital coaching experience to women involved in sports or simply to those who work out every day. It is embedded with patent-pending sensor technologies that accurately capture the body’s deepest signals and streams the data to the user’s smartphone. The company claims that the bra combines accurate heart and breathing...

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Eccrine Systems, a Cincinnati-based company dedicated to improving human health, safety, and productivity through innovation and development of advanced sweat sensing technologies has raised $5.5 million in series A funding.

The company’s technology platform addresses a wide range of monitoring applications including industrial toxicity, fitness-for-duty, stress management, treatment effectiveness and various medical conditions. The raised funds will help accelerate the...

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Dipitr Technologies has launched O'We, the first smartwatch that aims to monitor sun exposure. The fitness watch is currently available for pre-order at an early-bird discount of 40%.

The new smartwatch has a feature called SunTrack that tracks sun exposure, and will soon launch on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Apart from the sun exposure monitor, the watch has other fitness features including measurements of daily...

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Wearable devices were pictured predominantly as fitness trackers by many among us; but now these gadgets have moved out of the gym and entered into offices in the form of wearable scanners. The adoption of these gadgets has seen a tremendous growth all these years and is expected to soar more in the future.

A recently published report titled ‘Enterprise Wearable Scanner and Reader Technologies’, from ABI Research illustrates the rapid expansion of the worldwide wearable...

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Australian biotechnology company Global Kinetics Corporation has received the 510 (k) marketing clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its second-generation PKG Watch aimed at assisting patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

The watch is being developed to record movement symptoms of Parkinson’s and provides medication reminders, and helps in making assessments about response to medication.

It has been developed on the basis of extensive feedback...

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The latest Kantar Worldpanel ComTech data on wearable device usage, as of July 2016, argues that while Apple still leads in smartwatch sales, overall sector growth is slow.

15.2% of US consumers own a smartwatch or fitness band, with the EU4 (France, Germany, Italy, UK), with an 8.1% penetration. Excluding fitness bands, adoption of smartwatches remains slow with 3.2% in EU4 and 4.7% in the US.

In the quarter ended July 2016, 47% of total wearable sales in the US were in the smartwatch...

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Thalmic Labs, a wearable technology company that focuses on human-computer interaction and has developed the Myo gesture control armband, has closed its latest funding round with $120 million.

Intel Capital, the Amazon Alexa Fund and Fidelity Investments Canada led the funding round for the company, which plans to use the funds for bring in new products to market. iNovia, First Round Capital and Spark Capital also participated in the round.

The company's first product, the Myo...

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A new wearable device and a machine learning platform developed by Teva Pharmaceuticals and Intel Corporation is said to analyse and measure the development of Huntington’s disease (HD) that will help improve treatment evaluation.

Intel’s specialty in analytics and algorithm development for movement detection will melded with Teva’s specialty and deep knowledge in HD treatment and research, the companies claim.

In order to enhance and better understand the...

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Shipments of wearable devices in China have soared with Xiaomi still at the top of the tree – but more and more competition is coming up fast, according to the latest figures from IDC.

IDC’s China Wearable Device Market Quarterly Tracker, 2016Q2 report shows that the country shipped 9.54 million wearable devices in Q2-FY2016, which was a 13.2% quarter by quarter and 81.4% year over year increase. Shipments of basic wearable devices such as wristbands, children’s...

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Takeda Pharmaceuticals has launched a pilot digital technology program named iBData to support patients and physicians with the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), designed to intersect healthcare and digital technologies.

The company is in partnership with Texas Digestive Disease Consultants and Vanderbilt University Medical Center to track symptoms and lifestyle factors of patients with IBD with wearable watch technology. The data will be collected and translated into reports...

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Leading ICT group TIM and Samsung, along with digital security firm Gemalto, have launched Samsung’s Gear S2 Classic 3G Smartwatch, the first smartwatch in Italy that has an integrated embedded SIM (eSIM).

The Samsung Gear S2 Classic 3G is also the first wearable in the world that features an eSIM, marking a huge step forward in IoT and mobile devices. With the eSIM, the smartwatch can immediately and simply connect to TIM's mobile network with a QR code.

The Gear S2 Classic...

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TomTom has added three new devices to its North American fitness wearables portfolio: TomTom Touch, TomTom Spark 3 and TomTom Adventurer.

TomTom Touch is claimed to be the first fitness tracker in the world that can measure all-day heart rate and body composition from the wrist. It is priced at $129.99. Users can measure their body composition, which is the ratio of body fat to muscle mass, with a touch of the device's button. The device can alos track sleep and heart rate up to...

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Lifestyle brand Michael Kors is set to launch its Michael Kors Access display smartwatch, in another move which aims to put wearable technology in the category of fashion accessories.

The company has partnered with Google for the Android Wear smartwatch platform, with the Access watch being compatible with both iPhone and Android phones.

Features of the smartwatch include changeable display, social media updates, and app notifications. The watch also offers magnetic charging,...

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A new report by market research firm Technavio has forecast that the global market for smart glasses will grow at CAGR of approximately 141% in 2016-2020.

The enterprises segment had the largest market share in terms of unit shipment and revenue in 2015, making up around 97% of the global market. Individual consumer shipments had a mere 2.77% market share.

The report indicates that the industry's focus remains on enterprises. Major vendors such as Microsoft, Sony, ODG, Epson,...

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The crowdfunding website Kickstarter has seen the launch of a new funding campaign for Keenbrace, an adaptive training device for workouts that features an integrated sensor system, a real-time voice coach and other features.

The Keenbrace device is suited for users of all activity levels, providing real-time error correction. The brace-like device houses a sensor system that delivers insights on user performance. It aims to avoid injuries and muscoskeletal issues.

Ken Leung, CEO and...

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Market intelligence firm Tractica has released a new market report that forecast that annual shipments of wearable cameras will rise from 7.4 million units in 2014 to 24 million by 2021, resulting in a market worth $3.4 billion. The market at present consists of cameras for sports and adventure activities, consumer applications and public safety

These cameras have a targeted niche, but sports and adventure cameras, or action cameras, remain the largest driver for adoption of the...

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A research team from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has presented a new graphene-based supercapacitor at the 252nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Philadelphia.

The flexible micro-supercapacitors could trigger new developments in the realm of wearable technology, with a myriad of possibilities such as smart T-shirts that charges mobile phones or dishwashing robots, according to the researchers.