Exponential technological progress is advancing scientific knowledge, reducing costs, and presenting the health care and life sciences marketplace with innovative medical devices and procedures that diagnose, monitor, and treat patient conditions. Five important building blocks of exponential technological progress are:
- Increased computing power
- Large data storage capacity
- Hardware miniaturization
- Network connectivity
- Advance software capability
Many industry players – both traditional medical technology (MedTech) organizations and new market entrants – are capitalizing on recent and emerging technological advancements and providing novel health care solutions using mobile health (mHealth) applications, sensor technology, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. Venture capital investments, which fuel development of innovative MedTech products, have grown steadily over the last decade, especially in the areas of bioinformatics and biosensors.
Four shifts will likely shape the new health care landscape and drive opportunities for “smart” MedTech:
- Shift from acute to preventive care, specialists to self-care, and hospital to home care. More services will likely take place in non-traditional health care settings. Consumers with remote access to data through smart devices can manage their own care conditions.
