On Monday, December 9, during a session titled “Connected Care Any-Wear” at the HIMSS Media mHealth Summit, attendees will get a chance to hear from Olof Schybergson, founder and CEO of Fjord, a services design company, as he explains his company’s efforts at design wearable mHealth technology.

 

As he put it recently in describing his company’s work, “For the first time, technology is colliding with human biology for a wide audience. With the reduction in size of technology such as sensors and batteries, it becomes easier for these items to be worn on the person and carried with us. In addition, the proliferation of use of mobile devices and other connected devices allow us to continually receive and transmit information.”

 

Adding that “the devices we carry with us and the data we are able to collect on our persons are a hugely powerful source of information around our lives,” Schybergson noted that “wearable technology is a natural progression towards harnessing the power of our personal data to help us live smarter, cope with disease, improve habits, and more.”

 

While wearable technology, at least in a specific healthcare context, may be relatively new, Schybergson pointed out that in recent years the market has seen a surge in wearable devices focused on general health and wellness through basic biometric tracking. Products such as Fitbit, Basis and Jawbone UP allow wearers to track information such as physical activity, sleep habits and fitness, and while many of these products are targeted toward consumers that are already physically active and health-conscious, new products such as Google Glass are considered to have promising applications for healthcare professionals.

 

Not surprisingly, Schybergson doesn’t see this trend slowing down any time soon.

 

“As the power of technology increases and the size of hardware decreases, there is the potential for a future where these wearable devices become embedded into our clothing and even within our bodies," he said. "In the nearer future, there is likely to be a move towards creating more natural interfaces that don't rely on screens or touch, but instead on our bodies and our natural movements.”

 

Exploring this market, both present and future, will be the focus of Schybergson’s presentation. As part of a panel discussion, he said he aims to “explore the impact that wearable technology might have for people and society as well as what this means for the healthcare industry in particular.”

 

More information on Schybergson’s presentation, visit the mHealth Summit website.