BIS Research has been actively tracking wearable market and continues to publish expert interviews with market leaders. In this series our Analyst talks to Deepak Prakash, Marketing and New Products Leader, Vancive Medical Technologies (Avery Dennison). Below is the excerpt from the interview:

Analyst: Could you provide a brief overview of your company?

Deepak: Vancive Medical Technologies is one of the business divisions of Avery Dennison Corporation, which is a Fortune 400 company. We are a leading provider of materials and manufacturing services, and are developing short term wearable sensing products for various applications.

Analyst: What products are you offering for the wearable market?

Deepak: We are developing a category of products under our Metria™ Informed Health brand.. We have recently announced the launch of our first product for consumer lifestyle applications called the Metria IH1 Lifestyle Assessment System. It is a disposable product that is adhered to the body and uses activity tracking to collect and report lifestyle information of the user..

Analyst: What use cases does the product presents?

Deepak: We provide these products to health and wellness providers ( fitness clubs, corporate wellness programs, weight loss centers, etc). While use models vary, Metria IH1 is typically integrated into the services these providers provide.

Analyst: How fierce is the competition for your product in the wearable market?

Deepak: Ours is a very unique form factor, but competition is very fast emerging when you look at how others are approaching the market.  Wearables for healthcare applications, primarily face two types of competition, direct and alternative.

Direct competition means that there are a large number of companies developing similar products, for example Vital connect Inc, Zephyr (now part of Covidien).

Now, there are other wearables such as wrist bands which also claim to provide similar functionalities. This is the alternative competition to a product like ours. Acceptance of such products for health related outcomes will depend on the accuracy of the data they provide.  We are proud to stand behind the claims of accuracy on our product.

Analyst: What are the market challenges for healthcare or all the wearable products combined?

Deepak: Cost, sensor functionality and power autonomy are major challenges. At the same time, you have to have easy to use form factors that enable user compliance and adoption.

Since there are large amounts of data, data privacy and security must also be factored in. . Another kind of challenge, which is pretty critical to the healthcare wearable products, is the legacy system. Cost benefit and value proposition need to be established and validated to compete against the legacy system.

Furthermore, for clinical applications, outcomes must be backed by evidence.

Analyst: What is your strategy to sustain or grow in the wearable market?

Deepak: Right now we are purely focusing on consumer lifestyle and clinical applications, especially with our preferred form factor. We continue to work with channel partners, which is our go to market strategy.

Analyst: What about the demand of healthcare wearables from across the geographical areas such as North America and others? What are the key growth areas for wearables in healthcare applications?

Deepak: In North America, primarily in the U.S., people are willing to buy these devices but there is a strong requirement to demonstrate value and outcomes. Europe is also a leading market but demand is affected by similar reasons as in the U.S. In APAC, there is a lot of willingness among consumer and also a lower threat level from the legacy system. However, the demand will go up only when costs come down.

Analyst: Any comments on the wearable market scenario?

Deepak: The market will continue to remain fragmented in the coming 4-5 years. Healthcare is a vast challenge and it will take different classes of products to address the challenges.  Exciting new products like Google Glass have promising applications in medical field, like assisting doctors and surgeons, but will have to meet the burden of demonstrating outcomes and health economics.

BIS Research published an exhaustive report on Wearable Electronic Product Market. A second study on opportunities in Wearable Electronic Components Market is also published to identify opportunities for electronics and semiconductor market. For any queries on wearable market, please write to us at sales@bisresearch.com or call us at : +1 650 228 0182