The healthcare industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by telemedicine, real-time diagnostics, smart hospitals, and access to digital therapies, and the growing importance of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), robotics and data management practices. In the last three years alone, there have been over 106,000 patents filed and granted in the healthcare industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Internet of Things in Healthcare: Speech emotion recognition and analysis. Buy the report here.
However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
200+ innovations will shape the healthcare industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the healthcare industry using innovation intensity models built on over 443,000 patents, there are 200+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, smart helmets, body temperature sensors, and software as a medical device (SaMD) are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Smart balloon catheters, point-of-care molecular diagnostics, and automated immunoassay analysers are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are smart contact lenses and GPS-integrated fitness monitors, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for Internet of Things in the healthcare industry

Speech emotion recognition and analysis is a key innovation area in Internet of Things
Abbreviated as SER, speech emotion recognition attempts to identify a speaker’s emotional state from his/her speech data. The non-verbal parts of the speech are further used to analyse vocal behaviour to recognise affect including emotion, stress and mood. It employs various machine learning techniques and systems to provide real-time and efficient speech signal processing and can potentially replace conventional manual speech emotion recognition methods.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 40+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established healthcare companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of speech emotion recognition and analysis.
Key players in speech emotion recognition and analysis – a disruptive innovation in the healthcare industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to speech emotion recognition and analysis
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Microsoft is the leading patent filer in the speech emotion recognition and analysis market. Some other leading patent filers include International Business Machines Corp (IBM) and Cordio Medical.
In terms of application diversity, Baidu leads, followed by Microsoft and Pear Therapeutics. With regards to geographic reach, Novartis leads, followed by IMEDIPLUS and Pear Therapeutics.
Speech emotion recognition and analysis has become a crucial research topic with an aim to improve human-machine interactions. It is gaining immense popularity for its wide area of application among call centre operators, drivers, phone users and other people who interact with machines, to enhance service and safety. The future is expected to be fascinating with upcoming advancements in automation of these systems.
To further understand how Internet of Things is disrupting the healthcare industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Internet of Things (IoT) in Healthcare.
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