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 Personal Health Data in Healthcare: Fitness monitoring applications.
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 443,000 patents to analyse innovation intensity for the healthcare industry, there are 200+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Fitness monitoring applications is a key innovation area in personal health data
Fitness monitoring applications analyse personal health data from various fitness physiological status monitoring devices available for exercises like walking, running, and general lifestyle including heart rate monitors as well as sleep monitors, and sweat sensors.
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 70+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established healthcare companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of fitness monitoring applications.
Key players in fitness monitoring applications – 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 fitness monitoring applications
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
NIKE is one of the leading patent filers in the market for fitness monitoring applications. Some other key patent filers in the field include adidas and Apple. In terms of application diversity, Aliphcom leads the pack, followed by Whoop and Kaia Health Software. By means of geographic reach, Bandai Namco held the top position, followed by Amer Sports and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung in second and third spots, respectively.
Fitness monitoring applications analyse the data from fitness tracker devices. Data can be in the form of multiple health parameters such as heart rate, daily calorie intake, glucose levels, and distance for walking and running. These applications provide key performance indicators such as calorie burnout and daily activity status. Increasing health awareness among the masses has improved the growth prospects for the fitness monitoring application market. Fitness applications can suggest multiple recommendations to achieve the desired health goal. Many of these devices are equipped with GPS which can help elaborate data for creating meaningful insights. Furthermore, personal data needs to be handled as per the law associated with a particular region. The data servers used for storage need to be protected from any data breaches.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the healthcare industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Personal Health Data.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
