Wearable Technology

Analysts IDTechEx are unique in having six up-to-date reports with ten year forecasts on the wearable technology market.

In this article we focus on the current status of the main printed electronics technologies for components in consumer goods and healthcare applications, providing for each one market drivers, case studies and key suppliers, cost structures and challenges.

Analyst views of the Internet of Things (IoT) vary drastically depending on how one defines the topic. As a result, there is the potential for much hyping.

Mobile phones and associated wearable electronics are now part of what is called the Internet of People. The Internet of Everything (IoE) is a term that describes the massively connected world ahead of us.

Wearable technology for humans is all the rage. As "the next big thing", it involves head-on clashes between some of the largest companies on the planet. Those interested in such technologies would therefore be wise to take a look at wearable technology for animals.

The heart of the e-textile business as it emerges is electric and electronic functionality from sensing to light emission, achieved entirely by use of e-fibers.

Many giant electronics manufacturers, computer services companies and conglomerates are heavily investing in wearable technologies, the internet of things, and the internet of people. IDTechEx predicts massive growth in these areas in the coming years.

Last Christmas and New Year the ideal present, for a girl of a certain age, from Japan to the UK was the Neurowear clip-on of floppy ears driven by brain waves to reflect your mood.

Wearable electronics is a very fragmented industry when it comes to manufacturers. Even mature sub-sectors have no clear leaders in what will be a $70 billion plus business in 2024 with 12,000 developers and manufacturers as newly calculated by analysts IDTechEx.

So far, there is very little true e-textile in production - that is, textiles with electronic and/or electric functionality based on weavable e-fibers. That is now changing.