We asked some device experts to share their toughest lessons from IoT in the medical space. (These experts will be on the upcoming IoT and data analysis panel at DeviceTalks Boston on Oct. 2.)
Venk Varadan, Co-Founder & CEO at Nanowear: At its highest level IoT is very complicated, especially in medical devices. IoT requires supply chain scalability all the way to machine-learning services with sensors, hardware, firmware, software and stratified data sets in between. And all must adhere, and rightfully should adhere, to the most rigorous standards of compliance, traceability, and documentation.
Essentially, Medical IoT is seven different medtech companies in one (e.g., the mobile app and number of users is one small aspect of IoT’s platform)
And this complexity coupled with necessary regulatory adherence has started forcing the market to split IoT into smaller parts. (You do the hardware, and we’ll do the analytics). You can’t be so crazy to do everything on your own, right?
Breaking it up may be the right way to tackle a space like IoT that is so complicated, but is one that is unquestionably going to transform healthcare. And there are some examples of those that have done the full gamut of the IoT medical chain in one company and have been very successful.
In either route, it’s going to take early trailblazers and more early betters in this new generation of medical IoT to push health care to that state of transformative ubiquity where outcomes improve and costs reduce dramatically…
… but we’d probably all agree it would’ve been easier to build a food delivery or social media app.
