The Consumer Electronics Show is increasingly becoming a showcase for developers, investors and buyers of digital health.
The conference, with over 100,000 attendees, took place in Las Vegas from January 5 to 8, 2023. Here are four takeaways from the event.
Not a Modern Healthcare subscriber? Sign up today.
1. Emerging companies will use the business-to-consumer model as a training base to pivot business-to-business.
Several companies sharing their strategic blueprints for 2023 have echoed similar ambitions to eventually market their products to businesses instead of consumers. Nearly all admitted that they must first demonstrate value and concern to consumers before offering to businesses.
“It’s definitely something that we’ll be looking at in the future.” Ismene Grohmann, product lead for Lingo, Abbott’s emerging line of bio-wearable devices. “Employers and health systems are pursuing these health benefits because they recognize that they are also preventive health benefits.”
Lingo connects a wearable device with a smartphone app to monitor a person’s glucose, ketone, lactate, and alcohol levels.
The majority of the entrepreneurs at CES said their ultimate goal was to demonstrate value to large-scale payments institutions.
Essentially, this follows Fitbit’s model of engaging consumers first and then using proof of concept to capture business customers, who are typically much more scrutinized but mostly wealthier than curious consumers.
“We are expecting a lot of such conversations to take place,” Grohmann said.
2. Age Tech may be at an inflection point
AARP and its Association of AgeTech Companies had a significant presence on the floor at CES. The partnership involves dozens of early-stage companies looking to improve access to aged care.
The initiative aims to promote younger, care-age populations to become members of AARP, and highlights today’s market needs, said Rick Robinson, AARP’s vice president of AgeTech collaborations. There is growing interest in digital health technologies that serve older populations.
Participating companies use everything from connected home technologies that help seniors on-site to augmented reality applications.
“This is a huge and growing market,” says Robinson. “The people in there know that, but a lot of people don’t. There’s too much left on the table.”
Other experts agree that highlighting technologies that focus on currently underserved populations will have an edge over those that target customers in more crowded spaces.
AARP and other long-standing strategic partners provide early stage investments in many companies while helping them define their business plans.
Carina Edwards, CEO of Quil Health, a joint venture of Comcast and Independence Health Group focused on helping seniors in situ, said: “Although many people think the potential of old-age technology is huge high, but it faces additional obstacles when compared to other products. Quil is part of dozens of companies that have participated in AARP’s AgeTech partnership program.
“The age of technology is difficult because buyers are not users. Seniors are [often] didn’t buy this for me,” Edwards said.
Download Modern Healthcare’s app to stay informed when there’s breaking industry news.
3. Raising capital is difficult but necessary for many companies
There will be no shortage of companies looking to raise capital in 2023. While that’s good news for investors hoping to capitalize on broader economic factors, founders and executives alike Startups are anticipating a more challenging environment than last year.
“There is still a lot. The big trends we’re listening to are [return on investment]. Just focus on ROI,” says Edwards. Although Quil’s financial resources differed from those of other companies due to its relationships with Comcast and Independence Health Group, other executives admitted to having held onto their available cash during the recession were predicted this year.
Nearly everyone agrees that it’s increasingly important to demonstrate results when seeking funding. Newcomers – those established after the market corrects – may be better equipped for rapid growth, experts say, because they are often leaner than their peers. older, experts say.
4. Restrictions on approval of medical devices are likely to continue
While exceptions do exist, most companies that manufacture or boast Food and Drug Administration-approved technologies are seeking narrow regulatory approval for specific ingredients. in their device.
This allows devices to be brought to market faster and cheaper than producing consumer devices with full regulatory approval. For example, the FDA has less stringent health care device approval processes than devices marketed as medical devices.
However, to engage consumers and differentiate themselves in the increasingly crowded wearables market, many companies are strategically maintaining regulatory approvals for parts or sensors. specific variables on their device.
This story first appeared in Digital Health Business & Technology.
