What will the future of Wearable Technologies be like? Which visions have become reality already? About 90 international experts from leading companies from the sports, the textile, the electronics and the health care industry met to discuss these questions and present latest developments and visions at the Wearable Technologies Conference which took place in line with ispo in Munich.
Being a leading provider of community sports, Nike presented their new Nike+ SportWatch GPS which, with the help of TomTom navigation systems, can document the route and motivate the runner. Qualcomm demonstrated how sensors attached to the body can give constant information on the health status even of unborn babies. Fraunhofer for example introduced a washable shirt that can spare chronically ill people from constant visits to the doctor by transmitting vital data via Bluetooth technology, and VARTA Microbattery gave insights about smart battery technologies needed for wearable devices in sports, fitness, security, or health care. 4DForce GmbH demonstrated that they can even take people to a new dimension by analyzing brainwaves via a wireless sensor headset.
Next generation technologies were also presented by Qmo Solar who explored the future potential of printed organic solar cells that will be integrated in to garments, and Columbia Sportswear presented the highly efficient integration of power based heating in apparel, gloves and footwear.
This high level conference was concluded by a presentation of Mike Foley, CEO of the Bluetooth SIG who presented the benefits of the new Bluetooth low energy technology and who introduced the winners of the Bluetooth Innovation World Cup 2010!
All these presentations and many more top quality contributions showed up the high market potential and already existing consumer demand for further developments in Wearable Technologies and we’re excited to see what will be next in this world of quickly changing technologies.
Testimonials WTconference 2011
“The WTconference offered an excellent setting to present our new Nike+ SportWatch GPS.”
Ulrike Köhler, Nike Deutschland
“Thanks for the conference. Appreciated your initial contribution, indeed market is taking off and the rising interest from the various enabling technologies (wireless, batteries, sensors, etc…) confirms this all.”
