Sarah Heimeier is a 22-year-old Industrial Design student at RMIT who developed 'Jana,' an intuitive wearable technology for mothers.
Jana is used for the purposes of remote pregnancy monitoring, allowing data to be collected and transmitted to doctors. With information available in real-time, this technology could be extremely useful to expectant women in remote areas. For her idea, Heimeier won this year's Australian James Dyson Award.
As well as fitness trackers having appeal to a broad demographic, specialized wearable monitors are also appealing to those who want to tackle specific health conditions and ailments. As an indication of how quickly this kind of technology is infiltrating the mainstream, a recent update to the Apple Watch now permits expectant mothers to monitor pregnancy through connected sensors and the Sense4Baby app.
Wearable Pregnancy Monitors
'Jana' is a Remote Pregnancy-Tracking Technology for Mothers
Trend Themes
1. Wearable Pregnancy Monitors - The rise of wearable technology designed specifically for pregnancy monitoring presents opportunities for the development of more intuitive, specialized devices in the healthcare industry.
2. Remote Health Monitoring - The application of remote health monitoring technology such as 'Jana' could be extended beyond pregnancy tracking to include monitoring of other health conditions, particularly in remote or low-access areas.
3. Specialized Wearable Technology - Demand for specialized wearable technology that tackles specific health conditions presents opportunities for innovation and disruption in the healthcare industry.
Industry Implications
1. Wearable Technology - The market for wearable technology is expanding to include new sectors such as pregnancy monitoring, indicating a strong opportunity for businesses to innovate and develop new products.
2. Healthcare - The healthcare industry is ripe for disruption by remote health monitoring technology that can provide increased access and more efficient service delivery, particularly in low-access areas.
3. Design - Innovative wearable technology designs such as 'Jana' highlight the importance of design in the development of intuitive, specialized products in both the healthcare and technology industries.