Health surveillance for patients at home, permanent monitoring for high blood pressure and insect bite prevention: at an INSIGHT event organised by Iftest and the Swiss Medtech association, the focus was on concrete applications in the area of digital health.

At a well-attended networking event on 12 September 2018, the past and future could not have been closer: the restaurant Sternen Kloster Wettingen – the oldest restaurant in Switzerland, located in an 800-year-old monastery building – played host to participants learning more about the future of medical technology. Medical wearables from innovative Swiss start-up companies, accompanied by a tour of the high-tech Iftest production facility nearby, formed the basis for lively discussion. Among other things, the visit focussed on the testing systems that are so important in the production of medical electronics, such as the 3D Automatic Optical Inspection system (AOI) and the new x-ray microscope which, in combination with 3D-AOI, represents the foundation for high-quality medical and wearable electronics from Iftest.

Everion – the little hospital on your upper arm

Anika Uhde, Director of Medical Partnerships at the Zurich-based company Biovotion, presented Everion, a wearable worn on the upper arm, which captures eight important physiological parameters in medical-grade quality. These include heart rate, skin temperature, breathing rate and skin circulation. The data collected allows factors such as stress, sleep quality, blood pulse wave or calorie consumption to be determined and this information can be shared with doctors and hospitals using cloud technology. Through the collection and analysis of this data, the wearable enables, for example, monitoring of patients who have been released from hospital early. It has already been approved as a Class IIa medical device within Europe.

 aktiia – continuous and accurate 24/7 blood pressure measurement

Permanent monitoring of blood pressure in at-risk individuals will soon be possible thanks to the blood pressure wearable from start-up company aktiia, based in Neuchâtel. In the first functional tests, it has already been shown that the aktiia armband delivers equivalent blood pressure results to the standard procedure using a cuff. Mattia Bertschi, CEO of aktiia, said in his presentation that the company is planning for the new product to be ready for approval by regulatory authorities at the end of 2019. If it is successful at this stage, aktiia will then be able to take advantage of an enormous market potential, as the armband allows measurement around the clock. This will enable two important WHO targets to be efficiently implemented; the early prevention and individually tailored treatment of patients with high blood pressure.

Nopixgo – the revolutionary mosquito repellent armband

Nopix Global AG, located in the Zurich lowlands, has global ambitions. The mosquito repellent armband nopixgo developed by the company offers far-reaching protection from insect bites based on a physically simulated thunderstorm. Already available on the market, the wearable is still to undergo further optimisation and be developed into a mass product, according to Max Börke of Nopix Global. The company’s aim is for nopixgo to be used not only in industrial nations as reliable protection against irritating mosquito bites, but also developed as a cost-effective product to protect against malaria, Zika virus and other serious or even deadly diseases in developing countries.

Learn more about wearable electronics from Iftest