Welcome to the 18th WT | Wearable Technologies Conference in Asia for 2015! We kicked off the biggest Asian WT | Conference ever. More than 250 attendees with plenty of exhibitors to fill the amazing conference area at the top conference venue of Hong Kong – in the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel, Wanchai.
The great partnership between WT and TÜV SÜD lead to a new level of market collaboration with the official launch of the TÜV SÜD – WT certification mark. The offical launch was during the Opening Keynote of Dr. Axel Stepken the CEO of TÜV SÜD worldwide. The program was filled with amazing content and highlights in the presentation of the first noninvasive blood sugar patch, the first flexibel glass and the first carbon nanontube fibers for the development of flexible and wholly conductive materials and housings.
9:00AM All attendees have filed into the conference area. WT | Wearable Technologies CEO, Christian Stammel welcomes everyone. Our event partner, TÜV SÜD, brings to stage Dr. –Ing Axel Stepken, Chairman and Board of Management, for the opening Keynote. This moment is special because it marks the launch of the TÜV SÜD – WT certification mark worldwide. Now all newly emerging wearables can be tested and certified for better consumer safety and regulation.
9:15AM TÜV SÜD’s Ms. Asil Solmaz-Kaiser steps to the stage to introduce the Asian market on the WT – TÜV SÜD certification mark. Ms. Solmaz-Kaiser explains not only the process for certification, but what details quality a wearable product as safe to the consumer population.
9:35AM Ms. Solmaz-Kaiser moderates the Latest in Enabling Tech section of speakers.
The first company to hit the stage in this section is Gemalto. Ms. Chantal Abadie is speaking on their behalf about how to secure wearable data. Gemalto is the leading software security company – they have worked with banks and government offices. For any company needing a reliable and forward thinking software security partner – Gemalto is your choice!
Canatu’s Sales Director Greater China, Kerwin Yern, is next to the stage. Today he speaks about Enabling User Interfaces on Wearables. Canatu is a company that manufactures flexible, transparent conductive films for touch applications. One thing is certain; consumers won’t take the time to learn how to manipulate new wearable technology. The designers and engineers must create a user interface that is simple and self-explanatory.
Saara Tuurala, the Senior Scientist and Project Manager from VTT steps in front of the LED screen to share with attendees how their new Biobattery can be used in wearable tech as a skin patch. This new designs is significant to the market growth of wearable smart patches. The main concern is battery life, and skin reactions to the patch’s adhesive. VTT has taken the first step to solve one of these two problems. Skin patches can be used to health or beauty related devices. If you are interested in smart patches, here is an article WT wrote about flexible skin patches that are already on the market.
Mr. Keith Hong from MediaTek Labs steps to the stage. He speaks about MediaTek Lab’s LinkIt starter-kit for designing and prototyping wearables with small hardware. However, LinkIt can also be applied to any IoT device. With LinkIt you can send your device’s data straight to Amazon Web Services. The coolest feature about the kit is you can encode encryption to secure the MQTT connection, on top of the already secure AWS cloud.
The last company in the Enabling Tech Section is SCHOTT Glass Technologies, Dr. Feng He. SCHOTT Glass Technologies manufactures flexible glass that can be used in a vast array of applications. So far, they have collaborated with home appliances, pharmaceutical industry, oil and gas manufacturing, food processing, electronics, optics to the automotive industry. SCHOTT Glass Technologies’ innovations are non-stop – they have recently developed strong, flexible glass to cover photovoltaic panels used on steep lamps. Their work ranges from big to small; thus ideal for the wearable tech industry.
11:10AM Time for a quick coffee break and short peak at the exhibitor section.
11:35AM We are back! On stage is Mr. Ishan Palit, TÜV SÜD Product Service Division’s CEO. Mr. Palit will moderate the Medical Wearables section of today’s conference.
Steve Leftly, CEO and Founder of Myovolt steps up to present their innovative product for improving muscle performance. Myovolt has a strap on vibrating wearable device for sports therapy. It is designed to relax the muscle after stress from sports. They were the WT | Wearable Technologies Sport and Fitness Innovator of the Year for 2014. Currently, they have updated the form factor of their technology. Now it can be used in various places on the body.
A new company to join the WT | Network is Nemaura Medical. They have designed a non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring wearable smart patch. Dr. Faz Chowdhury speaks about old and current technology used by people with diabetes. This is out-of-date invasive technology is not effective or simple to use. With Nemaura Medical’s monitoring patch, people with diabetes will be able to live more freely. For more details, here is an interview article WT posted pre-conference.
Lastly, AiQ Smart Clothing’s Steve Huang steps to the stage. Mr. Huang is speaking about the impact of smart clothing reaching clinical healthcare solutions. This has yet to be public, or devices sold to the market. However, the potential for smart clothing to take the lead in medical wearables is predicted to occur within the next five years.
12:45PM Lunch Time!
Take the time to check out our amazing exhibitors. We have the leading innovator in the wearable industry, FLEX near the lunch tables.
A
iQ Smart Clothing is located near the front doors. They are displaying their Bioman – smart tracking sports under-shirt.
Go chat with the AiQ team about other ways to implement their smart textile technology into clothing.
C.Vox is the Asian market wearable distributor of top-of-the-line devices. They are also located near the lunch area. You can hold and see what types of wearable clothing, watches, and other devices they sell.
Touchone Keyboard is the 1st ever keyboard for the smart watch. You are welcome to play with their application on your smart watch!
Brain Rhythm Inc. has their EEG headset on display at their exhibition table. Try it on, and see what your brain waves are doing!
Gemalto is available for a chat and exchange of business cards. They are located near the conference room.
Cosmonized is also in the exhibiting area. They specialize in global product development; particularly for accessorizing your electronics.
2:00PM We welcome everyone back to the conference room. Cosmonized, Mr. Jerker Berthou and Scott Kim, will share how to approach the global market through product design, development, and manufacturing. How can you make your idea come to life? How to you design your idea to be fit for all people and cultures of the world? These key questions are what Me. Berthou and Mr. Kim are answering.
2:20PM Mr. Stammel, WT CEO, is moderating the Wearable Ecosystem and Beyond.
First to the stage is Mr. Shao-Wei Lu from Brain Rhythm Inc. Mr. Lu is speaking on the topic of Brain Sensing Wearables. Brain Rhythm Inc has developed a new EEG headset that uses new sensors. These sensors do not need any sticky chemicals to induce conductivity to read the brain’s waves. This is hopefully going to be integrated into the R&D area of EEG developments.
Next to the stage is Mr. Sam Zeng from Kopin. Kopin is a manufacture of near-eye displays for headsets and eye wearables. They have collaborated with government officials, business folks, and designers to develop the most innovative wearable eye displays to market. WT featured Mr. Zeng an interview article – for more details check it out!
Lastly, Lycos representative Mr. Brad Cohen steps to the stage. Mr. Cohen will close out the wearable ecosystem presentations with a talk called, “Appropriating Person Preferences using Wearables.” He answers questions like; how does one design a man 2 machine device with a simple out-of-the-box interface? What types of implementation is needed for the majority of consumers? What will keep the wearable on the body and off the dresser?
3:20PM Coffee break and a short photoshoot in front of the LED wall.
3:45PM The last section of today’s conference is around the theme of consumer wearables. Mr. Dirk von Wahl from TÜV SÜD Greater China is the moderator.
How does one combine technology that we carry into fashion to be worn? This question is proposed by Mr. Laurent Le Pen, CEO and founder of Omate. Omate’s mission is to connect the world thought a wearable experience. They have several watches and rings that have wearable technology integrated into their sleek designs. Their products are special because they do not steer too far away from the already existing jewelry that consumers enjoy to purchase. WT is happy to welcome Mr. Le Pen to this first WT | Wearable Technologies Conference.
Next to the stage is Karios Watch, Mr. Sam Yang, to speak on The Importance of Fashion, Brand Power and Status for Wearables. Watches have been a symbol of societal status, and wealth. Is this the same when referred to smartwatches? For those that do not know, Karios Watch designs their hybrid smartwatches to resemble to classic Swiss watch, but with high-tech implementation. This can lead to the wearer being constantly up-to-date without sending too much attention to their actions – but does it still say something about their status?
Last but not least, Touchone Keyboard’s CEO and Founder, Jingtao Hu, steps to the stage. Mr. Hu will close out today’s talks with a speech on Inventing the First Dedicated Smartwatch Keyboard. Since smartwatches have such a small screen, most consumers only use it as a notification system. With Touchone Keyboard, you can now see you have a new message and quickly reply on your smartwatch with their easy to use keyboard! You can test it out at their exhibiton table.
4:45PM Welcome Mr. Ishan Palit back to the stage for the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference Asia 2015 closing keynote.
5:00PM Mr. Stammel, CEO of WT | Wearable Technologies wishes everyone a beautiful evening, as well as to partake in the networking after-conference cocktail party.
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