Live Report from WT | Wearable Technologies Conference 2016 EU in Munich – Day 2

9:00 AM We are kicking off Day 2 of the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference 2016 EUROPE in Munich with CEO of Wearable Technologies, Christian Stammel, introducing Dirk Muehlenweg, from IBM, who is talking about Cognitive IoT.
Cognitive IoT enables us to learn and infuse intelligence into the physical world to transform business and enhance human experience.

Under Armor is one of the new IBM Watson IoT Partnerships alongside Bragi, whose CEO & Founder Nikolaj Hviid spoke at the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference 2015 Europe.

IBM invested a historical amount of money in the new Era of Cognitive IoT. It’s not a hype because it’s happening right now!

Horst Merkle is now on stage to moderate the next session about Healthstyle : A Holistic Approach to Healthcare.

Marie McCarthy opens this session with Wearable devices in Clinical Trial. One of the challenges they face is getting volunteers to join the Clinical Trials and have Patient Engagement.

Wearables will need to be water resistance and use of a rechargeable battery for people to live their preferred lifestyle. Data Management is also important; we don’t want a lot of data useless data, instead we want valuable data.

Now Daniel Shen from Eargo is on stage. Eargo is a device to help people with hearing loss. People look for comfort, natural sound, almost invisible and easy of use when using when choosing a device to hear better. Their tiny device is almost invisible.

The ear is an excellent place to get signals so imaging the possibilities for the future!

Keith Errey from Isansys Lifecare explains Wearables in Critical Care. Isansys focuses on patients that are in Critical Conditions, because these individuals need to be monitored continuously while wanting to reside outside the hospital. To allow this, Isansys built a package of physiological monitoring wearables for at home.

The Isansys Lifetouch is a device that provides comfort for nurses with a single use at a low cost. They have learned that nurses don’t want to recharge batteries or worry about technology.

Sonia Sousa is closing this session from Kenzen. She states that monitoring our health is difficult and it is not getting any easier. Kenzen collaborates with NASA, hospitals in Europe and some American football teams. Their disposable sensor patch last for seven days. Kenzen Echo provides data for calorie monitoring and and real time hydration.

11:30 The last mile to the Consumer session starts by the hand of Julio Terra from one of the coolest platforms for wearables…Kickstarter! Lots of wearables have been backed by people on Kickstarter but only some will become a global reality.

The crowdfunding campaigns help prototypes into products with the money backers invested. Over time companies and noticed that most the money invested will be returned to the backers in form of the product, after that there is not much money left to scale the company. To make it into retail you will have to seek for funding from venture capitals, loans from banks; which can take people to the bridge of death – where most of the products die.

Now Cosmonized is up with Todd and Jerker. The core value from Cosmonized is industrial design. It is a new way to make products. Their customers go from the fashion industry to consumer electronics, smart packaging, smart glasses, virtual reality and cosmetics. Design is Cosmonizeds passion- to build up anything you can imagine.

Their goal is to elevate the human experience.

Finishing the session is TÜV SÜD with Asli Solmaz-Kaiser on Safety Beyond Compliance. Existing regulations are not made for wearables, the RF that a child can have differs from the one for an adult.

Security issues, Skin allergy, functionality problems are some of the problems that cause a product recall from brands. The products and technology are moving faster than the regulations.

According to consumer concerns TÜV SÜD will help companies to create the right testing concept for their product.

TÜV SÜD and WT | Wearable Technologies partners to keep us all safe while wearing our wearables!

Now time for Lunch and to enjoy the exhibition area!

2:30 Innovations in Enabling Technologies Session starts! First up is Wolfgang Mildner from MSWtech.

MSWtech creates Smart Textiles and Printed electronics like wristbands with a full flexible display or flexible LED display on clothing.

Key industries like automotive, packaging, healthcare, consumer electronics already use organic and printed electronics on a large scale. They are thin, lightweight and flexible = ideal for wearable technology.

Now on stage is Ej Shin from Jenax with the flexible battery. The first one of its kind, fold it, twist it or bend it! Its Structure is : Low Internal Resistance, no leakage of electrolyte,with a high capacity and high energy density.

Now Covestro is up! Materials for Wearable Patches.

The Smart Patches are the next wearable wave, as we predicted, Covestro will be the next big thing. The key to success : Prototype, Industrialization, Customer acceptance.

Infineon is next! Timo Lisk with NFC for wearables: for over 20 years, Infineon has designed chips that enable new technologies because it fits perfectly inside wearables. The NFC could be used for contactless payment, to access systems  and to use the public transport.

Closing this session is VTT with Antti Kemppainen. Printed and Hybrid Manufacturing. The microcontrollers are not super fancy, they aim for the smaller the better.

The next actions are smart patches for more activities on stretchable substrates that contain bluetooth low energy. Bringing the IoT platform to full flex substrate.

4:45 Final Session now starting with Lycos, Brad Cohen. They have now two form-types Lycos life: a wristband and a ring.
The ring with no battery, it works with NFC.

The wristband has a battery that lasts for 2 weeks, also with NFC.

Walking on stage is…. Kerv : A wristband that never needs charging! It can also do contactless payment and ID sharing simply by shaking hands, no pairing allowed. It’s magic!

Final presentation of the day and WT | Wearable Technologies Conference from Swisscom, Gerhard Schedler.

Low power Network is not only in Switzerland it is also starting in other countries like France.

The disposal technology IoT is being made by the LORA Alliance and is becoming the new kind of physical app.

That was all from the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference 2016 EUROPE! See you all in Barcelona on February 24th! Thank you to all the attendees and WT | Wearable Technologies Staff!