Healthcare

2019 has been a big year for plant-based meat substitutes. Spurred on by consumer perceptions of healthiness and a global megatrend towards conscious consumptions, sales of plant-based meat grew by almost 40%, compared with 2017. In the three months after going public, plant-based burger maker Beyond Meat's share price surged by 500% and rival Impossible Foods secured an additional $300 million in funding.

Will the hamburgers of the future be made from animal cells grown in a lab instead of inside a cow? Cultured meat, also known as "cell-based" or "clean" meat, could soon be making its way to our dinner plates, completely bypassing the need for animal slaughter and overcoming some of the major environmental issues that currently plague the global agriculture industry. Even though no products have yet been released and there are major challenges with cost, regulation and scale up, the industry is growing rapidly, with investment reaching a new high in 2019.

IDTechEx is hosting a free webinar on Thursday 16 January 2020 titled Innovations in Cardiovascular Disease Management.

As developers' understanding of this disease grows, so will the range of devices at their disposal to address it. They have only scratched the surface of how technology can improve CVD patients' lives and, as they dig deeper, they will continue to unlock the potential of this growing market.

The idea of growing meat outside an animal has been around for a long time. In 1931, Winston Churchill wrote that by the 1980s "we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium." Although his timing was off by four decades, his predictions are beginning to materialise as the world looks for new ways to feed its burgeoning population whilst overcoming the environmental problems of conventional animal agriculture.

Held over 20 - 21 November 2019 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, USA, the latest edition of the IDTechEx Show! will once again feature the application of emerging technologies to the healthcare industry.

The ear has long been touted as an excellent place for technology to exist on the body. Over 5 years of gradually gaining momentum, the topic of "hearables" is finally being recognized more widely for the excellent opportunity which it presents.

Opening the IDTechEx Show! on November 20-21 at the Santa Clara Convention Center are three cornerstone speakers, highlighting key progress and future visions across the topics covered at the event.

A key focus of the Sensors USA part of the IDTechEx Show! will be Point-of-Care Biosensors. Biosensor devices provide information associated with a specific health condition or disease. The general trend in biosensors is a move from testing in centralized hospitals, to the patents with point-of-care devices.

The general trend in electronics is towards smaller and faster devices. Now something different is coming to market. The new competitive frontier is form factor: flexible, stretchable and structural electronics.