Plastic is everywhere, and that is the problem. There is a huge drive to address the concerns that consumers and industry alike have regarding the longevity of plastic in the environment.

Healthcare Sensor Innovations, a brand-new event hosted by IDTechEx, opened to a packed audience in Cambridge, UK, last week. The event focused on the use of wearables and sensors in enabling the point-of-care diagnostics and continuous monitoring of individuals for health and wellness.

Registrations for the inaugural Healthcare Sensors Innovation event in Cambridge on 25-26 September is exceeding all expectations and nears venue capacity. The event is successfully bringing together the linchpins of the healthcare industry with the electronics industry to explore the opportunity in two specific areas: point of care diagnostics and continuous monitoring.

This is the second of a two part series exploring wearable medical devices. In part 1, IDTechEx discussed trends indicating that "the future of wearable is medical". In part 2, we explore the question in reverse, asking to what extent "the future of wearables is medical."

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 3 October 2019 titled Is The Tipping Point For Graphene Commercialisation Approaching?

The IDTechEx Show! in Santa Clara, California on November 20-21 has it all. There will be over 270 exhibitors engaging with 3,500 attendees; seven parallel conferences and even masterclasses on November 19 and 22, with matchmaking services and awards. Land the big order or at least come away "married" and famous!

The IDTechEx Launchpad initiative is open to early-stage start-ups, universities, newly spun-out companies, research labs and government labs who can demonstrate a working prototype or product that highlights new advances in any of the related event topics of: electric vehicles, energy storage, graphene, internet of things, printed electronics, sensors, and wearable technology.

Though the human body has a tremendous capability to heal itself, wound healing can stall and create chronic non-healing wounds due to a variety of reasons such as ischemia, bacterial contamination, and chronic inflammation. IDTechEx Research have published a comprehensive report, "Advanced Wound Care Technologies 2020-2030", explaining why the incidence of chronic wounds is set to rise drastically in the next 10 years, and how electronic devices and other emerging technologies can address this upcoming challenge.

IDTechEx, a market intelligence company focusing on emerging technologies, have released a new report titled "Advanced Wound Care Technologies 2020-2030". In the report, IDTechEx forecasts the market for advanced wound care technologies to exceed $22 billion by the year 2030.

Biobased polymers are gaining increased prominence in the minds of consumers, as increased awareness of climate change and plastic pollution continues to grow. However, the range of biobased alternatives to the main plastics we encounter in our daily lives continues to limit its potential adoption. Key to accelerating the switch from petrochemical to biobased plastics is going to be a larger diversity of materials, including commodity polyolefins such as polypropylene and polyethylene. IDTechEx looks at the key manufacturers of biobased polymers and production methods and capacities, in their report, "Biobased Polymers 2018-2023: A Technology and Market Perspective".

IDTechEx, expert providers of market intelligence in emerging technologies, have forecast the medical wearables market to be worth $19.7 billion by the year 2024 in their latest research. This market will be driven by the demand for continuous health monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics for the management of chronic diseases.

Global awareness of climate change and pollution is increasing, but finding ways to halt our dependence on fossil fuels and plastics is proving extremely difficult. One possible solution is to shift away from petrochemicals towards a biobased feedstock to make plastics, but how realistic is this proposal? IDTechEx uncovers the factors influencing adoption of biobased polymers in their report, "Biobased Polymers 2018-2023: A Technology and Market Perspective".

Flexible electronics and smart bandages are key to cost savings in the future of advanced wound care. Advanced wounds, referring to those that are non-healing for more than 4 weeks, are on the rise around the world. This is because there are an increasing number of people with poor wound healing ability, including the rising number of elderly people over 65 years of age, and the rising number of people with Type 2 diabetes.

There is no doubt that 3D bioprinting is a technology of the future. Imagine being able to print a kidney or liver on demand. This is a stark contrast to the long wait for a donor organ today. Currently, the average wait time for a liver is 4 to 5 months, and 2.5 to 3 years for a kidney in the UK. Despite the acceleration in 3D bioprinting research we have witnessed in the past few years, we are still far from the holy grail of printed organs for transplant.

The next wave of devices for diabetes management is wearable insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors. These devices are already in use today and uptake is increasing. The devices remove a significant number of pain points from current technologies.

Healthcare Sensor Innovations 2019 is a conference and exhibition focusing on the technologies and applications of medical wearables and sensors. Curated by IDTechEx analysts, the two-day conference will consist of over 30 speakers from companies developing or utilising wearables and sensors in healthcare.

IDTechEx has been following the field of bioelectronic medicine over the past year and have identified several fast-growing areas, including peripheral nerve stimulation, which is forecast to grow at 35% CARG for 2019 - 2029. Several firsts in regulatory approvals and clearances of bioelectronic medicine devices over the first half of 2019 mark important initial steps in growing the market and increasing the number of patients being treated by these technologies. Please refer to the IDTechEx market research report "Bioelectronic Medicine 2019-2029" for more information.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 4 July 2019 titled Transforming Healthcare through Remote Patient Monitoring.

The latest IDTechEx Research report "Remote Patient Monitoring 2019-2029" covers trends, opportunities and outlook for the use of wearables and connected medical devices in the monitoring of patients outside of traditional clinical settings.

With investment in digital health reaching $8.1 billion in 2018, understanding how this complex field will impact the healthcare industry is paramount. The recently updated report from IDTechEx Research, 'Digital Health 2019: Trends, Opportunities and Outlook', acts as a primer to the digital health space.