Investigating Innovation Ecosystems for Wearable Medical Devices

Abstract

Wearable medical technologies (wearables) are a type of digital health technology that have the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare by offering a personalized, predictive, and preventative form of patient care. Unfortunately, the adoption of these technologies remains low, indicating an issue with the innovation ecosystem. Existing literature on innovation ecosystems fails to address wearables and the trade-offs between profitability and health outcomes, hindering discussion on how to promote the widespread adoption of wearables. This paper reviews and synthesizes literature from the business community and healthcare technology community on innovation ecosystems to contribute towards developing a more robust model of the innovation ecosystem for developing wearables. Future work aims to enrich this conceptualization with interviews of key actors in the innovation ecosystem. Clinical Relevance- This establishes the relevance of innovation ecosystems in enabling the usage and uptake of digital health technologies that meet patient needs.