It has been estimated the wearable technology industry will see a five-fold increase over the next ten years, from over $14 billion to over $70 billion. The dominant sector will be the increasingly merged healthcare and medical with the fitness and wellness sectors. The potential benefits for wearable devices are manifold, which we can see from the increase in smart watches integrated with fitness trackers; medical sensing decices and body adaptable wearable electronics. These new technologies could reshape our society in the future and bring us to a whole new level of personalised digital, health information. Nevertheless, we notice that consumers have not yet fully embraced healthcare wearable technology, and for the bulk of users, these are a novelty that wear off. A recent survey indicates that only 21% of consumers own a wearable health device, and fewer than half of these wear them daily (PwC 2014). For gains to be realised, we need the correct regulatory frameworks, strategic alliances among innovators and market leaders, investment capital as well as greater public awareness.
In this session, we discuss whether this emerging technology is investable, and what are the expectations of investors?
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Here our panel’s views and offer your own. A reception of wines and canapes will follow the event.
About the panel:
Dr Esther Rodriguez-Villegas, Reader in Low Power Electronics
Imperial College London
Dr. Esther Rodriguez-Villegas obtained her M.S. in Physics, 1996 and PhD 2002, both from the University of Seville. Since 2002, she has been a faculty member, currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, where she specialises in ultra-low-power electronic circuits and systems for wearable medical devices. She is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and a book on low power circui design, published by the IET. Dr. Rodriguez-Villegas is also a Senior Member of the IEEE, and has been a member of technical committess at a number of international IEEE conferences. In 2010, she won a €1.8m Starting Grant from the European Research Council. This award is the most prestigious one given in Europe since it aims to identify and support future leaders of research. In 2009, she was the recipient of the “Complutense Premio Joven de Ciencia y Tecnologia” , an award which recognises the top scienciest / innnovator in Spain under the age of 36. In the same year, she also recieved the IET Innovation Award in Information Technology, and last year, she led the winning team in the XPRIZE Competition Nokia Sensing XChallenge, which recognises innovations with the potential to revolutionalise healthcare.
Stuart Hillston, Chief Executive Officer
Constellation Capital Limited
Stuart began his career as a computer programmer at a large independant research lab. His first start-up experience came after 2 years with a Bristish software company which grew rapidly and globally. Stuart was instrumental in establishing the company inthe USA, Eastern Europe and Japan, the company finally exited for a trade sale in 1994. He went onto form serveral other IT service companies and has been directly involved in early and growth stage companies ever since. In the late 1990s he spent time in a senior role at a NASDAQ listed company. After a few years working for charity and the DTI, Stuart made the transition into investing in technology. He has managed investments in a London based family office, run an AIM listed investment business, and worked in a FSA regulated brokerage and fund manager.
He is now CEO of Constellation Capital, a specialist advisor to early stage entrepreneurs, primarily in the software, digital, mobile and medical device sectors, getting them investor ready and finding equity capital. Stuart is also a mentor and board advisor for incubators and accelerators in London and the South-East, has been a non-executive director of nearly 30 companies and is actively involved with four Universities.
Nathan Benaich, Associate
Playfair Capital
Nathan joined Playfair Capital where he invests in technology start-ups, improving the way we live and work. His area of interest is software that automates knowledge work, bioinformatics, and consumer apps for on-demand products and services. Within the portfolio, Nathan helps with product development, market research and growth. He has worked on over a dozen new Seed deals and follow-on Series A and B financings, including Mapillary; Dojo; Appear Here and DueDil. Prior to joining Playfair Capital, Nathan earned a PhD and MPhil in Experimental and Computational Oncology as a Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, and a BA in Biology from Williams College. His published research focused on technologies to halt the fatal spread of cancer around the body.
Maximillian Doelle, Digital Strategist & Prototyper
Kazendi
Maximillian Doelle is a Digital Strategist & Prototyper ay Kazendi, and aims to solve the inherent problems of corpporate digital innovation processes as well as utilise uncaptured technology opportunities. Kazendi’s explorative approach is to provide effective experimentation capabilities to test innovation propositions.
He has previously worked as the Assistant to the Chief Strategy Officer at Arvato, a global outsourcing company with €4.4bn revenue, where he acted as an expert on technology opportunities. He undertook a MSc in Economics & Business Strategy at Imperial College, London, and has co-hosted the Imperial College Google Glass & Wearables Hackathon.
Places are limited. Register your place at this event.
This event is part of the Best Practice 5-part series. The series is organised by The Entrepreneurship Hub at Imperial College Business School and is supported by the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF).