Technically, digital health refers to the utilisation of electronic communication or information technology-based processes, tools, and services to facilitate better healthcare services. Today, telemedicine, teleconsultation, remote monitoring, connected devices, digital health platforms and health apps are just some of the forms by which digital healthcare has proliferated.
The digital health market is growing by leaps and bounds, made all the more possible with the advent of the pandemic. The rise of digital and remote healthcare was inevitable as COVID-19 ground the planet to a standstill for years now.
The digital health pivot of a manufacturing giant was made public after the company inked a tri-party deal with a government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and another industrial partner expert on biophotonics. As per its company executive, the company has made clear its vision: Developing a long-distance healthcare monitoring platform by integrating its hardware and software expertise. The company is bent on taking full advantage of its vast knowledge of manufacturing complemented by its strength in information communication technologies.
In a meeting with reporters, after signing a tri-party agreement with a government-sponsored tech firm, the manufacturer detailed testing its planned health ecosystem in the Taiwan market using the country as a launchpad to the greater Asian market. Then, to the world. The Taiwan-based manufacturing company is planning to test the waters for the Southeast Asian market in 2023. It plans to use the Taiwan market as a testing ground in its first offering of digital healthcare device products.
The tri-party agreement allows such clinical testing of the upcoming long-distance healthcare monitoring platform in Tucheng Hospital, New Taipei. At the top of the list are monitors for heartbeat, blood sugar and blood oxygen as well as electrocardiography devices (ECG). The company’s executive divulged that a clinical test for the remote monitoring platform needs to be conducted for one year so that the system can be certified by health authorities in various markets.
Exceeding USD 141.8 billion in 2020, the digital health market size is estimated to grow by as much as 17% between 2021 to 2027. The growing popularity of healthcare IT has made this growth possible. By default, private and public sectors have moved towards IT adoption by fully digitising their processes in light of the limits imposed by the virus.
Today, the North American region holds the lion’s share of this market cornering about 43% of the total global value share. The profusion of thousands of health apps made available on smartphones is a testament to this. This hyperactive market growth has been attributed to the increasing geriatric population coupled with the region’s rising prevalence of chronic diseases.
But the Asia Pacific region holds a lot of promise. The area exhibits the fastest growth compared to any market on the planet due largely to the increasing spending on healthcare infrastructure and software to promote public awareness during the pandemic.
It’s not the first time Taiwan’s ITRI is making waves in the digital space. Recently, as reported on OpenGov Asia the government-sponsored agency has signed an MoU with the Univerisity of Southern California (USC) to collaborate on IC design and other technological advancements set to propel the country forward. And fast.