MEDICA DEEP DIVE: Sensors: collecting data for monitoring and diagnostics

Jens Krauss is the Vice President of Systems at the Swiss Company CSEM, who actually have their roots in watch making. Today CSEM is an innovation driver for highly demanded technology such as sensors of all kinds. Having worked with established companies as well as start-ups, Jens Krauss knows the dos and don’ts when developing new medical tech.

Krauss is convinced that well developed sensor-based tech such as wearables will be able to reduce healthcare costs in the future. What’s missing right now is often the right implementation into the workflow of the people who actually use it.

"I think those who are developing these devices, they have to think about how it’s really used in a hospital."

Prof. Dr. Jens Eckstein, Chief Physician and the Head of Innovation Management at the University Hospital Basel, wholeheartedly agrees on the importance of exchange between developers, professionals and patients. Eckstein and his team are always curious about testing new products but as the technology is often brilliant, it’s the implementation that can be an issue.

"They probably never have seen a hospital from the inside."

Another challenge for developers is the fact that there is no such thing as "the patient". You could specify your target audience, "but if you want to address it for all patients, you really have to develop for all the patients." This also means including patients into the development phase.

Christelle Robelin is the Healthcare Marketing Director for Linxens, a French based company and global leader in the production of smart card connectors and RFID antennas. As 80 percent of earths population are using their products, chances are pretty high that you have had your hand on at least one of them in your life.

Just like there’s not "the patient", there’s also no standard request, as every client has different individual demands that need to be met.

"So I would say there is no typical user requirement because we serve a lot of different applications"

However, there are some common and especially important requirements such as wear time or flexibility, as these factors are essential for the further development process.