The Rock Report: Sensors

The quantified self movement is in full effect, with highly proactive and health conscious individuals self-tracking everything imaginable. And the market is following. Slick affordable devices are coming out to help this population track a range of data from sleep patterns to calories burned to glucose levels to basic heart rate.

After doing a bit of digging, we found that there was not much compiled data around who is building these sensors, how they are being used now and how they will be used in the future. While we’re not professional researchers, we were curious enough gather data on new sensors coming to market, interview professionals making the sensors and collect data around investments happening in the space. We used this data to identify some of the trends, barriers and potentials uses so QS can stretch its reaches to a larger community. Here are some of the highlights followed by the whole presentation.

Key Findings:

• By 2014, sensors will be a $4 billion dollar market
• Trending toward passive data collection & aggregation
• The majority of products today target fitness and wellness
• Top biomarkers: heart rate and motion

Therefore…

• Huge opportunity for mass market personal health management sensor products, both personal- and doctor-initiated
• Rise of the “quantified self” movement will increase demand

But…

• Mass adoption of sensors will depend on cost, ease of use, availability, and integration within the entire healthcare system