As established entities solidify their places in the health, wellness, and medical technology markets, the trend toward synergy and collaboration continues. We wrote recently about a joint effort by the Mayo Clinic and Eko to develop AI to detect heart disease. Medidata and Validate pooled resources to make to make patient-generated data more available for clinical research. In Massachusetts, a consortium collaborates to advance telemedicine implementation.
ActiGraph Corporation and Garmin International recently announced a collaboration to combine their unique technologies for new products positioned to advance academic research, clinical trials, and remote patient monitoring. The joint efforts will rely on Garmin Health wearables and ActiGraph’s CentrePoint data analytics platform. ActiGraph creates its own wearable accelerometry monitors for validated pharmaceutical, academic, and scientific applications worldwide. The collaboration will use Garmin wearables, however, which Actigraph claims have the necessary high resolution and accurate data streams plus the ability to provide new data points to the Actigraph platform. Garmin wearables’ long battery life and ergonomic designs improve adherence and study results because participants can wear them comfortably for extended time periods.
Garmin’s primary business focus remains in the consumer lifestyle market and Actigraph will continue its focus on enterprise products. The new collaboration doesn’t appear to draw away from their mainstream activities, but to give each company additional exposure. It does point towards the continuing trend of wearables companies pivoting to health and medical applications, ultimately away from individual consumers and towards enterprise-level customers.
