Medical Technologies That Will Be Huge in 2017

From your smartphone to your Fitbit, sensors are everywhere these days, and they won’t be going away anytime soon.“We hear a great deal about body-worn sensors, but sensors are being incorporated everywhere—not only because of the data gathering possibilities, but also the ability to drive better outcomes,”explained Craig Scherer, cofounder of Chicago-based Insight Product Development and director of Insight Accelerator Labs. “Sensors are evolving at a staggering rate and are being made smaller, faster, more sensitive, and with lower energy needs than ever before. The applications are endless.”Some of the most exciting breakthroughs in medical sensors, he added, have come from startup like Briteseed, which has developed a smart surgical tool (shown) that uses sensors to help surgeons avoid blood vessels, ureters, and bile ducts. “We will see an explosion of acquisitions of these companies by all the big-name medical OEMs,” Scherer predicted. “Most large medical device companies have created groups focused solely on the vetting and acquisition of these technologies.” [image courtesy of BRITESEED]