During last week we had the opportunity to assist and participate in one of the most important Wearables and IoT expos in Europe: “Wearable Technology Show” in London.
Obviously, almost all of the exhibitors and conversations revolved around the wearables (smart rings, watches, eHealth bands, neural helmets, and so on), as well as a great amount of complementary applications for upgrading them with security services, connectivity, location, and so on. Also, a special importance has been given to IoT (Internet of Things), and we have seen connected cars, 3D printers, robots, and so on.
We could see all types of utilities for a wide range of sectors: Health, Medicine, Industry, automotive, logistics, retail… If we had to choose, what the “King“ of the expo was, we could say that it was Augmented Reality (AR), with large demos, products and start-up solutions that will give much talk in the upcoming months, such as the remote supporting tools presented by XmReality:
Part of this success is thanks to the launch of the new Smart Glasses such as EPSON BT-300, Vuzix M300 or Atheer Air, which we can try in first person. And although Microsoft had its own development platform, they didn’t bring their Hololens, something that was quite sad, putting a lot of attention, this time, on its own IoT platform on Azure.
We also liked the emerging role that electronics of components are taking, for instance sensors (biometric sweating measuring) and processors as well, allowing to explore new opportunities. In addition, noticeable to recognize this time around, was the category of wearables that was there without really saying “I am here”, the smart clothing. Some of the brands that could be seen are AIQ, Zonesafe, Hexoskin and so on.
The conference rooms were themed (health, augmented reality, IoT, and so on) allowed us to get to know the personal vision of many professionals who are attempting or making their way into this new promised technology, but we have to support it and encourage it even more so that it can become a reality. We especially liked the vision, work and approach by Blaine Tookey, IT manager in BP UK, and the challenges they have to face in the Gas & Oil industry to incorporate this technology into their processes.
The virtual reality (VR), also had an important place in some stands and we saw real uses, especially in the area of surgery training and general medicine.
In the end, it was the most important expo in wearables and IoT in Europe, where we could see some of the major players in this sector, although we would have loved to see one of these players having a greater presence and to surprise us, for example with a demonstration or a new product launch.
