Wearables for Smart Ecosystems

Wearables are integrating key technologies (e.g. nanoelectronics, organic electronics, sensing, actuating, communication, low power computing, visualisation and embedded software) into intelligent systems to bring new functionalities into clothes, fabrics, patches, watches and other body-mounted devices. The IoT device producers consider that the wearable devices are one of the exciting new markets expected to see the biggest growth over the next few years. The diversity of wearable devices means that the producers will employ 3G or 4G connectivity alongside Wi-Fi to be used for highspeed local connectivity. The drive for low power, leads to many devices being designed for the application accessories. These devices connect via Bluetooth^TM LE (Low Energy) or BT (Bluetooth) Smart to a smartphone or tablet to employ its user interface or display, or to process and send data to the Internet and the cloud, linking to services and being part of an IoT application.

Many IoT applications require demonstration of innovative wearable solutions and services integrated in interoperable IoT ecosystems. Wearables assist humans in monitoring, situational awareness and decision making. Attention should be devoted to actuating functions providing whenever feasible fully automated closed-loop solutions. Prototype development and demonstration are expected for healthcare, well-being, safety, security and infotainment applications. Actions are driven by concrete business cases, open design approaches and user requirements, considering data protection and liability concerns. The IoT applications applying wearable technologies involve the actors of the entire innovation value chain, potentially including creative and artistic actors, and aim at demonstrations in real world settings.