Wellness technology
The wellness technology sector is a business-to-consumer market that ‘occupies a space between the consumer and medical industries’. Scotland has a long history of innovation in medical technologies that dates back to the 15th Century.
Today, the wellness technology sector in Scotland is supported by the Wellness and Health Innovation (WHI) - a three year project delivered on behalf of our partners, Scottish Enterprise, which is designed to support Scottish small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are developing innovative products, services or applications for the wellness and health market.
What is wellness technology?
‘Wellness’ is the concept of actively pursuing things that keep an individual well, including areas such as:
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Stress-control
- Social and personal relationships
The term ‘wellness technology’ can imply devices designed to achieve a healthy lifestyle or to identify indicators of ill health before chronic problems arise. Medical technology takes up a large part of the market, however, there are many other areas such as well-being products and consumer-electronic based therapeutic products which are encompassed in the wellness technology market.
As it is a relatively new sector, industry leaders are not yet fully established. However, as society becomes more informed in the ways of health, nutrition, exercise and well-being, technology companies which can produce appropriate devices are occupying an ever-growing gap in the market.