LifeQ, Analog Devices to collaborate on non-invasive body monitoring

Stellenbosch-based health tracking startup LifeQ is on a roll. Having launched globally in 2015 and with its technology included in the new range of TomTom activity-tracking watches, the company on Thursday announced a partnership with Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), a US-based designer and manufacturer of semiconductor products and solutions.

According to a press release sent to Ventuerburn, the partnership will allow the two companies to develop technology that will make it possible for non-invasive body monitoring devices to provide highly accurate physiological data that currently is only available through the use of expensive, invasive and hard-to-access equipment.

They plan to do so by combining ADI’s acumen in engineering and innovation with LifeQ’s biomathematical capabilities. Bringing together these skill-sets, the two companies say, will allow them to design sensors that enable personalised, continuous and accurate tracking of physiological parameters such as heart rate, sleep phases, sleep quality, blood lactate, 24-hour calorie intake as well as stress markers such as salivary cortisol.

Ultimately, that means that health tracking devices could move beyond being nice-to-haves and become truly life-saving pieces of equipment, especially for high-risk patients.

“The development of smart wearable sensors is essential to supercharge the next generation of non-invasive body monitoring solutions,” said James Doscher, general manager, Industrial and Business Healthcare Group, Analog Devices.

“ADI offers the semiconductor expertise and LifeQ provides the bio-mathematical understanding needed to develop sensors that can make body monitoring devices even more effective in preventing, predicting and managing diseases. This, in turn, will impact how doctors and patients share information, interact, and make decisions about patient care. Patients can have greater access to vital data about their own bodies and be more involved in their overall health and wellness.”

While LifeQ’s big successes have come about in the past year or so, it’s been hacking away at the body-monitoring space for some time now. Back in 2012, its co-founder Dr Riaan Conradie (along with the rest of his team) made headlines by building the world’s first open-source metabolic chamber.

“LifeQ’s collaboration with ADI will enable sensor solutions that meet a higher and wider standard, including new industry benchmarks such as the latest Android Wear requirements,” said Conradie. “Our goal is to deliver high-value physiological data to ecosystem partners who are serving consumer lifestyle, corporate wellness and health insurance markets.”