Medical IoT Growth Projected at IoT Evolution Expo

The connected medical device market is growing and is projected to reach $447 billion by 2026, according to research presented at the IoT Evolution Expo in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this week.

The Medical Internet of Things (MIoT) is forecast to grow 32% by 2026, according to the research by Joel Maloff, professor at Colorado Technical University and former chief compliance officer of Phone.com.

With the growth comes some challenges as more personal devices, such as pacemakers, implantable insulin pumps and pacemakers, are connected and sending data to the cloud.

“The health care portion of IoT is booming, but there are risks associated with it,” said Maloff, who conducted the study

“The challenge of implantable or wearable medical devices is who is responsible for the data being captured.

“There are sensing devices and medical records all collecting and sending data via the cloud to a health provider. The question is who is responsible for that?”

Maloff noted that doctors are focused on patient health and often not aware of potential security issues with medical devices.

“The device manufacturers did not want to talk to me and the doctors were not totally familiar with the issues. There’s a gap in knowledge.”

“It’s hard to solve a problem if you’re not even aware it is there,” he said.