Garmin Eyes Wearables as the Future of Healthcare

The tech company is touting a future where smartwatch data is used in doctors’ offices, in clinical research and by insurance companies

For Garmin, the future of healthcare will be found on people’s wrists.

At the 10th annual Garmin Health Summit, held this week in Prague, the tech company pointed to a future where fitness trackers and smartwatches are an integral part of global healthcare systems, with doctors having access to patients’ information like sleep and heart rate data to inform better treatment plans, and health insurance companies leveraging large biometric data sets to deliver services on a macro scale.

Garmin is confident its wearables will be at the forefront of this movement, which the brand calls “smartwatch-enabled digital health.”

While the smartwatch space has become highly competitive, with some of the biggest brands in the world entering the space , Garmin’s executives believe the Kansas-based company, founded in 1989, has a competitive advantage when it comes to wearables and healthcare.

“Garmin’s business strategy is to be an ecosystem player,” Scott Burgett, senior director of Garmin Health Engineering, told Athletech News at the event. “When you look at the breadth of our wearable products, the breadth of our data, and the ease of integration – we’re agnostic between iOS and Android – we really are the best company (to work with).”

The Garmin Advantage

During the Summit , Garmin’s executives touted its wearables as the best devices on the market to support doctors, healthcare companies, and clinical researchers, thanks to their long battery life and high-quality biometric sensors, which track metrics including stress, heart rate variability (HRV) and skin temperature, among others, with high accuracy.

Most Garmin smartwatches have a battery life of at least 5 days, with some lasting far longer than that . That’s significantly higher than new versions of the Apple Watch (between 18 hours and 3 days, depending on model) and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (around 2 days, according to online reviews).

Longer battery life leads to higher customer engagement and longer wear times, which means more data for healthcare professionals, Garmin points out.

“It’s so important that you can put on a wearable and leave it on for seven days,” Burgett said. “Every time you take it off, there’s a chance you might not put it back on.”

“We focus on battery life because it’s a unique selling point that none of our competitors really can touch,” he added.

On the biometric data side, Garmin believes its wearables are the best in the business – the brand released its first smartwatch in 2003, over a decade before other tech players entered the space.

“In 2015, we launched our first in-house PPG sensor. We’re now on Gen 5 and you can see how often we update that throughout the year,” Burgett said. “It’s one of our constant initiatives. We continue to innovate in our sensor technology.”

Beyond its smartwatch tech, Garmin believes it’s got the best system to support businesses and organizations as they pursue digital health innovation. The brand established Garmin Health in 2014, growing it into a full-scale B2B solution for healthcare, research and clinical trials, insurance companies, gyms and fitness brands, corporate wellness, and more.

Garmin wearables have been part of more than 1,000 research studies in areas including sleep, well-being, rehabilitation, physical activity, and disease management.

Executives also touted Garmin’s commitment to data privacy – the Garmin Health API allows third parties to ask customers whether or not they consent to sharing their wearable data.

A Glimpse Into the Future

While there’s a consensus among experts that we’re at the very beginning stages of wearables becoming important in healthcare – operational, regulatory, and economic challenges currently prevent wider adoption – some organizations are already embracing the future imagined by Garmin.

At this year’s Summit, Garmin highlighted some of the companies already using its wearables to make a difference in people’s health.

VigiLife, Inc., and Metluma were announced as winners of the 2024 Garmin Health Awards, voted on by a panel of industry experts and Summit attendees.

VigiLife, an Ohio-based company, created SafeGuard, a platform that protects employees from workplace hazards like heat stress by leveraging environmental sensors to detect noise, radiation, and certain chemicals. The brand uses Garmin smartwatches and fitness trackers in conjunction with its environmental sensors.

Metluma, an Australian telehealth platform, helps women navigate perimenopause and menopause by connecting them with medical professionals and providing other digital support. The female-founded company leverages wearable data to provide treatment for its users.

“We are thrilled to celebrate this year’s Garmin Health Awards entrants,” said Jörn Watzke, senior director for Garmin Health. “Over 75 leading providers from 35 countries worldwide submitted their innovative solutions. We were so impressed by the diversity and level of innovation demonstrated in these solutions and we offer a huge congratulations to this year’s winners and to all who participated.”

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