Mailing List

Agenda

The agenda has been announced for WEAR 2023! Featuring speakers from the NBA, Stanford University, Microsoft Research, Air Force Research Laboratory, AFFOA, AATCC, Qualcomm, Exponent, NuCurrent, and more.

Join the mailing list to stay up to date on the latest information.

 

Please Click on the Dates below to see each Day's Program


   
Registration and Continental Breakfast
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Ashli Speed, Conference Producer, Smithers 
Session I: Exploring Industry and Opportunity
KEYNOTE: Wearables Validation, Integration, and Use: Current and Future Lessons from the NBA
What insights can professional sports provide us about the future of wearable technology for consumers and in the workplace? Professional sports was one of the first workplaces to adopt wearable technology—the NBA opened up the NBA G League to in-game wearables in the 2012-13 season. Sports league have innovated on wearables across many verticals: implementing new forms of validation, integrating wearables directly into the workplace, linking wearables with broader visualization platforms, and applying AI/ML to population-level data for health and performance insights. Yet several issues have sometimes slowed the advance of wearables: negotiations regarding data rights, discussions regarding commercial use of data, competition from rapidly-advancing computer vision, and the lack of certain ideal wearables measureables and form factors. The NBA and its affiliate leagues have been closely involved with all of these developments for more than a decade and remain deeply involved and invested in the future of wearables and how to overcome existing challenges to improve health and performance measures and outcomes.
David Weiss | Senior Vice President, Player Matters, National Basketball Association (NBA)
KEYNOTE: Qualcomm
Dino Bekis is the vice president and general manager of the wearables and mixed signals solutions business unit for Qualcomm Technologies. In this role, he is responsible for leading two critical expansion platforms for Hearables/Shareables and Smart Watch/Wearables, the broad portfolio of power management solutions, and our security product offerings.  Bekis started his career as an engineer, and for more than 25 years, has helped define new technologies, create new businesses, and drive the expansion and scaling of existing product lines.
Dino Bekis | Vice President & General Manager Wearables & Mixed Signals Solutions, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
The Future of Wearable Technology is in the Fabric
By 2028, the wearable technology industry is estimated to grow to an astonishing $380 billion (according to VICERT). With wearable technology available for purchase through many world-renowned tech brands such as Apple, Oura and Fitbit, it comes as no surprise that the wearable technology industry is advancing at such an exponential rate. The built in health and fitness tracking capabilities serve a plethora of benefits for both healthy and medically impaired individuals, delivering real time health data specific to your very own body, straight to your device. As we continue to watch the wearable technology industry take the world's population by storm, it is safe to assume that the future of wearable technology will continue to evolve into new uncharted territory. While wearable tech is known to monitor your physiological state, consumers and brands alike should start looking at the future state of wearables. After all, what good are the wearable insights if you’re not using them to actively improve your physiological state? The evolution of wearable technology is creating products that benefit your body, rather than just monitoring it, and marrying the two together for optimal results. In the past, medical devices were historically known to be used within hospitals and medical facility settings and monitoring of these devices was solely the responsibility of assigned medical professionals. Fast forward to the present day, the commercialization of medical devices has allowed individuals to use these devices on their own terms, reviewing the data in real time on their own accord. While not all wearable technology is designated as a medical device, this has opened the flood gates to further evolving what the definition of a medical device looks like to the everyday consumer, empowering them to take their health and well-being into their own hands.
Seth Casden | CEO & Co-Founder, Hologenix by CELLIANT
Networking Break
Panel: Pro Athletes, Soldiers, Industrial Workers - The Benefits and Challenges of Workforce Wearable Adoption
Soldiers, Professional Athletes, and Factory Workers are all part of workforces in which their employers are adopting the use of wearables. This panel discussion will explore the unique aspects of adoption, measurement and data, performance outcomes, and user acceptance in various workplace scenarios.

Moderator: Stacey Burr, Consultant

Panelists:
  • Christopher Tabor, Ph.D., Polymer and Responsive Materials Research Team Lead, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • David Weiss, Senior Vice President Player Matters, NBA
  • Gabriel Glynn, CEO, MākuSafe
Session II: Wearable Apparel Smart Textiles
Soft and Flexible Materials for Wearables within the Air Force Research Laboratory
The Air Force Research Laboratory has been supporting emerging efforts to develop, test, and utilize materials for wearable devices to better capture data from war fighters for general awareness, better decision making, and enhancing performance. Efforts include supporting joint wearables programs at the DoD level, participating in exercises, developing new prototype devices, and exploring fundamental materials development for current technical gaps. In this talk, I will provide a general overview of materials development for wearables within AFRL, how we partner with academia, industry, and non-profits to develop new technology, and some perspective directions on future R/D.
Christopher Tabor, Ph.D. | Polymer and Responsive Materials Research Team Lead, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory
Addressing Manufacturing Challenges in Commercializing E-Textiles
Gaps in the manufacturing of e-textiles in volume as well as in the industry infrastructure required to release new products to market in a timely manner persist. AFFOA will provide an update on the activities in the domestic ecosystem aimed at addressing challenges in commercialization. Updates on the industry infrastructure elements will also be discussed.
Michelle Farrington | Vice President of Strategic Growth, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA)
Networking Lunch
The Right Tools for the Job
The unique properties that make e-textiles an interesting and important category of materials also make them a challenge to process and test. We will discuss the many (sometimes overlooked) considerations required for an accurate measurement of electrical resistance and how the right tools can make all the difference. Data from a variety of probe styles will be presented, explained, and translated into practical recommendations for testing various e-textile materials. Research was completed as a collaboration between AATCC RA111 and North Carolina State University Wilson College of Textiles.
Diana Wyman | Executive VP, AATCC
Session III: Human Centric Wearable Design
KEYNOTE - Embr Wave: Lessons Learned from our First 10 Million Hours
Embr Wave is an intelligent wristband that delivers warming and cooling thermal sensations to augment how people feel. Thermal sensations have a profound impact on the human experience and are a clinically-validated tool for health and wellness. Matthew Smith, CTO and co-founder of Embr Labs, will discuss the user-driven evolution of Embr Wave from a crowdfund in 2017 to a 2nd generation product today, and share lessons learned from delivering our first 10 million hours of thermal delight to customers. 
Matthew J. Smith Ph.D, | Chief Scientific Officer, Embr Labs
Looking Ahead - Research Topics in Wearable Technology
Success of future wearables depends in part on academic research to make devices more integrated with the human body and what we wear.  Companies engage with Stanford University through the Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) to enable capabilities for new products and demonstrate emerging applications for wearables.  Angela will present an overview of research related to wearables at Stanford encompassing materials, sensing, neurotech and prototype devices.  Have an early view into smart bandages for wound healing, a body-centered sensor network, electromyography to increase responsiveness of exoskeletons, and e-skin arrays leading to smoother control of robotics, feedback when training for delicate tasks, and more realistic interactions in VR.
Angela McIntyre | Executive Director, eWear Initiative, Standford University
Networking Break
Biocompatibility and Chemical Safety in Wearables
The demand for wearable technology continues to increase, giving rise to new smart product designs that come with their own set of safety concerns. As these advancements in technology and applications continue to blur the line between lifestyle and clinical devices, wearables have the potential to reconfigure the healthcare and lifestyle landscapes — and improve human health by expanding value-based, personalized medicine at a mass scale. Development of these new products will require a robust biocompatibility framework to mitigate adverse safety effects.
Naomi Clayman | Managing Scientist, Exponent
Networking Mixer
Registration and Continental Breakfast
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Ashli Speed, Conference Producer, Smithers 
Session IV: Wearables Filling the Gap
KEYNOTE: Transforming Wearable Devices: Unleash the Potential of Wireless Charging
Step into the realm of tomorrow with Alberto Peralta, an industry-leading technologist and Chief Technology Officer of NuCurrent, as he shows you the captivating world of wireless charging and its remarkable advancements in wearables.

In this presentation, Alberto will break down the diverse spectrum of applications, features and benefits, that come via wireless power and data transfer. From life-saving medical devices to cutting-edge sport wearables, witness the transformative impact of this groundbreaking technology
Alberto Peralta | CTO, NuCurrent
AI-Powered Wearables: The Impending 10x Revolution
The wearables segment has grown at an unprecedented pace over the last decade with strong smartwatch adoption, wireless headsets becoming ubiquitous, emergence of VR and AR, and new form factor innovation such as the ring. With AI taking center-stage, this wearables growth is expected to experience 10x accelerated growth by bringing AI-at-the-edge, AI-based personal assistants becoming a reality, and a host of verticals including healthcare, sports-n-fitness, education, and others embracing AI-powered wearables. As an intrapreneur turned investor, Pankaj will discuss the role of AI+wearables over the next decade and provide a sneak peek into highly innovative start-ups he is investing in to shape this next decade.
 
Pankaj Kedia | Founder and Managing Partner, 2468 Ventures
Networking Break
Smart Technology Isn’t Everything. Believe Me, I’m an Apple Inventor
Ever wonder why so many tech gadgets don't work for older adults and people with disabilities? It's because they're
often designed to make healthy people healthier and fast people faster. Dhaval C. Patel, CEO, Lotus, and
former organization leader at Apple for iPhone, Watch and Airpods with 37 patents and an "Individual of Extraordinary
Ability" as accredited by the U.S. Government, will teach you what makes smart technology truly valuable.
 
Dhaval Patel | Founder & CEO, Lotus
Challenges and Opportunities for Printed/Flexible/Stretchable Sensors in Wearables
The ability to sense the dynamic conditions of a situation/event or environment as a mechanism to monitor and possibly control its status exists for many applications. Virtually all wearables require this sensor-based information to optimize their value-added in their application solution Printed/flexible/stretchable and most recently functional fabrics offer unique and convenient platforms onto which sensors can be printed or embedded and form a critical and valuable asset to wearable’s functionality and performance. The availability of sensors that can take the shape and work reliably in their imposed complex and demanding working environment has existed since the first commercialization of printed sensors in the mid 1980’s, and have been integral to many wearable applications. The recent popularity of IoT and wearables has created an accelerated need for low-cost single or multiple sensors per system that are small, lightweight and low- power consuming that also can conform to the shape of and survive the environment in which they must operate. This is especially relevant in the creation of measurement systems which typically rely upon several sensors and their accompanying microcontroller/embedded sensor fusion algorithms that make them “smart” and enable them to address a myriad wearable application including health care, well-being and especially in military “soldier worn” applications. A review of several recent market studies report that the total market for printed/flexible sensors will grow from $9.2B in 2022 to $12.0B in 2026 and the functional fabric sensor market to grow from $3.8B in 2022 to $6.8B in 2026. These are part of the flexible, printed and organic electronics market which is estimated to grow from $51B in 2022 to $68B in 2027. With an expected unit average sales price (ASPs)of approximately $0.01 by 2025, this constitutes a significant market opportunity for suppliers of these devices. This presentation will provide an overview of the evolution of these sensors and the motivation behind their development which can measure a myriad of mechanical and physio/chemical parameters including pressure, force, temperature humidity, blood pressure, hydration and glucose levels. It will provide a review the worldwide activities of research labs, universities and commercial enterprises currently engaged in the development of these sensors. Market size and growth will be addressed. The presentation will conclude with an analysis of the barriers to the successful commercialization of these devices and recommended strategies for their widespread application and monetization in the wearable sector.
 
Roger Grace | Founder/Owner and President, Roger Grace Associates
CLOSING PANEL: Health, Wellness, and Sports Wearables: Discuss the Past, Debate the Future
Wearables growth has continued unabated over the last decade – through the good times and the not good ones. Health and Wellness has perhaps been the most popular use case. It has been a feature in virtually every wearable launched. And multiple players such as Garmin and Apple have launched dedicated wearables targeting the health and wellness focused consumer. While we have seen significant progress over the last decade, it seems we are just getting started with significant advances impending in sensor innovation, AI-on-the-edge coming to wearables, 5G and WiFi becoming pervasive, new RISC-V architecture coming, battery life meeting our expectations, and new use cases emerging esp in Health and Wellness. In this panel, with industry luminaries, we will discuss the learnings from the past and debate expectations for the future.

Moderator:
  • Pankaj Kedia, Founder and Managing Partner, 2468 Ventures
Panelists:
  • Patrick Schmidle, Founder and CEO, CARI Health
  • Dhaval Patel, Founder and CEO, Lotus Labs
  • Tanya Colonna, Founder and CEO, Oro Muscles
  • Roger Grace, Founder and President, Roger H Grace Associates
  • Paige Finn Doherty, Founding Partner, Behind Genius Ventures
Goodbye Networking Lunch