In the face of an aging population and the rise of chronic diseases, governments around the world have been looking for solutions to reducing health care expenditures while maintaining medical service quality. eHealth, which provides electronic, digital, and automated medical services, is one of such solutions.
MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute) recently conducted data mining analysis of 7,171 eHealth patents to gain a full picture of key technologies. Based on the results, 74.3% of the 7,171 eHealth patents fell under the fields of Medical Technology, Computer Technology, and IT Methods for Management. With the use of computing and IT management technologies, digitalized medical data has improved the efficiency of health information systems and the quality of medical services.
Other fields related to health care, such as Transport, Other Special Machines, Handling, "Electrical Machinery, Apparatus, Energy," Audio-visual Technology, Other Consumer Goods, Biotechnology, and Pharmaceuticals, collectively took up 2.11%.
It is worth noting that the intersection of eHealth and transport services create applications for telematics or hospital ambulances. Similarly, the integration of eHealth technologies into special machines/handling can be used in medical robots.
Therefore, in addition to medical technology, computing technology, and IT methods for management, perspective vendors will have more opportunities by building up patent portfolios in areas of end-user applications. By connecting to a health information management system, vendors can provide unique and innovative health care services for telematics or medical robots.
