Dr. Guillaume Chansin told attendees at ATA Advanced Textiles Conference in Anaheim, Calif., today that almost half of the wearable technology market is in North America and over half of that market is in the health and fitness segment. Dr. Chansin, a researcher with the British market research and consulting firm, IDTechEx, also said that Europe, holding about a fourth of the pie, claims 39 percent of all research operations with its excellent funding – mostly from governments.

Market size in 2014 for wearable technology was about U.S. $80 million, but research indicates that the market will grow to $70 billion market by 2025, and although sports and fitness have spurted ahead for now, he sees medical applications as “where the most interesting things are.”

A variety of developments over a long period of time have contributed to the current interest in wearables, one, in particular is driving current developments: Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology. IN fact, he says, “Bluetooth 4.0 is the largest individual contributor to the current interest in wearables.”