At the Computer Electronics Show this week, the X-Prize Foundation and QUALCOMM announced details of a competition to create a medical “tricorder,” a diagnostic device featured in the science fiction series Star Trek.
According to QUALCOMM’s X-Prize website:
“As envisioned for this competition, the device will be a tool capable of capturing key health metrics and diagnosing a set of 15 diseases. Metrics for health could include such elements as blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature. Ultimately, this tool will collect large volumes of data from ongoing measurement of health states through a combination of wireless sensors, imaging technologies, and portable, non-invasive laboratory replacements.”
Certainly my (not so) inner geek is pleased by this development. A handheld diagnostic device is consistent with the technological advances in the medical field and takes advantage of wireless technology and connectivity that is already making inroads into health care. Electronic health records and health care IT are both the buzzwords of the industry, in part because of federal funding in the stimulus package that set aside money for developing these technologies.
According to Hoover’s First Research coverage of the health care sector, health care IT presents enormous opportunities for technology companies. GE came out with a handheld ultrasound device called the Vscan that can perform ultrasounds at the scene of an accident and transmit the data to a hospital. And QUALCOMM recently re-organized its health care subsidiary that makes wireless connectivity products for health care IT.
The X Prize is most well known for its space flight competition. How fitting, then, that it is also sponsoring a competition to develop yet another “science fiction” concept. Will the transporter be next?
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