2020 Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards

GHP / 2020 Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards 105 , Sep20098 Most Innovative Wearable Monitoring Systems - Italy Based inMilan, ComfTech is a united, multidisciplinary teamwhich brings together engineering, design, research and technology to create wearable monitoring technology. Suitable for use by everyone fromnew-born babies to F1 drivers, ComfTech is successfully pushing the boundaries in smart textile technology. ComfTech is the Italian innovator behind flexible, wearable technology that is adaptable to a range of applications, from neonatology to healthcare. ComfTech is a passionate, multidisciplinary team comprised of experts in engineering, design, research, technology, communication and business development. Together, they create functional and efficient methodologies embedded into patented continuous and non- invasive monitoring systems. ComfTech textile technology is designed to support whoever wears it on a daily basis, allowing them to progress beyond physical limitations, feel safer and maximise the user’s potential, thus getting to know their body better, through preventive, comfortable , non-invasive monitoring of physiological and mechanical parameters. ComfTech is the product of a union between a non- participatory spin-off of the Milan Polytechnic University and textile company, New Sirvip in 2010. Their first products were created in response to the needs of neonatologists looking to provide premature babies with continuous monitoring systems to ensure better quality of life. ComfTech created a smart textile that had sensors embedded within it to create a wearable monitor that could measure a person’s vital parameters. In 2014, ComfTech’s first neonatal monitoring system successfully studied the first two hours of a baby’s life at the Manzoni Hospital in Lecco. Since then, ComfTech has successfully applied for various patents to facilitate their expansive research and innovation into their textiles. In the same year as their success at Lecco Hospital, the organisation also received a patent for a sensor capable of measuring physiological electrical signals. A year later, ComfTech entered into collaborations with both Italian and foreign research institutes for continuous monitoring projects through wearable systems, having been selected in the first phase of a grant application for funding by the EU Horizon 2020 programme. The year 2015 also saw the beginning of a partnership for a new sensors system development in breathing rate, perspiration printed electronics, as ComfTech successfully applied for its fourth patent. Today, ComfTech technology is not just used for babies. The components of ComfTech monitoring systems - the smart textile itself, the data-monitoring device and the app - are each the results of careful research and innovation, which work together to suit the diverse needs of ComfTech’s many users. Adaptability, flexibility, quality and a totally user-centred approach are the basic ingredients of Comftech’s continuous and dynamic innovation, which makes their textiles an ideal choice for athletes, who are able to use the smart monitoring to improve their performance, and patients. In collaboration with universities and specialised sector companies, ComfTech has implemented a complete solution that is currently undergoing medical certification to monitor patients at home, through the continuous, real time and non-invasive detection of their vital parameters. The system consists of the HOWDY- sensitized textile top, an oximeter, a thermometer and an app for reading data. Thanks to textile sensors integrated into the fabric, HOWDY detects the wearer’s vital parameters, such as heart rate, breath rate, position and movement, in a non-invasive way that allows complete freedom of movement. The collected data is transmitted in real time wirelessly to devices such as smartphones or tablets and, through a dedicated and intuitive app, can be read to get all the information needed about the health of the patient. This same technology is being used in one of ComfTech’s latest releases, Bodee, a soft bodysuit to be worn by a baby that supports the child’s growth up to nine months, monitoring their wellbeing so as to give peace of mind to parents. As with HOWDY, the bodysuit monitors the vital parameters to indicate to parents through the state-of- the-art app the conditions of their baby, from their sleeping pattern to whether they are sitting up or on their tummy. In addition, the technology grows with the baby, ensuring that in those first, vital months, the baby is supported in every way possible. As ComfTech looks ahead to further expansion of their products, the team of innovators is also considering how best to move forwards sustainably. Operating in the textile industry, one of the planet’s biggest polluters, ComfTech is committed to using materials and processes that minimise emissions as far as possible. The electronic element of ComfTech’s systems can be removed and the fabric itself recycled, while a part of the component is reused. In this way, ComfTech is able to ensure that not only are their ground- breaking products contributing to the health of its users, they are also playing a significant role in the wellbeing of the planet too. Contact Details: Contact: Alessia Moltani Company: COMFTECH Web Address: www.comftech.com