What is a healthtech? Learn all about this health revolution
That technology has caused profound transformations in everyday products and services is no secret. But did you know that this also extends to the health area? The so-called healthtechs are the drivers of this process, which promise to revolutionize the sector.
It may be difficult to imagine technology as responsible for improving a predominantly human market, but here in this article we tell you how it happens. To learn more about the concept, the main technologies used and the job market, just keep reading!
What does the word healthtech mean?
The word healthtech is the result of the combination of two expressions in English: health (health) and tech (technology). This is the term adopted to classify companies (startups) that develop innovative solutions for the health sector.
Although in Pak this concept has gained strength in recent years, in countries like the United States it has already been delivering results since the 1980s. This is the case of devices and systems for diagnosing and treating diseases.
What is a healthtech company?
As we said above, a healthtech is nothing more than a startup focused on the health area. This means that at its core is the development of products and services dedicated to improving this universe.
A heathtech startup can think of solutions both to meet the needs of patients, doctors or companies in the sector. In addition, they work on one of the three fronts in this area: prevention, diagnosis or treatment. Whatever it is, the technology is there.
What is a healthtech for?
Basically, the existence of a healthtech is associated with the use of technology in medicine. The objective of these companies is to improve the health system in the following steps:
- Preventive medicine: in order to avoid the appearance or development of diseases;
- Predictive medicine: to identify, from medical history, the possibility of a person developing a certain disease;
- Proactive medicine: to establish a close relationship between doctor and patient and prevent the appearance or worsening of diseases;
- Personalized medicine: to offer treatments guided by the particularities of each person.
In summary, healthtech serves to develop or improve products or services related to one or more of these steps. They do this with the support of technology and, as a result, deliver valuable solutions to the market.
What is the importance of a healthtech?
The health system, especially the Pak one, suffers from a high volume of patients. This, added to an outdated system, with ineffective resources, causes great damage to the sector.
The importance of healthtechs is precisely to think about and implement technological innovations in the area. The process involves identifying a problem/need and developing a product/service that is capable of improving it.
One of the main advantages of this business is being able to develop solutions for the stages of preventive and proactive medicine, which avoids the aggravation of diseases and the overload of the health system.
Main technologies addressed by a healthtech?
For health startups to be able to offer innovative solutions for the sector, it is necessary to have some of the main technologies of today. Among them, we can highlight:
- Artificial intelligence and Big Data;
- Nanotechnology;
- Facial, sound and image recognition;
- Robotics ;
- Augmented and virtual reality.
Supported by these technologies, healthtechs are able to develop products and services that meet market needs. One of the most recent solutions is telemedicine, which enables virtual contact between the doctor and his patient.
Not to mention the surgical advances supported by machines, the rapid identification of diseases from AI and the use of virtual and augmented reality to support medical students.
Healthtech job market in the world
If the interest in healthtechs has already been showing great in recent years, the period during and after Covid-19 made it even greater. This rapid global expansion in such a short time has caused an increase not only in the volume of investments in startups, but also in the job market. After all, it takes the help of professionals to scale the business.
Among the most heated areas and targeted by the companies are those of Products, to think about and validate the project; Technology, to develop the solutions; Marketing, to publicize the product/service; Sales, to sell it to the market.
Which professionals can work in healthtechs?
As we said, the health niche has been growing every year. Considering that, along with this, there is a wide variety of solutions to be offered to the market, there are also opportunities for professionals from different areas and levels of knowledge, from salespeople to doctors.
Healthtechs are based on innovative technology solutions, therefore, it is necessary to consider that this area has great prominence. When we talk about which professionals in this sector can work in a healthtech, we can mention:
- Database analysts — to gather and organize data in a logical and functional way.
- Information Architect — for structuring the interface of websites and applications.
- Developers — to develop software, programs, applications or websites according to the strategy and needs of the business.
- Software engineer — to design the development of systems, programs and applications.
- Programmers — to create and develop solutions using the main programming languages .