The €50 billion bet on your body

Tech giants are placing billion euro bets that your body will become the next platform war. Apple, Samsung, and Meta aren't just building wearables; they're constructing the infrastructure for a biological data economy where your heartbeat, sleep patterns, and glucose levels become more valuable than your search history. The question isn't whether wearables will transform healthcare; it's who will own your biological data when they do, and whether your organisation will be positioned as a partner or spectator in this transformation.

Your body has become the ultimate IoT device. Every organ functions as a sensor, every biomarker streams data, and every cell represents a potential point of intervention. This isn't science fiction, it's happening now through strategic partnerships that are reshaping both technology and healthcare industries.

Horizon 1: The foundation is already built

The current wave of partnerships demonstrates how wearable companies are systematically expanding beyond fitness tracking into clinical-grade health management. Oura's collaboration with Dexcom brings continuous glucose monitoring directly into sleep and recovery analytics, whilst WHOOP's integration with Quest Diagnostics allows users to order biomarker tests through their fitness app. These aren't simple data syncing arrangements, they represent fundamental shifts in how we conceptualise health monitoring.

Apple's partnerships with Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic are developing clinical-grade diagnostic capabilities for the Apple Watch, including hypertension notifications and 12-lead ECG functionality that aims to match professional cardiac equipment accuracy. Meanwhile, Garmin's €40 million collaboration with King's College London will equip 40 000 participants with devices to develop AI-driven models for maternal health issues.

These partnerships establish the technical and regulatory groundwork for more ambitious integrations. They're proving that consumer devices can generate clinically relevant data whilst navigating complex healthcare regulations. More importantly, they're training algorithms on massive datasets that will power the next generation of health innovations.

Horizon 2: The intelligence advantage

I commissioned seven leading AI models to identify plausible future collaborations that would expand wearables into new health focus areas. The result is a comprehensive analysis of 35 potential strategic partnerships across 13 therapeutic areas, grounded in current market trends and realistic technological trajectories. Rather than unfounded speculation, these represent logical extensions of today's developments.

This exrecise reveals patterns in how industries will converge and where the most valuable opportunities lie. The full analysis is available online, or I'm happy to send the complete report to anyone who requests it in the comments below.

Horizon 3: The biological stock market emerges

The most transformative partnerships will create entirely new markets where health metrics become tradeable commodities; glucose futures, sleep equity, stress derivatives, with healthcare providers becoming day traders of your biological data.

Consider Apple partnering with Nestlé Health Science to create a closed-loop nutrition optimisation system. Apple's continuous metabolic monitoring through advanced sensors would inform Nestlé's real-time meal and supplement recommendations. Users would receive personalised nutrition interventions within hours of metabolic changes, creating a €200 billion market opportunity in personalised nutrition whilst fundamentally disrupting traditional food industries.

Samsung's collaboration with Sidewalk Labs represents platform thinking applied to urban health. Citizens wearing Samsung devices would contribute anonymised health data to optimise city-wide environmental conditions. The partnership would create responsive urban environments that automatically adjust lighting, air filtration, and traffic patterns based on population wellbeing data. Municipal health contracts become new revenue streams across major European cities.

Meta's integration with L'Oréal through Ray-Ban smart glasses showcases invisible health monitoring through everyday eyewear. High-resolution cameras with spectral imaging would provide continuous skin health surveillance, creating longitudinal mole maps and enabling immediate dermatologist consultations when suspicious changes are detected. This democratises specialist care whilst addressing the €17 billion dermatology market.

Polar’s wearable lineup could sync with ingestible sensors from Given Imaging, while a partnership with FoodMarble rounds out a full‑stack digestive‑health ecosystem. Together they deliver personalized FODMAP testing, microbiome analyses, AI‑driven dietary guidance, and even tie‑ins with smart kitchen appliances for automated meal planning.

Will Apple explore a Vision Pro‑compatible contact‑lens system that continuously monitors intra‑ocular pressure using Sensimed’s Triggerfish technology? In collaboration with Novartis, the solution will feature an AI‑powered glaucoma‑management platform that offers personalized medication‑dosing algorithms, seamless telemedicine links for ophthalmologists, and predictive analytics to stay ahead of disease progression.

I’m also envisioning smart mouthguards or retainers that track bruxism and dry‑mouth symptoms. Partnerships with brands such as Philips Sonicare and niche oral‑appliance manufacturers could spark truly innovative products. It might be worth arranging a meeting with Colgate‑Palmolive and Whoop to explore these possibilities further.

These scenarios aren't distant possibilities, they represent strategic moves companies are likely exploring now. The technical foundations exist, regulatory pathways are being established, and market demand is accelerating post-pandemic health consciousness.

Each partnership creates competitive moats that will be difficult to replicate. Early movers gain access to unique datasets, establish exclusive relationships with healthcare providers, and build user habits around integrated health ecosystems. Late entrants face the challenge of competing against platforms that already understand users' biological patterns intimately.

Your strategic response

The most transformative partnerships happen at the edges of industries, where unexpected connections create breakthrough innovations. Whether you're developing technology, providing healthcare services, or managing innovation portfolios, your next strategic advantage likely lies in combinations that aren't yet obvious to your competitors.

Start by mapping partnership opportunities that others haven't recognised. Tools like the Ecosystem Innovation Roulette help identify unexpected connections between your capabilities and emerging wearable technologies before these relationships become apparent to everyone else. The organisations that move first in this biological data economy won't just participate in healthcare transformation, they'll define its direction.

The platform wars are coming for your pulse. The question is whether you'll help build the future of health technology or watch others capture its value.

💥 May this inspire you to advance healthcare beyond its current state of excellence.