Bosch enters healthcare sector with first breath analyser for asthmatics

Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH is entering the medical technology market with Vivatmo me - the first breath analysis device that allows asthmatics to measure the severity of airway inflammation from the comfort of their own home.

This means they can closely monitor their condition – similar to how diabetics monitor their blood sugar levels. They can save the data using the Vivatmo app and share it with their physician, who can then analyse these additional values. As a result, they are able to tailor treatment more precisely to each patient's requirements.

Some 330 million people worldwide, or one in 20, are asthmatics. They can now look forward to an improvement in the quality of life.

''We want to harness the technological potential of connectivity to make a decisive contribution to improving healthcare, and thus the quality of life of millions of people,'' Dr Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, said. 

In establishing the new Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH subsidiary, the supplier of technology and services is aiming to tap into the growing medical technology market.

In 2015, this market was worth some €350 billion, with annual growth of around 3 per cent. ''We see the internet of things as a paradigm shift. It not only impacts our daily lives, but will also forever change the nature of healthcare,'' says Dr Denner.

''We want to harness the technological potential of connectivity to make a decisive contribution to improving healthcare, and thus the quality of life of millions of people. Bosch solutions will become a part of everyday healthcare.''

Bosch Healthcare Solutions has more than 80 associates currently employed at the company's headquarters in Waiblingen, which is also where the Vivatmo device is made.

''Bosch Healthcare Solutions benefits from the Bosch Group's unmatched network of expertise and experience. The winning combination of researchers, developers, and an agile team meant that we took our first products from the initial idea to being market-ready in a very short space of time,'' says Marc Meier, president of Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH.

In addition to Vivatmo, Bosch Healthcare Solutions will offer customers further connected products and services in the areas of healthcare and medical technology. One of these is the new Vivatar app, which acts as a virtual companion for people out and about on their own. In an emergency, the means to summon help is right at their fingertips.

The product portfolio also features functional components made of high-performance ceramics made at the Bosch location in Blaichach, Germany: these are particularly stable and durable and are used to make surgical instruments.

Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. The subsidiary's solutions draw on the Bosch Group's core competencies: sensors to collect data, software to evaluate that data, and services based on this data analysis.