Need to Know
10 : 11 : 21

Ireland – Bringing wearable technology into the realm of healthcare, Irish product design studio Design Partners is behind the Viscero, a vest with an embedded heart monitor, intended for people with irregular heartbeats.

Both non-invasive and discreet, the garment gives individuals with arrhythmia a new level of privacy and comfort. The design seeks to modernise the Holter monitor, a common yet cumbersome heart monitor that's been in commercial use since the 1960s. In contrast, the Viscero vest is designed for everyday life; it comprises a shirt with an integrated ECG circuit system and a small monitor pod that can fit inside a pocket. As a result, the product can be used without help from a medical professional.

With an estimated 12m people with abnormal heartbeats in the US alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the product heralds a brighter future in which wearable tech simplifies the monitoring and management of common conditions. Indeed, greater importance is being placed on inclusive design and accessible approaches to healthcare products. For more, read the Inclusive Care section of our Innovation Debrief.

US – Incentivising green spending, FutureCard is the first card that offers 5% cashback on eco-friendly purchases, actively rewarding consumers who purchase used clothing, own an electric car or take the metro, in order to lower the barriers to entry when it comes to climate consciousness.

With 66% of carbon emissions attributed to consumer choices on travel, food and lifestyle, FutureCard has partnered with financial services giant Visa to offer the cashback scheme. What’s more, anyone can apply to receive a FutureCard, no matter what their credit score or salary band.

By encouraging consumers to consider the environmental cost of their purchases, FutureCard is aligning itself with the premise of Sustainable Spending, providing a more ethical banking option for savers. ‘FutureCard will support consumers on their journeys to make sustainable behaviour changes and reward climate choices,’ explains Douglas Sabo, chief sustainability officer at Visa.

New research exposes the environmental impact of ‘dirty data’ habits, with unwanted photos and videos taken by UK adults generating CO2 emissions that are equivalent to more than 112,500 return flights from London to Australia.

Conducted by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the survey found that the average UK adult takes about 900 photos per year on their devices, with five taken for every one posted online. As these unwanted images and videos sit on servers across the world, they accumulate an average of 10.6kg of CO2 emissions per person annually. ‘In our ever-more connected lives, the data we now rely so much on also comes with a hidden carbon cost. Unsurprisingly, most of us don’t realise that our use of cloud storage means huge, power-hungry data centres are needed,’ explains Chris Cartwright, chair of the digital panel at IET.

As we have previously reported, Low-impact Interfaces and Sustainable Data Centres are needed to reduce the carbon cost of everyday digital processes. In the meantime, we could soon see technology companies encouraging individuals to delete unnecessary emails and photos, or limiting streaming.