Smart device company Garmin announced that it has launched an 'Asia Regional Research Project' targeting researchers in the Asian region in collaboration with global health data platform FitLocker.
This program was designed to support researchers who face challenges securing precise raw data due to high hardware costs and technical complexity amid the growing use of wearable technology in clinical research settings. The two companies plan to provide specialized research tools that bridge the gap between consumer wearable devices and scientific research, thereby improving the research environment in digital health and sports science and supporting the Asian research community.
Research teams can utilize high-resolution biometric data, such as heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen saturation, and accelerometer data, through the Garmin Health API and SDK, in accordance with each institution's privacy policies and research objectives. FitLocker serves as a data linkage platform, enabling research teams to integrate wearable technology into clinical trials and academic research, and to comprehensively manage and analyze participant data.
The Asia Regional Research Program is open to researchers planning or conducting research based on health data collected from wearable devices in 11 major Asian regions, including Korea. Graduate students, doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and senior researchers, as well as researchers affiliated with universities, research institutes, hospitals, and medical institutions, are eligible to apply.
Key research areas include digital health and sports science, including analyzing sleep and activity changes following exercise intervention in an aging society, studying the correlation between training load and HRV recovery in professional athletes, monitoring lifestyle changes in chronically ill patients for preventive medicine, and examining the impact of workplace stress on biomarkers and sleep cycles.
Selected research teams will receive support to conduct their research. Each team will receive five Garmin Vivoactive 5 smartwatches, and up to 50 research participants will have access to the FitLocker Health Solutions platform for six months. Teams selected for outstanding research projects will also have the opportunity to showcase their research results through official Garmin Health channels.
Nelson Chen, General Manager of Garmin Korea, explained that wearable-based biometric data is providing crucial insights in various fields, including disease prevention, lifestyle improvement, and exercise science. He added that this program will support domestic researchers to leverage precision sensor data and analytical technologies to achieve results in health promotion and disease prevention.
Applications for the Asia region research project will be accepted until March 31st. For more information, please visit the official Garmin Health and FitLocker research support program pages.
- See more related articles
You must be logged in to post a comment.