China – At a Glance: Retail Tech – Beyond Mere Fitness – Development Of Wearable Technology In Hong Kong and mainland China.

12 December, 2017

 

In the 2017 Policy Address, the Hong Kong Government re-affirmed its plan to develop the city into a smart city.  Following the policy address, the Government announced the formulation of a smart city blueprint.  In the announcement, wearable technology is highlighted as one of the key "smart city" technologies that will track health and help develop smart hospitals. 

 

Whilst this is welcoming news for many wearable technology companies based in Hong Kong, wearable technology has already transcended the application to the healthcare sector.  Many innovations developed in Hong Kong are being used in the manufacturing and logistics sectors.  

 

This potential is well recognised by the mainland Chinese Government.  In the "13th Five Year Plan: National Technological Innovations Plan" published by the State Council in July 2016 and the "13th Five Year Plan:

 

New Special Plan for Technological Innovations in the Modern Service Sector" published by the Ministry of Science & Technology in May 2017, wearable technology is featured prominently.  The government expects to see wearable technology to be widely applied in the internet space, and also as a key to serving its aging population.   The "technology" which China expects to see developing is not restricted simply to energy efficient wearable devices, but the entire life-cycle, from the technology's core systems, to technology permitting human-machine exchange, sensors, apps and other related infrastructure.  Wearable technology should also be developed and adopted in the entertainment and information/internet, sports and fitness and healthcare sectors.  In developing any wearable technology, we also expect to see an interplay between wearable technology, AI and Big Data.

 

As in all jurisdictions, many legal issues will arise as wearable technology becomes more widely adopted.  Product recall, intellectual property rights and data protection are only three of such legal issues. Whilst we are already seeing IP disputes in China concerning wearable technology, we expect to see more data protection related issues as the data protection law in both Hong Kong and mainland China matures.