According to new research from IDTechEx, “the next big thing” involves wearable technology for animals – from ultrasound-delivering treatment patches and electronic saddle optimization for horses to collars on many other animals that variously track, identify, diagnose and so on.
The new IDTechEx report “Wearable Technology for Animals 2015-2025” covers the needs, technologies and markets of wearable electronics for livestock, pets and wild animals. It forecasts that the global market, incorporating both RFID and non-RFID technologies, will reach $2.6 billion in 2025.
IDTechEx research predicts that during the next decade expenditure on medical diagnosis devices will increase in value market share from 11% to 23% and medical treatment (such as heating, cooling, ultrasound and drug delivery) will increase from a mere 1% to 13%. We are in the decade of wearable technology for animals being used for an addressable market of 22 billion human-controlled animals in the main but the decade may end with a rapid rise in tracing and treating endangered species in billions yearly.
Some RFID tagging will be subsumed by diagnostic devices that look the same, such as newly available stomach boluses, collars and implants. Legal push is in two directions, from requiring tagging of many forms of livestock in certain jurisdictions for disease control and quality improvement to some seeking to ban sale of “inhumane” dog training collars that administer electric shocks. Cameras on pets are surprisingly popular and a dog’s bark can now be interpreted and radioed to the owner when away. The number of protected fish tagged already runs into millions, tagging racing pigeons is a big business too and even bees are being tagged nowadays.
