Karten Design Will Advance Healthcare Innovation as Founding Member of USC Center for Body Computing
Product Innovation Consultancy Karten Design Makes a Commitment to Driving Radical Change in the Healthcare Industry
The USC Center for Body Computing (CBC) has announced that Karten Design, Southern California’s leading product innovation consultancy, is among 17 founding members of the CBC. As a member, Karten Design will support wireless health research and innovation, and help transform new technologies and ideas into viable, user-focused products.
"Health care will soon be radically changed by wireless technology, which has the potential to enhance the patient experience and improve health care outcomes,” said Leslie A. Saxon, M.D., the executive director of the CBC, which was established late last year as an epicenter of wireless health.
Karten Design has partnered with medical device and consumer electronics companies for 27 years to commercialize new technology into products that create positive experiences for people. The emerging field of wireless health represents a convergence of Karten Design’s key disciplines and an area where the company offers a great deal of expertise to the CBC.
“For years we’ve followed the trend of individuals being able to take ownership of their health as care moves from hospital-based reactive treatment to home-based proactive care,” said Karten Design principal Stuart Karten, whose 25-person firm has partnered with companies including Avery Dennison Medical Solutions, Starkey Laboratories, Inc. and Medtronic Diabetes to develop wireless health solutions. “We believe wireless health will have a profound change on the medical device industry and would like to help drive that change.”
The sponsoring companies, from startups to large corporations, come from all corners of the globe. In supporting the CBC, Karten Design joins a group of 17 international technology, software, device and service leaders, including Medtronic, Inc., St. Jude Medical, Avery Dennison, Boston Scientific, Proteus Biomedical and Sotera Wireless, that are working to advance healthcare delivery and education.
“Our founding members are a critical part of the Center for Body Computing. We are jointly creating product prototypes and economic models for wireless health. We believe wireless medicine has the potential to help millions, if not billions, of people,” said Saxon. “Wireless health solutions can democratize medicine by breaking down the barriers between health care providers and patients, leading to faster and more cost-effective cures, and increased access to health solutions for people worldwide.”
About the Center for Body Computing
The Center for Body Computing works with other USC schools, including the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the USC Marshall School of Business, and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, to think about, study and create the future of wireless medicine. CBC initiatives include work with the Institute for Communication Technology Management at the USC Marshall School of Business to study how mobile phones can be used in the prevention of illnesses and epidemics; studying the role of social media in health care; medical research (Dr. Saxon recently authored a ground-breaking study which followed more than 100,000 patients across the United States and found increased survival rates among remotely monitored patients with wireless-enabled devices); sports (the National Football League Charities has given a grant to the CBC to study the dynamic heart rate in NFL and USC football players); app development (the CBC works with various medical and non-medical companies, to develop wellness and other wireless health applications for disease prevention and wellness as well as for chronic diseases that require continuous management); and conferences and seminars. The CBC will host the 5th annual USC Body Computing Conference on Sept. 22-23, 2011.
About Karten Design
Karten Design provides product innovation for leading companies by Connecting Creativity to Commerce™. Since 1984, we have been creating emotional bonds between consumers and products, helping our clients to build brands and revenue. Karten Design’s projects, including iconic designs such as Jabra’s best-selling line of Bluetooth headsets and the Zōn™ hearing aid for Starkey, have been honored with more than 100 of the industry’s top global awards. Located near the beach in Marina del Rey, Karten Design’s team is tapped into the cutting edge culture that defines Los Angeles with its fingers on the pulse of the trends that will affect the nation.
For interview requests with Dr. Leslie Saxon, please contact Alexandra Smith: Alexandra.Smith@med.usc.edu
About Karten Design
Karten Design provides product innovation for leading companies by Connecting Creativity to Commerce™. Since 1984, we have been creating emotional bonds between consumers and products, helping our clients to build brands and increase revenue. Karten Design’s projects, including iconic designs such as Jabra’s best-selling line of Bluetooth headsets and the Zōn™ hearing aid for Starkey, have been honored with more than 100 of the industry’s top global awards. Located near the beach in Marina del Rey, Karten Design’s team is tapped into the culture that defines Los and the trends that affect the nation.
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