Titan CTO Discusses Expansion Into Smart Rings And Scales, Highlights AI-Driven Health Ecosystem

New Delhi: As wearable technology continues to evolve at a breakneck pace, Titan aims to set new benchmarks in the health and wellness sector. In this exclusive interview, Raj Neravati, Chief Technology Officer, Titan Smart Wearables, shares insights into the company's forward-thinking strategies for 2024. The CTO discusses how Titan is not just keeping up with technological advancements but also looking to pioneer personalised health solutions and expanding its product range. With a focus on integrating AI and machine learning, Titan seeks to redefine what wearable technology can achieve in everyday life.

Here are the excerpts from the interaction

In the context of global tech trends, where does Titan see the biggest opportunity for growth in the next five years?

The world of technology will see a huge transformation with the emergence of wearables. The industry grew multi-fold with consumer adoption and a rapid transformation from the provider side – all the way from chip engineering to precision manufacturing due to the small real estate that fits on our wrist. The growth in adoption of wearables has been driven by evolving functionality with a seamless integration into our digital lifestyles. The initial adoption has been primarily driven by the ability of measuring steps, heart rate and basic sleep. However, the technology has evolved to show a lot of promise on accuracy and ability to measure vitals like SPO2, HRV, VO2MAX and many more parameters. For Titan, it became natural to invest into this technology and make it health-tech to personalise data for consumers and drive meaningful outcomes. With the ability to monitor data continuously, Titan started investing into building algorithms, features and assets that can help users transform their health journey.

Could you share some insights into the research and development process behind health features in Titan wearables?

Titan has set up a dedicated engineering centre for driving Innovation & Technology advancement in Hyderabad – Titan Smart Labs. This is a 100+ member team comprising of data scientists, machine learning experts, algorithm engineers and firmware engineers who are working on deep research to drive better outcomes with adoption of smart wearables. Titan also acquired a start-up (Hug Innovations) in 2020 which is now expanded into Titan Smart Labs with a manpower growth of 3x over the last 3 years. So, there has been a continuous increase in investment on infrastructure and human capital over these years to drive Innovation.

How does Titan ensure the accuracy and reliability of health monitoring data in its smart wearables?

For us product experience and quality in both tech and design matters a lot. Our products before entering into the market goes through at least 400+ tests. We also conduct a lot of field trials with real end user participation across states with different age groups and lifestyle behaviours. This data helps us fine tune our algorithms better. We also run benchmarking against clinical grade devices to observe variability and do our best to minimise this variability. Over and above this, we also use deep engineering to help algorithms improve naturally based on the adoption of the user.

Can you elaborate on your partnership with Cue Zen and how it aims to develop and launch innovative offerings for wellness, health, and lifestyle disease management?

Most of the consumers adopt a wearable with a lot of excitement. However in a few months, there is a natural die down in this interest due to lack of innovation and personalised experience management. The wearable device merely turns into a notifications / alert device and nothing beyond this. Titan intends to change the behaviour by providing personal insights that are truly unique to each individual. There are many challenges in delivering this personalised experience, autonomously. Titan invested into CueZen- a company which offers personalised nudges and recommendations based on an individual's digital twin and lifestyle behaviours, significantly enhancing engagement and adherence to care protocols. In light of the health challenges confronting India today, our collaboration is focused on delivering customised solutions that cater to the diverse requirements of the Indian consumers. This strategic Responses to Zee News Sensitivity: Internal alliance seeks to revolutionise the paradigm of wellness management, providing actionable insights and support to foster healthier lifestyles among users.

How does Titan view the essential balance between cutting-edge technology and the human touch in the evolving landscape of healthcare?

Titan understands the need to balance technology with human adoption in the India market. There are many places where technology has advanced beyond the needs. How many of us truly use all the features of the smartphone – many would not even know 20% of the features. Yet the devices are turning more advanced and expensive. Titan is investing in improving accuracy of sensors, driving better adoption and focused towards driving a change in consumer health by providing insights, recommendations and trigger natural, seamless interventions. These improvements will have an important role in the wearables industry and help us build more credibility as a thought leader in the market.

In your vision, what pivotal role do you foresee for Titan wearables in the realm of preventive healthcare and wellness?

In a country like India, healthcare is largely fragmented and operated with symptomatic care. This integration of wearables into the healthcare ecosystem will improve the treatment and approach towards dealing with health care conditions around chronic diseases. Titan intends to partner with caregivers to drive preventive care by providing substantial data on consumer behaviour and patterns. This data can help providers understand the patient better and recommend lifestyle changes that can lead to enhanced health management. We are building advanced technology into our wearables that can drive behaviour management, consumption patterns, deeper understanding of sleep and stress management.

How specifically do Titan's advanced wearables cater to the unique health and wellness needs of the people? 

Our consumers have moved beyond the adoption curve and are looking for better accuracy. Titan is working with best-in-class sensors and algorithm companies to improve the accuracy and quality of data that will be measured on your wrist. In addition to this, Titan will be capitalising on AI and Machine Learning capabilities to provide personalised recommendations.

Customised Health Tracking: Each individual behaviour is different, exhibiting patterns that vary compared to others. Titan aims to deliver personalised insights as opposed to generalised template based insights to consumers.

Comprehensive Wellness Insights: The early consumer was happy to know the basic insights of steps, sleep or Heart Rate. Titan aims to provide meaningful insights to consumers on the trends, patterns and change in behaviour based on individual performance. We intend to provide meaningful intervention with right insights on behaviour and adoption.

Integration with Healthcare Ecosystem: There is a large opportunity for wellness to integrate with healthcare. Titan is working with partners to create a holistic wellness ecosystem infused with preventive healthcare benefits.

Can you discuss any existing upcoming features or groundbreaking products in Titan's health and wellness line that consumers can look forward to?

Titan has largely played on giving products that come with all the offerings available in the industry with superior quality, fashion and features. This year, we have moved beyond fashion and are focusing on health and wellness management.

Beyond Smartwatches: We are expanding beyond smartwatches. This year, Titan will be launching products in Smart Rings, Smart Scale and more to build a connected ecosystem.

Sensor Partnerships: Titan partnered with best-in-class sensors to improve data accuracy and aims to provide clinical grade quality on measuring health parameters.

Algorithms: We have signed up with three of the best companies in the world with decades of experience in healthcare, sports and performance management. These partners are helping us develop algorithms that are tuned towards Indian consumers. We are also performing a lot of field trials to validate the hypothesis and drive better insights.

Wellness Insights: Titan aims to provide hyper personalised app engagement experience based on individual behaviour and adoption. This includes personalised coaching, recommendations, nudges and analytics.

Gamification: Titan is building a platform to gamify wellness to create a sense of excitement, collaboration and incentivise users with rewards for consistency and participation. This will allow users in reversing metabolic age and improve their performance.

Looking ahead, what are some of the key technological trends you are focusing on to drive growth and innovation?

Artificial Intelligence is the key to the future and we are embracing AI into all of the innovation that is being built. Beyond AI, we are also partnering with companies globally to realise the dream of noninvasive blood glucose measurement and blood pressure monitoring. While these may take a couple more years, there is definitely some promise in making this dream a reality.