“ It started off with us saying , ‘ Well , if you can continuously develop a Formula 1 car by using real-time data insight and being predictive about the outcome of the race , why wouldn ’ t you do that for a human ...?’”
Wearable sensor from McLaren Applied Technologies
“ It started off with us saying , ‘ Well , if you can continuously develop a Formula 1 car by using real-time data insight and being predictive about the outcome of the race , why wouldn ’ t you do that for a human ...?’”
— Duncan Bradley , health unit business director at McLaren Applied Technologies
35 op a Formula 1 car by using real-time data insight and being predictive about the outcome of the race , why wouldn ’ t you do that for a human , swapping the race outcome for a health outcome ?’” Bradley explains .
And in fact , roughly 10 years ago , McLaren Applied Technologies started applying the same scalable data analytics technology used to understand F1 cars to better understand the human element of the race : McLaren ’ s Formula 1 drivers . Bradley points out that understanding the makeup of a driver goes well beyond his natural driving skills to include movement , recovery , nutrition , and cognition . “ We track , monitor , and predict all the key health and wellness indicators that a driver needs to be able to perform at his best over season and create personalized interventions and programs .”
The data collected from biometric sensors enables McLaren Applied Technologies to understand each driver ’ s body and personalize training programs over the course of a race season , but these same insights are directly applicable to the general population . “ In the F1 world , it ’ s all about maximizing race performance , but in healthcare it could be recovering from a surgical procedure , managing a disease or weight loss , or running a marathon ,” Bradley says . “ Whilst the field of application is quite different , the technology and approach underpinning our digital health and wellness business is quite similar , directly taken from what we have learned over the years of going racing .”
According to Bradley , the healthcare industry is at a pivotal point where it can benefit from adopting such innovative technologies , with a growing requirement for evidence-based , predictive insight to improve our well-being coupled with the availability of more high-quality human data . “ Thanks to investment in motorsport , a highly-competitive environment with a cutting-edge technology focus , the racing world saw a digital revolution before many other industries and learned a lot about handling data to drive decision-making ,” he says , “ but what