A Study on mHealth Innovations through the Lens of Patent Analysis

Mobile health also referred to as mHealth is a broader term that includes mobile computing, medical sensor, communication technologies, and other wireless technologies associated with healthcare. Mobile health apps are becoming more popular due to their varied applications and have the potential to greatly improve the healthcare segment in any country. In this context, the present study attempts to provide a comprehensive picture of innovation trends in mHealth domain through patent landscape analysis. Further, it attempts to identify the major challenges with respect to patenting and protecting innovation in India. The analysis shows that there is an upward trend in patenting since 2002 onwards, and in addition to big private entities, start-ups and academic institutions are also having a major contribution to innovations in mHealth sector. However, there are inherent challenges in patenting an ICT technology which was also evident in our study with respect to selected mHealth app patents. A concerted effort in enhancing IPR capture as well as appropriate support mechanism is the need of the hour to promote and effectively implement mHealth in the country.