Via: SharpBrains – New Report Finds A Brain Health Revolution in the Making, Driven by Digital Technology and Neuroplasticity Research
According to a 207-page market report released today by SharpBrains and prepared in collaboration with 24 leading scientists and 10 innovative organizations, revenues for digital technologies to assess, enhance and treat cognition, or digital brain health and fitness tools, grew 35% in 2009.
The report estimates that the size of the worldwide digital brain health and fitness market in 2009 was $295M — 35% growth since 2008, representing an annualized growth rate of 31% since 2005.
Healthy aging is the main value proposition today, but the report identifies lifelong drivers fueling a general desire to enhance mental wellness and performance: academic performance, sports performance, workplace productivity, driving safety, quality of life among older adults and clinical populations.
The report includes a detailed trend analysis of four main market segments — Schools, Employers, Consumers, Providers — and forecasts the worldwide market to grow to $2 – $8 billion USD by 2015 provided a few bottlenecks are addressed.
“The convergence of demographic and policy trends with cognitive neuroscience discoveries and technological innovation is giving birth to a nascent marketplace that can fundamentally transform what brain health is, how it is measured, and how it is done,” says Alvaro Fernandez, member of the World Economic Forum’s Council on the Aging Society and Editor-in-Chief of the report..”
“As the brain is thrust into the center of the healthcare ecosystem, innovative cognitive health and brain fitness applications will play an increasingly important role in defining neurocentric health,” adds Jake Dunagan, Research Director at the Institute For The Future.
The Report
Transforming Brain Health with Digital Tools to Assess, Enhance and Treat Cognition across the Lifespan: The State of the Brain Fitness Market 2010
A majority among the 1,900+ decision-makers and early-adopters surveyed said they trusted the effectiveness of non-invasive options above invasive options to enhance critical brain functionality.
Professional and intellectual challenges were rated very effective by 61% of respondents, aerobic exercise and reading books by 42%, meditation by 38%, computerized brain training by 26%, taking prescription drugs by 13%, taking supplements by 12%, and self-medicating with drugs by 1%.
“We must do for brain health in the 21st century what we largely accomplished in cardiovascular health in the past century. It’s time to take scientific insights out of the lab and to identify practical applications, making the maintenance of good brain fitness a public health priority,” indicates William Reichman, MD, President and CEO of Baycrest.
Another Report highlight is the Competitive Landscape.
SharpBrains’ proprietary Market and Research Momentum Matrix identifies seven companies, out of over a hundred, as Leaders: Brain Resource, CogniFit, Lumos Labs, Posit Science, Ultrasis, United BioSource, and Scientific Learning.
The report includes in-depth company profiles of 32 companies and 10 innovation case studies: The ten finalists in the 2010 Brain Fitness Innovation Awards share how they are applying innovative neuroplasticity-based tools to enhance brain performance in the real-world. The ten organizations are: USA Hockey, Allstate, Nationwide, Arrowsmith School, University Behavioral HealthCare, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Saint Luke’s Brain and Stroke Institute, Oakland Unified School District, Mental Health Association of Rockland County, and SCAN Health Plan.
Twenty-four leading scientists examine recent evidence on the value and limitations of a wide variety of non-invasive brain health tools, and discuss the implications for measuring and enhancing brain fitness across the lifespan.
You can read the report´s 5-page Executive Summary at https://sharpbrains.com/executive-summary/.