How Philips uses light to break up fights and improve 3 billion lives

When you think of Philips what comes to mind ?

For me, it is light bulbs. For other it might be shavers. So when I was invited t attend the Philips Innovation Experience, I wondered how much could Philips possibly say about some lights and a razor ?

JJ van Dongen, CEO of Philips Africa, began by saying that “Our mission is to improve the lives of 3 billion people by 2025. This is a bold and daring vision. But looking at the state of the world, it is a path worth taking,”

Still not sure how a shaver can do achieve I was intrigued to discover that Philips has an entire healthcare division amongst its many products. As I continued to walk through the showcase I began to realise that there is so much more to Philips than lights.

Health Solutions everywhere

There are several health solutions that Philips has in place. Some are in development while others are in production. The solutions are aimed a providing personal and individual health information no matter where the person happens to be including in rural and remote areas.

EMPOWERING A HEALTHY LIFE

As people are becoming more health conscious as they try to follow the latest viral diet making its rounds on the internet. Most are not able to maintain life changing routines especially when they don’t see results. The problem is that not everyone is the same. What might work for one person might not produce results for another. Therefore, Philips has a range of solutions that take your individual data and allows you to track your own results which are then interpreted to be meaningful for you. Knowing your heart rate is 102bpm doesn’t mean anything unless you know that it is normal or not normal.

Each health app in the Philips range is connected with a health measurement device, is linked to a personalized program and secure, cloud-based data analysis.

VISIQ

VISIQ is a transducer-plus-tablet ultrasound system that delivers the image quality of a cart-based system. Ultra-mobile and easy-to-use, it allows clinicians to perform quality diagnostic obstetric, gynaecological and abdominal scans anywhere, from hospital labour rooms to remote, rural locations.

This is critical for developing countries where often the hospital is kilometres away meaning that pregnant women are not able to visit their gynaecologist during their pregnancy. This can lead to complications which could be avoided had they seen their doctor.

Minicare Acute

One of the key diagnostic tools doctors and nurses use is blood analysis. The problem currently is that blood are sent to a central lab where they are analysed and the results are sent to the doctor or nurse hours later. This is valuable time that is wasted.

Minicare Acute is a fully-automated handheld rapid diagnostic testing solution that can measure target molecules in very low concentrations (picomolar) in blood in a matter of minutes. The Minicare handheld diagnostic test can perform a wide variety of assays including hormones, drugs and proteins right at the bedside of the patient or inside the ambulance.

The first application for acute care is cTnI (cardiac Troponin I) and Philips aims to offer a full range of markers for the acute care setting

Keeping the lights on

Yes, The light business is still a critical role for Philips as the continue to convince governments to change over to LED lights which saves the cities millions in electricity consumption. By connecting LED lighting to sensors, controls, networks, devices and apps Philips enables its customers to create new lighting experiences while saving up to 80% on energy.

Therefore, it is no surprise that Philips launched the world’s first complete Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) connected lighting system for offices that gives facility managers, office workers, and building owners smartphone control of their office lighting, and building managers new insights into building usage. Lights have an IP addresses and these  are entered into the network and are managed as a component of the IT infrastructure. Individuals can use their smartphones to change the lighting conditions around their office.

Lights to break up a fight ?

In cities where smart light solutions have been implemented, the local law enforcement is able to use the lights to breakup disturbances. When an altercation begins, the streetlight in that locations are turned onto their brightest settings and the “fighters” become much more self conscious and usually back away.

The same principle applies to areas where the crowds are too congested. The law enforcement switches on lights in nearby areas to  their maximum brightness which tends to draw the crowd away from the dark areas.

Who knew Philip could break up a fight and provide healthcare too ?