Imagine a thin patch you stick on your skin — like a smart bandage — that can sense how your body is doing and even nudge you with gentle vibrations when something needs attention. The BEWELL team built exactly that, plus a matching wrist device. They figured out how to manufacture these flexible electronics at scale in Europe, making them thin, comfortable, and reliable enough to wear all day. Three working demos were tested: a wrist gadget, a skin patch for body monitoring, and an "emotional balance" patch that tracks stress signals.
Companies building wearable health and wellness products face a core engineering challenge: sensors must maintain reliable skin contact during movement, in a form factor thin and flexible enough for all-day wear. Off-the-shelf components don't solve this — they're rigid, bulky, and designed for lab conditions. European manufacturers also lack local supply chains for flexible wearable electronics, forcing dependence on Asian component suppliers.
Three tested demonstrators: a wrist-worn sensing device, a flexible skin patch for body monitoring, and an emotional balance patch that detects stress-related physiological signals. The project also developed the underlying integration and manufacturing technologies needed to produce these flexible electronics at scale, totaling 7 deliverables.
If you are a wearable device company struggling to add reliable skin-contact sensing to your products — this project developed tested skin patch and wrist device demonstrators with flexible electronics integration and scalable manufacturing techniques. The consortium of 8 partners across 5 countries validated 3 separate demonstrators, giving you a technology platform to license or co-develop for your product line.
If you are a workplace wellness company looking for reliable ways to monitor employee stress and physical strain — this project built and tested an emotional balance patch demonstrator that tracks physiological signals through direct skin contact. With 4 industrial partners in the consortium, the manufacturing approach was designed for volume production, not just lab prototypes.
If you are a digital health company that needs continuous body-worn sensors for patient monitoring outside hospitals — this project delivered a final skin device demonstrator tested for reliable sensing during different activity levels. The flexible electronics and controllable skin-contact technology solve the common problem of sensors losing signal when patients move.
The project received EUR 4,164,845 in EU funding as a Research and Innovation Action, meaning the core R&D is publicly co-funded. Licensing terms would need to be negotiated with the coordinator (VTT, Finland) and relevant consortium partners. Based on available project data, specific per-unit manufacturing costs are not disclosed.
Scalable manufacturing was a core objective of BEWELL — the project specifically aimed to develop 'integration and manufacturing technologies needed for smart skin patch and wrist-device wearable electronics.' The consortium included 4 industrial partners, suggesting the manufacturing pathway was considered from the start. However, mass production readiness would require further validation beyond the tested demonstrators.
As an EU-funded RIA project, IP typically stays with the partners who generated it. VTT (Finland) coordinated the project, and 4 industrial partners hold portions of the IP. You would need to contact the consortium to discuss licensing terms for specific components or the integrated platform.
Three final demonstrators were built and tested: a wrist device, a skin device for body monitoring, and an emotional balance patch. The project produced 7 deliverables in total. Each demonstrator went through a full test cycle as documented in the project outputs.
The project identified internet of things and connected living as driving trends. The wearable devices are designed around connectivity and human-machine interfaces. Based on available project data, specific integration protocols or APIs are not detailed in the public objectives.
The project focused on 'physical and emotional wellbeing' rather than medical diagnostics, which places it in the consumer wellness category. If you intend to use this for clinical applications, additional regulatory certification (e.g., MDR in Europe) would likely be required beyond what the project delivered.
The project ended in March 2022. VTT, as coordinator, and the 8-partner consortium across Finland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, and France may offer follow-up collaboration. The project website (h2020bewell.eu) may contain additional technical resources and contact information.
The BEWELL consortium is well-balanced for a hardware wearable project: 8 partners across 5 European countries (Finland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, France), with a 50/50 split between industrial and research organizations. VTT, the Finnish national research centre, leads the coordination — a strong sign of technical depth but also meaning that commercialization will depend on the 4 industrial partners taking technology to market. The absence of SMEs in the consortium is notable; this suggests the technology was developed at a scale and cost more suited to established manufacturers than startups. With 3 research organizations backing 4 industrial players, the knowledge transfer pipeline looks solid, though a business partner would want to identify which industrial member holds the specific IP relevant to their use case.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland — search for BEWELL project contact or wearable electronics team at VTT
Want an introduction to the BEWELL team to discuss licensing their wearable sensor technology? SciTransfer can arrange a direct meeting with the right people.
