Samsung Electronics Unveils Samsung Health Stack 1.0

Samsung aims to create and expand a healthcare biomarker R&D ecosystem through Samsung Health Stack 1.0, announced at HIMSS 2023

Samsung Electronics today announced Samsung Health Stack 1.0, a breakthrough in digital health research, at the annual conference and exhibition of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2023, held from April 17 to 21 in Chicago.

Developed by Samsung Research and Samsung Research America,¹ the Samsung Health Stack is an all-in-one open-source project that aids digital health research by enabling researchers to easily build apps, backend servers and analysis tools for wearable devices based on the Android and Wear OS operating systems.

Advancements in smartphones and wearables have the potential to revolutionize healthcare research and the development of data-based biomarkers. However, utilizing these devices for research often requires new mobile health apps and services. This requires medical researchers to invest significant amounts of time and money in fields that may be unfamiliar to them, creating obstacles to the expansion of innovative technologies.

Samsung developed the Samsung Health Stack to help overcome those obstacles. The project’s included App SDK,² web portal and backend system make system construction simpler, enabling researchers to focus on their research. Developers can build necessary applications quickly and easily, while participants can rest assured that the data they provide is being managed securely.³

“The Samsung Health Stack, which aims to make it easier and safer to acquire digital health data, will lower the barriers between medical researchers and digital technology experts, serving as a foundation for innovation in the digital health industry,” said Yunsu Lee, Vice President and Head of Data Intelligence Team at Samsung Electronics. “By promoting the development of digital health services, we hope to ultimately improve the quality of life for people around the world. We also hope that the Samsung Health Stack, being an open-source project, will be helpful to many people in the field, and we welcome the participation of interested developers and researchers.”

When conducting studies with wearables on conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, the Samsung Health Stack allows researchers to simplify the data collection process by entering only relevant information into the web portal.

Applications developed with the App SDK can support frequent communication between researchers and participants, leading to better research outcomes. Making the process faster can enable researchers to take on more varied and proactive healthcare projects, helping to create an environment where consumers can enjoy a healthier life.

Since unveiling an alpha version at the 2022 Samsung Developer Conference (SDC), Samsung has steadily advanced the Samsung Health Stack, releasing the beta version in March of this year. HIMSS 2023 attendees will get a chance to preview version 1.0, which is scheduled for release in June.

Samsung Health Stack 1.0 improves on the alpha version’s research introduction, participant onboarding, wearable data collection and basic survey functions, and its security and stability have been enhanced for reliability in actual healthcare research. In addition to supporting basic data collection, Samsung Health Stack 1.0 offers an activity task feature that tracks clinical participants’ progress on specific research-related tasks. The survey feature, which enables researchers to acquire data directly from participants, has also been enhanced with a dynamic survey function that can reflect the purpose of the research and researchers’ intentions based on participants’ responses, enabling follow-up actions to be taken afterward.

By enhancing the usability of research management tools, Samsung Health Stack 1.0 enables researchers to focus more on research design. It also provides several methods to offer participants relevant information to minimize delays. The documentation provided to developers has also been significantly improved to make it easier to build research systems.

Visitors to Samsung’s booth at HIMSS 2023 can experience the Samsung Health Stack’s new features through a mobile app created using the App SDK. They can also experience the process of conducting healthcare research and collecting data with wearables using the mobile app, integrated wearable devices and web portal. Researchers who contributed to the Samsung Health Stack’s development will be present at the booth to explain the utilization methods and technical details.

Although it is still in the early stages as an open-source project, many healthcare companies are considering utilizing the Samsung Health Stack. Startups such as SALTED⁴ and All Round Doctors⁵ are collecting data for research purposes and have considered using that data to provide healthcare services. It is expected that the Samsung Health Stack will be used in various fields in the future.

¹ Samsung Research, Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, leads the development of future technologies for the company’s Device eXperience (DX) Division.
² Visit https://developer.samsung.com/health/s-healthstack for more information and download.
³ Samsung Health Stack provides data management capabilities to ensure data separation and storage, encryption and anonymization.
⁴ Provides digital insoles and applicable services; has worked with Samsung since 2022. Visit https://www.salted.ltd/eng/main/index.html for more info.
⁵ Provides digital therapeutics solutions to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy; has worked with Samsung since 2022. Visit https://ards.co.kr/ for more info.