A 5G-enabled YouCare smart shirt was introduced by ZTE and its Italian partners at the Mobile World Congress 2021 held in Barcelona, Spain, from June 28-July 1, 2021. As per an Innovation in Textiles report, the YouCare smart shirt enables the detection of a combination of bio parameters such as a ‘real’ electrocardiogram, a respiratory act analysis, components of sweat, muscle effort and body temperature. The shirt allows the transmission of data via ZTE’s ultra-fast 5G connection and is a fully textile-based product with no metal components that is washable and easy to use.

Certified as a Medical Device, the YouCare shirt is based on the predictive algorithms for cardiovascular disorders of BSP-Medical a world leader in the field of medical data science located in Hunan, China, and Tel Aviv, Israel. A Chinese provider of advanced telecommunications systems, mobile devices and enterprise technology solutions, ZTE sells its products and services in more than 160 countries and is listed on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges. It is amongst the largest developers of global 5G standards with a patented technology value of around $7billion, says the report titled Challenges and Prospects for China’s Telecommunications Industry and Intellectual Property Market by investment management company Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

The company plans to initiate further 5G testing of the YouCare at its Innovation and Research Centre in Italy, with local company Accyourate from Autumn this year.