Take Gatorade for example. While not the first company that comes to mind when thinking of technological innovation, it is working on a few gadgets worth running for, like this sweat patch that tracks your hydration – stick it on your forearm and watch your Gatorade bottle cap flash when it’s time to have a drink or when you’ve met your water intake goals for the day.
Wouldn’t it be nice to get a text from your fridge reminding you to get milk on the way home? Or an app that turns the light on and controls the temperature of your living room remotely? What about a toothbrush that tells you when you’ve brushed long enough? Thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT) – that ecosystem of internet-connected objects that interact with one another –, this is now a reality. Not only in home appliances but also in healthcare, public safety, transportation, or retail. And because of the increased availability of printed electronics combined with real-time cloud software, IoT is quickly giving packaging a chance to be interactive, too.
