The Promise of Sleep Tech: Strategic Alliance Opportunities in Healthcare to Increase Access to a Sleep and Circadian Rhythm-Targeted Platform Technology

Abstract

The demands of modern life are eroding the quantity and quality of people’s sleep, causing a significant public health problem. Circadian Positioning Systems (CPS), a startup headquartered in Newport, RI, has developed a sleep and circadian-rhythm-targeted platform technology that enhances circadian alignment. It is a potential solution for lifestyle-related sleep deficiency that impedes productivity and performance, increases our risk of accidents, and can lead to chronic health conditions. Startups like CPS require funding and resources to develop and scale their products. One strategy for acquiring resources is to collaborate with other companies. This qualitative study explores strategic alliance opportunities in healthcare for CPS to make their sleep technology accessible to the general public. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders and experts in healthcare from the public health, health and wellness, health insurance, and pharmaceutical sectors. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify and examine patterns emerging from the data. Most participants were enthusiastic about the potential for the wearable patch component of the platform to provide more accurate measures of sleep during continuous monitoring for up to six weeks. Viable strategic alliance opportunities exist across all sectors with the lowest barrier to entry and greatest potential to partner with health and wellness-related organizations. The post-COVID-19 digital health revolution has contributed to increased interest in emerging digital health technology for monitoring, diagnosing, and treating adverse health conditions. The CPS platform technology has the potential to make an impact in health and wellness, patient monitoring, clinical care, health insurance, and pharmaceutical settings.