Over the last few decades, there had been increasing interest in both microfluidics and wearables, especially for remote, continuous monitoring and management of health and fitness. The rapid emergence of the wearables market has been influenced by big tech companies producing the likes of the Apple Watch, Fitbit and other wearable devices. The integration of microfluidic technology with multiplex capabilities into wearable devices is one of the most highly anticipated next-generation technologies. It has particular relevance in the fields of healthcare diagnostics, point-of-care (POC) testing and fitness monitoring with great potential to be applied to many more applications and market opportunities including the military.

Microfluidics is the term to describe the study of behaviour, manipulation and control of the movement of small volumes of fluid in microchannels. A microfluidic system is the science and technology in which the process or manipulation of small amounts of fluids around the 10^-9 to 10^-8 can be used to measure and analyse (1). 

As microfluidic technology continuously advances, we are racing to develop innovative technology, designs and devices that can lead the next generation of diagnostics and dominate the market. The global market forecast for microfluidics is forecasted to reach an estimate of $58.8 billion by 2023 (2). A 16.3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is anticipated from 2021 to 2028 (3).

With the ever-growing demand of cost-friendly, easy-to-use and effective diagnostics test for point of care (POC); microfluidic technology is an attractive road for paving the way to producing a large variety of diagnostic applications, using microfluidic fabrication technology to miniaturise laboratory workflows into lab-on-chip (LOC) or a credit card sized format.