Bear in mind the 2014 Tom Cruise movie Fringe of Tomorrow?
Supply: Warner Bros.
Nice flick. If you happen to haven’t seen it and are into science fiction films, I extremely advocate giving it a watch.
In any occasion, the film facilities round Cruise taking part in a solider who makes use of a supercharged, futuristic army exoskeleton to assist battle off an invading alien military.
The exoskeleton swimsuit is tremendous cool. It has tremendous power, tremendous pace, tremendous endurance… it’s principally a superhuman swimsuit that turns Tom Cruise into Clark Kent.
However what if this expertise existed on the earth as we speak?
As longtime readers know, a few of the greatest funding alternatives available in the market emerge when science fiction turns into actuality.
See self-driving vehicles. For many years, autonomous autos have been the stuff of science fiction lore. Now, because of speedy enhancements in sensor expertise and falling sensor manufacturing prices, they’re on the cusp of turning right into a actuality. Corporations serving to convey AVs to life – like main LiDAR maker Luminar Applied sciences (NASDAQ:LAZR) – have been large winners on Wall Road.
Or, see genomic enhancing. The thought of enhancing genes isn’t new. However it was perpetually implausible. Till 2012, when the invention of CRISPR-Cas9 techniques made gene enhancing doable at scale. Since then, the genomic enhancing area has been on hearth, and most of the world’s main gene editors – like Editas Drugs (NASDAQ:EDIT) – have been a few of the greatest winners on Wall Road.
You possibly can additionally level to the area tourism business and Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE), or the substitute intelligence area and C3.ai (NYSE:AI), or the electrical automobile area and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
The listing goes on and on. The overarching theme is obvious.
In the present day, for the primary time ever, many science fiction ideas are turning into disruptive realities, and creating monumental funding alternatives.
One such science fiction idea is the exoskeleton swimsuit from Fringe of Tomorrow.
To be clear, we aren’t on the cusp of constructing superhuman exoskeleton fits to fight a complicated alien military. That’s not taking place anytime quickly… if ever.
However… we’re on the cusp of making a brand new era of superior bionic exoskeletons with a variety of essential medical and industrial purposes. Assume exoskeletons that may assist disabled individuals with extreme spinal harm stroll once more, or exoskeletons that can provide guide laborers extra power and endurance whereas on the job.
These exoskeleton fits – very like self-driving tech, or gene enhancing, or spaceships – are not new. However – as can be the case with self-driving, gene enhancing, and spaceships – the celebrities are all aligning to show the promising thought of exoskeleton fits right into a widespread disruptive actuality quickly.
Which stars am I speaking about precisely?
In brief, all the most important hurdles which have stunted exoskeleton adoption are being eliminated.
For starters, one of many main hurdles to adoption of exoskeleton fits within the medical group has been insurance coverage protection.
Exoskeleton fits are very, very costly. Most people can’t afford them. To purchase one, they need assistance from insurance coverage firms – however insurance coverage firms have to this point failed to supply that assist as a result of there was a dearth of information to show that exoskeleton fits save on medical prices in the long term (they’re comparatively new machines, and there aren’t many in circulation).
That’s all altering proper now.
Exoskeleton swimsuit makers have collected tons of pre-injury and post-exoskeleton knowledge from their machines in use over the previous ten years. All of this knowledge is beginning to paint a verifiable image that, certainly, exoskeleton fits end in lifetime medical price financial savings.
The outcome? Insurance coverage firms are beginning to present protection for exoskeleton fits.
The primary domino is falling in Germany, the place a number of personal and public well being insurers expanded protection to incorporate exoskeleton fits in 2020. The U.S. is following intently behind, as final yr, some exoskeleton fits have been issued HCPCS codes – or standardized codes that assist facilitate the processing of medical insurance claims by Medicare and different third-party insurance coverage suppliers within the U.S. (and are a prerequisite for protection).
In different phrases, the insurance coverage group is lastly warming as much as exoskeleton fits, which units the stage for a decade of hypergrowth adoption forward for medical exoskeleton fits.
In the meantime, within the industrial world, exoskeleton adoption has been stunted by the bulkiness of the fits and the large upfront prices.
However the newest era of 2020 exoskeleton fits put on extra like vests with attachments than full-on fits, whereas many exoskeleton makers are pivoting right into a subscription enterprise mannequin which removes massive upfront prices.
To that finish, industrial uptake of exoskeleton fits ought to equally soar over the subsequent a number of years because of extra viable fits and falling prices.
Large image: after a decade of sluggish progress, the economic and medical exoskeleton markets are about to dash into hypergrowth mode.
Which shares must you purchase to play this rising megatrend?
For the medical angle, ReWalk Robotics (NASDAQ:RWLK) is the very best play. This firm is the chief in medical exoskeletons and has been main the cost in successful insurance coverage protection contracts in Germany.
On the economic facet, Ekso Bionics (NASDAQ:EKSO) is the highest play. It’s newest industrial swimsuit, the EVO, represents probably the most compact, best, and most viable industrial exoskeleton swimsuit available in the market as we speak. Plus, the corporate is leaning closely into deploying a subscription pricing mannequin for its fits.
Each ReWalk and Ekso have been via robust occasions over the previous few years. However their fortunes are altering. And, over the subsequent few years, I wouldn’t be stunned to see each shares flip into multi-baggers.
On the date of publication, Luke Lango didn’t have (both straight or not directly) any positions within the securities talked about on this article.
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