CES 2026 landed at a moment of real consequence for MedTech. As the world’s most influential technology showcase, it has become a proving ground for how innovation shows up in real life. Nowhere was that more evident than at the Digital Health Summit, where healthcare stepped decisively into the centre of the technology conversation.
Across wearables, AI-driven precision medicine, longevity, accessibility and policy, the Summit reflected a sector accelerating fast. On the show floor, the lines between consumer wellness and enterprise healthcare blurred. Smart mirrors, pocket diagnostics and recovery tools sat alongside hospital-grade platforms, clinical systems and data infrastructure. That convergence matters, as clearly articulated by by Hon Pak, Head of the Digital Health Team at Samsung, who, on one of the panels, described the relationship between consumers and physicians as “sacred”. Something big tech is only now beginning to fully understand. Healthcare, he noted, is inherently complex, not just technically, but emotionally and ethically.
Layered onto this is a commercial reality. Increased private investment, platform scale and compressed growth timelines are forcing MedTech businesses to mature faster, across more audiences, with little margin for confusion. Brands must perform across regulatory, clinical, investor and consumer contexts, often at the same time.
In this article, we’re looking at how, as medical technology accelerates, its human benefits need to come to the fore, making it clearer, more trustworthy and grounded in real-world use. The human test for MedTech.
Where care meets commerce. The defining tension in modern healthcare.
Modern MedTech operates under powerful commercial forces. Global competition is intensifying. Private equity investment is accelerating scale. Efficiency targets, platform strategies and consolidation are shaping how products are built, bought and integrated. Growth is measured through speed to market, interoperability and operational performance.
These pressures are most visible in B2B decision-making, where procurement models reward standardisation. So, systems are selected for their ability to integrate into complex infrastructures and scale across markets. Platforms consolidate to reduce risk and cost. Roadmaps prioritise automation, data leverage and compliance. The logic is sound. But the outcome is a category where many offerings begin to look and feel increasingly similar.
Why this tension looks different by market
In the US, where healthcare is deeply commercialised, trust has become a visible fault line. Through our work with a B2B MedTech brand operating in the EMS (emergency medical services) space, we’ve seen how growing scepticism towards traditional healthcare models is pushing people towards alternatives. Cost pressure, privatisation and perceived misalignment between care and commerce have changed public behaviour. Even enterprise systems are now judged through the lens of public trust, not just institutional performance.
In other Western markets, the dynamics are different. Public or hybrid healthcare systems mean trust is often institutionally inherited rather than commercially earned. National health services, social insurance models and state oversight create an assumption of accountability, continuity and public interest. But that inherited trust is conditional. As private providers, technology platforms and outsourced systems play a larger role, the same questions surface – who the technology is really for, who benefits, and who should be held accountable when systems fail. As these pressures emerge, trust becomes harder to assume and easier to lose.
Healthcare delivery itself operates in a different register. Behind every system is a clinician making time-critical decisions. A patient navigating uncertainty. A carer balancing responsibility and trust. These realities do not change by market, even if funding models do. The outcomes remain human, emotional and ethical, regardless of how enterprise-grade the technology may be.
Consumer expectations now shape how enterprises earn trust
At the same time, consumer-facing wellness brands, digital health apps and wearables are resetting expectations globally. They prioritise usability. They explain data clearly. They give people a sense of agency. As these experiences become normalised, they raise the bar for all health technology.
Take Lingo, for example. Exhibited at CES 2026, Lingo is Abbott’s over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor (CGM) aimed at non-diabetic consumers. While its clinical role outside diabetes is still evolving, products like this are influential in shaping expectations of what connected, always-on health technology should feel like.
That expectation spills directly into B2B MedTech. Enterprise platforms are no longer judged solely by buyers, investors or IT stakeholders. They are judged indirectly by the people who experience them, whose confidence in the product or service shapes long-term adoption. In this context, brand becomes a critical mechanism. Not decoration, but a way to navigate market complexity, manage perception risk and protect value as healthcare systems evolve.
Intelligence everywhere, trust still fragile.
AI and automation dominated the Digital Health Summit conversation at CES 2026. From wearables and continuous monitoring to precision diagnostics and connected care pathways, intelligent systems now underpin much of modern healthcare. They drive speed, accuracy and compliance across diagnostics, logistics, decision support and patient management.
When intelligence becomes the baseline.
In B2B environments, this intelligence is levelling the field. Advanced analytics, predictive systems and automated workflows are becoming standard. Capability alone is no longer enough to stand apart. As systems grow more sophisticated, they also become harder to explain, harder to interrogate and harder to trust.
The gap between capability and confidence.
Clinicians and operators look for reliability and accountability. They need to know when systems can be relied on and when human judgement takes precedence. Procurement teams assess risk, compliance and long-term viability, often under pressure to justify large-scale investment. Patients and end users interpret intelligence through experience, clarity and reassurance, not technical architecture. For all of these cohorts, when systems feel opaque, confidence erodes. And when confidence erodes, adoption slows – alongside onboarding in B2B contracts and retail traction in D2C models.
Indeed, research on trustworthy AI highlights the need for safe, transparent and ethically compliant systems that support clinicians and patients alike. In other words, this trust gap is not a technical problem. It is an experience problem. Fragile trust complicates procurement, slows rollout and undermines the value of scale, particularly in growth-driven, private-backed environments where momentum matters.
For private equity and growth-stage investors, this is where go-to-market becomes a critical lever for value creation. Early-stage MedTech businesses need both capital and traction. Clear positioning, credible messaging and early market momentum are often as important as raising the next round. As companies progress into Series C and beyond, the challenge evolves again. Go-to-market must support greater complexity – multiple audiences, expanding geographies, maturing marketing and HR functions, and, increasingly, acquisition-led growth through buy-and-build strategies. In these environments, it’s no longer about launch, but about sustaining confidence, accelerating adoption and protecting value at scale.
From systems to stories. Why MedTech brands must translate intelligence.
As MedTech systems and outcomes become more intelligent, the role of brand becomes more critical. Brands act as translators, turning systems into stories, intelligence into confidence and automation into something people can understand and trust.
Technical proof points still matter. But they are no longer enough on their own. Decision-makers are influenced by experience, narrative clarity and brand behaviour long before a system is fully implemented. Naming, language, tone of voice, visual systems and experience design all act as trust signals, shaping perception from the first interaction.
Humanity in MedTech branding goes beyond emotionalisation. It is about agency, reassurance and relevance. Effective brands make it clear who is in control. They show how decisions are made. They demonstrate how technology supports human expertise rather than replacing it.
When done well, brand becomes part of the operational system itself. It enables consistency across markets, clarity across audiences and confidence across both B2B and B2C touchpoints. It helps organisations scale without losing credibility, even as complexity increases behind the scenes.
At CES 2026, the brands that stood out were not those shouting loudest about intelligence, but those making it legible. Clear interfaces. Plain language. Purpose-driven framing. A focus on how technology behaves in real contexts, not just what it can do.
Case in point. How mymediset and redefining intelligence in MedTech logistics
mymediset operates at the intersection of deep B2B infrastructure and real-world human outcomes. Behind the scenes of healthcare delivery, it runs a mission-critical logistics platform where speed, accuracy and reliability are non-negotiable.
Its SAP-native system manages complex inventory, supply chains and compliance across healthcare environments. The intelligence is real-time, robust and deeply embedded into clinical operations. Yet for a long time, that capability remained largely unseen.
A need for more than technical superiority.
The challenge was commercial as much as technical. Despite having one of the most capable platforms in the market, mymediset was being outshouted by competitors with louder messaging. But in a growth-driven environment, clarity and trust directly influence adoption, momentum and long-term value.
Working with mymediset, we translated deep technical superiority into a clear, human and credible brand proposition: Real Intelligence. Because great healthcare doesn’t wait.
Translating capability into real intelligence.
This framing repositioned intelligence as something actionable and purpose-built, not abstract or over-hyped. The brand focused on what intelligence enables in real terms: clinicians spending less time managing inventory and more time delivering care. Logistics that work quietly and reliably in the background. Systems that support decision-making without demanding attention.
Design and language as trust multipliers
Design, language and digital experience were shaped to convey precision and confidence rather than complexity. Visual systems prioritised clarity. Tone of voice stayed grounded and direct. The result was a brand that matched the seriousness of the platform and the responsibility it carries.
mymediset demonstrates a broader truth. Even the most technical MedTech platforms rely on brand to build trust, support adoption and stand apart in competitive markets. Intelligence alone does not carry the story. Translation does.
What this means for MedTech brands coming out of CES
For MedTech leaders, founders and investors coming out of CES 2026, the implications are clear:
- Innovation will continue to blur the lines between B2B systems and B2C expectations.
- Intelligence will become increasingly standard. Differentiation will come from experience.
- Feature-led storytelling is giving way to experience-led differentiation. Clarity, credibility and human understanding are becoming competitive advantages, shaping both enterprise procurement journeys and downstream patient trust.
- As platforms scale across markets, cultures and user types, brand plays a central role in making technology legible and dependable. This is not an aesthetic choice. It is a commercial one. Fragile trust slows adoption. Clear framing accelerates it.
The brands that emerge stronger will be those that invest as much intent into how their technology is understood as into how it is built.
MedTech brands built for now. Future-ready.
MedTech is accelerating through intelligence and investment. But trust, understanding and humanity do not scale by accident. They must be designed with intent.
The convergence of B2B systems and B2C expectations is reshaping how MedTech brands are judged. Performance matters. But behaviour matters too. Brand sits at the intersection of care and commerce, connecting enterprise infrastructure with human experience.
At Dusted, we help ambitious MedTech brands turn complex innovation into clear, human-centred brand systems. Brands built to scale. To perform. And to earn trust in the moments that matter most. Brands built for now and future-ready.
Let’s get things Done & Dusted.
If you’re building or scaling a MedTech brand and need clarity to match your capability, we’re here to help. From brand strategy to campaigns and digital activation, we’ll translate intelligence into confidence and complexity into advantage.
Contact us today and let’s assess what your brand needs to take its next step.
Ready when you are.