Intel have partnered with MLC to provide the first IoT-driven health insurance product in Australia.

MLC On Track will allow customers to measure daily physical activity and health data using a wearable device called the Intel Basis Peak fitness and sleep tracker.

If customers maintain a healthy lifestyle, they will be rewarded with premium discounts for the life of their insurance policy.

The fitness tracker contains Intel software known as BodyIQ, which automatically translates the data collected into user-friendly activity and sleep metrics.

The data is then sent to the customer’s corresponding smartphone app and uploaded to the cloud by Big Cloud Analytics. From there, MLC can access the data to assess for premium discount eligibility purposes.

David Hackett, MLC’s executive general manager insurance said in a statement that “smartwatches offer new and improved ways of assessing and pricing insurance risk.”

“Our customers’ expectations have been changed by the use of digital channels and devices and we’re excited about the opportunities that MLC On Track will provide them,” Hackett added.

Intel’s enterprise solutions sales director David Mellers told IoT Hub that the fitness tracker and other IoT devices have the potential to transform the health insurance industry.

“This solution changes the game, in terms of how personal fitness devices deliver value, both for the consumers and for the insurance companies,” he said.

“As companies start to learn how to use sensors and data wherever they happen to be, whether it’s on your wrist, in your car, or anywhere else, we’ll start to see more applications for these technology elements to deliver better efficiencies for those companies, and more cost savings and efficiencies for consumers as well.”

Intel acquired Basis Peak in March 2014. The chipmaker also recently released Quark SoC processors – which can be used to power wearable devices – which will help further its development in that space.

Mellers said that MLC On Track will lead to new and innovative uses of wearables in the future.

“Once you put them out in the wild, people start thinking of new usage models that were never previously conceived,” he said.

“There may be some devices that come online in the next 12 months that could have some interesting interactions with the wearable and the health status of the individual, in terms of proactively providing services to intervene before an adverse health event occurs.”