Growth business: GPS tracking… the elderly

When Marc Regimbal lost his three-year-old child for 20 minutes – in what he called the "hairiest experience" of his life - he was determined to make sure it would never happen again.

He spent the next four years combining global positioning system (GPS) and cell-phone technologies to make a tracker - called Childtrac - that could be easily attached to a child's clothing or backpack. Parents can set virtual boundaries and locate their children on their smartphones.

Just one year on from the launch of the product, however, and Regimbal said he is seeing growing demand from an unexpected demographic.

KMS Solutions

KMS wristband

"People started asking about using the tracker on elders – especially people with Alzheimer's and dementia," he told CNBC.

There were an estimated 44.4 million people with dementia across the world in 2013, according to Alzheimer's Disease International, with this number expected to rise to 75.6 million in 2030, and 135.5 million in 2050. The condition often causes patients to get disoriented or lost -- even in familiar places – so the use of GPS technology to locate them can provide greater peace of mind to carers and family members.

'Significant growth'

"When it comes to locating elderly people, it's a fairly small market today and there are opportunities for significant growth going forward," André Malm, senior analyst at telecom industry analysts Berg Insight, told CNBC.