Long before he was chairman and CEO of GE, and even before he headed its Medical Systems business, I interviewed Jeff Immelt, then a vice president responsible for global marketing and brand management of GE’s consumer appliance business. He was a visionary a couple of decades ago, and still is, as evidenced by the recently announced GE-Intel alliance.

Most American consumers still associate GE with appliances and light bulbs, though GE would like nothing more than to find a buyer for both its appliance and lighting businesses. GE’s future may be brighter than the bulbs it’s known for, but growth is likely to come from sectors such as energy and healthcare. (GE Capital Services will regain its luster when our economy does.)

So when GE, the world’s 12th-largest company by revenue ($176.6 billion in 2008) according to Fortune magazine, announced it is joining with the world’s largest chip maker to develop home-based health technologies, it signaled the continued transformation of an American icon. The financial commitment by both companies is big -- $250 million over the next five years – and so is the market potential.

When it comes to developing devices to help doctors monitor patients’ health remotely, we’re talking multibillion dollar potential. This “telehealth” market is predicted to grow from $3 billion in 2009 to $7.7 billion by 2012. And with the 65-and-older demographic estimated to be more than 71 million people by 2030, telehealth promises to be huge.

“Intel and GE,” says Immelt, “share a vision to use technology to bring effective healthcare into millions of homes and to improve the lives of seniors and people with chronic illness.”

I don’t pretend to know how and when our nation and world will exit this economic mess, but I do believe we are witnessing a historic transformation of our industrial base, and we clearly need “visions” by companies such as GE and Intel. Renewable, clean energy technologies will be important. So will advancements in medical devices and equipment for homes and hospitals.

Further, it looks like we’re on our way to figuring out how to make electronic health records accessible for everyone. How can we miss when companies such as Google and IBM are involved, and there’s $20 billion on the table in the form of the stimulus Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH)?

Is this an exciting time to be a part of the medical-device market, or what?