WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Today there are hundreds of exponential technologies arriving, and many of those are already having an impact on healthcare and patient outcomes, furthermore science fiction is increasingly becoming science fact.

Firstly, I’d like to thank Mark and the team at Willis Towers Watson for inviting me to be this year’s keynote at their annual European summit to present on the Future of Healthcare on what was, frankly, the biggest and best screen I’ve ever presented on – the giant IMAX screen at the UK’s very own treasure, the London Science Museum, a five storey monster that seemed to consume the entire auditorium. and now ask yourself this question: What would you do if you had more time, say another 20, 30, or even 50 years? Would you care more about the environment? Think differently about your career and inheritance? Or a million different things besides? It’s funny how such a concept could change, well, almost everything about your life… and as science fiction increasingly becomes science fact these and more could become increasingly viable questions.

Of every sector I discuss and every exponential technology and innovation I see emerge the ones that seem to spark people’s imagination and interest the most are the ones to do with healthcare. After all, what if you never had to die? And, furthermore, going one step weirder what if you could literally bring people back from the dead? I’m not just talking about new methods to resuscitate recently deceased people as researchers in India are trying to do, I’m talking about being able to bring back ancestors that died hundreds of years ago. And if you think all of this is science fiction, and yes, freaky freaky weird – something that I whole heartedly agree with – then the exciting and scary thing is that it’s all increasingly possible and plausible. Just click on the highlighted links to read more, and watch the video.

During my keynote, that ended up with me being essentially rugby tackled by the chairman of one of the UK’s largest healthcare providers because it was just that awesome, I discussed and showed off all the key innovations that will shape the healthcare industry for the next fifty years and increase all of our chances of living to a very ripe old age indeed.

Of all the sectors I track the biotech and healthcare space is by far one of the most dynamic,  with only the technology sector coming anywhere close in terms of the sheer breadth and disruptive power of the breakthroughs. The results of which made for an amazingly diverse and engaging keynote as I discussed and played videos of everything from the latest nanobot swarms that one day will be capable of in vivo human surgery, through to videos of remote robotic surgeries performed over 5G, and discussed breakthroughs in 3D printed organs, cancer vaccines, designer humans, in vivo gene editing, memory editing, storage and transfer, regenerative medicine, and much much more.

In fact, in the end there was so much to pack in that it’s just as well I had a big screen to display it all on.