Innovation is the key to giving our economy the boost required to jolt us out of the economic quagmire resulting from the global recession. The Malta Council for Science and Technology is embarking on a collaborative effort referred to as a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) to apply for the funds made available by the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT). This EU institution is presenting active living and healthy ageing as the next ‘global challenge’ to be addressed. The project has a gross volume of € 1.2 billion.
If our application is successful, the boost given to the sector has the potential to alter the economic landscape
An international consortium led by Germany’s Leuphana University intends to submit an application, based on the concept of using ‘big data’ insights to stimulate the development of sustainable and highly competitive industries in the wider healthcare sector across Europe.
The KIC led by Leuphana today consists of Malta represented by the Malta Council of Science and Technology, the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement with its shareholders Karolinska Institute, Harvard University and the Boston Consulting Group, Sclavo Vaccines Association of Italy with the Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health, the University Medical Centre of Gottingen and the University of Zurich’s Research Priority Program on the Dynamics of Healthy Aging.
Medical data is currently used primarily for narrow administrative purposes. Fragmentation within healthcare systems and across member states as well as lack of access or strict data protection rules limit innovation and business creation.
Public intervention is required to address these problems, accelerate the change, and turn big data into an advantage for Europe. Much of the data is in public hands. Regulatory and policy decisions will set the parameters for controlled access by the private sector which fully respects patient rights.
There are several related advantages for a patient: First of all, healthcare providers could take a ‘guardian angel’ role by monitoring health data to ensure early detection of any health issues.
Secondly, data can be shared with online and offline doctors, which will provide physicians with a more comprehensive overview of the patient’s treatment history, but specifically enable easier and more timely access to qualified online physicians.
This would be a great way for patients to gain access to medical advice from institutions at the forefront of specific diseases, regardless of physical distance.
Finally, EU-wide standardisation in this context opens up new possibilities for all parties involved: patients can move around member states without having to maintain country-specific health records, and national borders become less of a barrier for healthcare products and services, both for patients seeking care and for entities providing related services. It will strengthen the EU’s internal market.
The KIC’s primary role to unlock all of this value will be to establish EU-wide patient-controlled health records standards which not only allow the patient but also healthcare professionals and other service providers authorised by the patient to gain access to individual records.
We are living in a world where endless digital sources of information produce a tsunami of data. All this information contains detail, with patterns, anomalies and connections, that could have pratical applications across a number of sectors. Stored digital content is doubling every two years, reaching one zettabyte – a billion billion megabytes, last year. That’s the equivalent of almost five quadrillion books.
The challenge is get at nuggets of useful knowledge hidden in all that detail. This in itself is expected to generate millions of jobs worldwide for people with the training to help organisations mine all that data.
Ageing population creates an enormous need for healthcare innovation. Europe, and the world, need new approaches to pharmaceutical research, reforms of healthcare delivery systems to increase productivity, and new medical technologies.
Effective use of big data will massively facilitate and speed up these innovations.
The Malta Council for Science and Technology is proud to form part of a consortium made up of such distinguished players in the field of research and innovation.
That, in itself, is already a massive achievement. If our application is successful, the boost given to the sector has the potential to alter the economic landscape of our nation.
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, is chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology.