by Patrick Henry Gallen, CIFS Senior Advisor and Futurist
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies ran an all-day session at the annual Week of Health and Innovation (WHINN) in Odense, Denmark, on November 11. The two-day conference provided a forum for industry, policymakers, and other stakeholders to meet and discuss both technical and political solutions to the pressing challenges facing the health sector both in Denmark and abroad.
CIFS’ program, attended by over 40 experts representing various public and private organisations, was wide-ranging. Guests were first presented with the growing role and need for strategic foresight and futures studies in the health sector and invited to participate in activities that demonstrated how methods and concepts from the fields of strategic foresight and futures studies could be employed in their own work and organisations. Together with CIFS, the session participants explored how futures thinking can be used to challenge established ideas and assumptions about healthcare systems and delivery as well as build critically examine alternative scenarios for the future.
In the second part of the day’s programme the CIFS team presented several concepts that can be used to reframe and reimagine the future of the health sector and health system dynamics. Here, there was a particular focus on the Humanome, CIFS’ model for exploring the potential of data-driven health ecosystems. CIFS presentation was supplemented with a panel discussion, where health data experts Claus Duedal Pedersen (Director of Sentinel Unit at Sundhed.dk) and Dr Mette Maria Skjøth (Head of Department, Department of Dermatology and Allergy Care, Odense University Hospital) were invited to share their perspectives on how to best leverage health data and support increased data interoperability.
Friday’s session closed with a presentation and panel discussion on the newly started Phase V project on decentralised clinical trials, where CIFS is a contributing partner. CIFS and the other project collaborators explored the issues facing the clinical trials landscape and how decentralised digital solutions can be used to increase patient engagement and reach as well as improve health outcomes and health system efficiency (learn more about Phase V here.