Institute For The Future

Health Aware World: Health Horizons Fall Conference

What happens when the pills we put in our bodies connect to our homes and clinics to capture and deliver health information? When sensors and cameras embedded in our environments create comprehensive, continuous records of our health? When our physical spaces “wake up” and enable us to enlist them to help us manage disease, live healthily, and age well?

On November 12 and 13 the Health Horizons team will convene an incredible group of experts, entrepreneurs, and healthcare innovators to explore life in a Health Aware World. We will imagine new possibilities, entertain ridiculous ideas, and grapple with unexpected challenges. Follow the conversation at @IFTF and #healthaware

Health Aware World speaker lineup includes: 

• David Rose - @davidrose - MIT Media Lab Researcher and Author of Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things
  • Join us November 12 at 6:00pm for David Rose's Keynote book talk
• Adam Dole - @adamdole - Vice President of Strategy, Better & former White House Presidential Innovation Fellow
• Alan Greene - @DrGreene - Physician, Author, and Futurist
• Vivienne Ming - Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Socos
• Raphael D’Amico - @raphdamico - Interaction Designer, Jawbone
• Nithya Ramanathan - @NithyaRamanath1 - Nexleaf Analytics
• Ash Eldritch - @AshEldritch - Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, VitalMedicals

 

2014 Map of the Decade: Health Aware World

This year’s map of the decade, Health Aware World, looks beyond the Internet of Things and today’s wave of wearable devices. It suggests a future where intelligence is embedded into everyday objects and ubiquitous sensors capture and communicate health data seamlessly with an ecosystem of devices and healthcare providers. This is a world where we can rely on our ambient environments and our consumer electronics to work together to support our wildest aspirations. For the healthcare industry, this presents new opportunities to increase engagement, enable prevention, promote equity, and forge new partnerships.

 

 

 

This map is the culmination of almost a decade of Health Horizons research. In 2006, we saw early signals that our objects, places, and bodies would be embedded with technologies that could support our health and well-being. That year’s map of the decade, Global Health Economy, included an artifact from the future – a “Health Aware Home Starter Package,” suggesting that consumer electronics companies would be the first to bring these concepts to market.

Last year, we explored New Authorities in a Well-Being Economy. Just as that Health Aware Home artifact from the future suggests, traditional health care players have begun expanding their reach outside of clinical settings (into our homes) while new players (like consumer electronics companies) have ventured further into the health domain. These new players are contesting traditional health authority and letting people renegotiate established healthcare relationships. One of the emerging sources of authority we identified was ambience: the almost invisible impact that the social, built, and natural environments play in overall health. Understanding how to intentionally design subtle but persuasive cues across both physical and virtual environments will be essential to achieving desired outcomes. 

Now, we are looking to the next decade where we can transform health by bringing objects and environments to life. 

 

Curious about the Health Horizons Program?

• Follow this week’s conference @IFTF
• Take a look at our plans for 2015 to navigate Health Care in a Post-ACA World
• Contact Dawn Alva