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The DayOne powered session at Future Health confirmed the value of an ecosystem in building entrepreneurial ventures.

Me, myself and Algorithms was the topic of the Future Health Basel but it perhaps should have been me, myself plus algorithms. The key theme of the day was that the answer is not man vs. machines but man plus machine.

Key takeaways of the day were:

  • Patient engagement can reach a new level with algorithms but the patient needs to be involved in development from the start
  • Human centred design remains key in the implementation of new solutions
  • The social aspects of robots and algorithms shouldn’t be forgotten and offers opportunities such as aging care led by socially competent robots
  • (As always) there is great potential to make healthcare more efficient and there are some interesting business models but no silver bullet
  • Empowering frontline providers with digital tools can help in LMIC but can also let others such as nurses in the US who are becoming entrepreneurial health coaches who can improve the health of patients without the admin burden of their old jobs.

In the afternoon session, five startups pitched their ideas and then an engaged audience was challenged to provide not only questions, but define how they can help each of the teams. And they delivered. Virtual Doctors was supported with contacts to a number of different initiatives that could be partners or supporters. Perhaps Virtual Doctors could be a co-ordination point to avoid pilotitis in LMIC in the future? The other teams also got valuable pharma and diagnostics introductions as well as support in product development.

The promising, and still developing, field of Digital health has great potential to improve quality, cost and access to Healthcare but the path to market is challenging. At DayOne we believe that entrepreneurs have a key role in working through the uncertainty to deliver real solutions to problems they understand deeply.

An ecosystem that supports them will also be key to this as they can’t do it alone. This is why we have built the DayOne Accelerator on the themes of being needs based, collaborative and providing discipline.  Read about the program here.