Progressing the health agenda: responsibly innovating in health technology^*

* Adapted from keynote address at the OECD’s workshop on ‘Neurotechnology and Society: Strengthening Responsible Innovation in Brain Science,’ September 16, 2016, Washington DC.

ABSTRACT

The World Economic Forum (WEF) contends that the world is at the cusp of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Predicated upon past advancements, this Revolution will usher in new technologies that are personal, predictive, and increasingly preventive. Several of the technological innovations emerging in the Fourth Industrial Revolution are in their infancy. This means that the innovation landscape can be designed to suit the needs of humanity. Shaping this landscape will require proactive actions by a variety of stakeholders to address the ethical, legal, and social implications of new technologies in health, including neuro-technologies. This perspective article is an adapted keynote address from the OECD’s workshop on Neuro-technology and Society, which aimed to examine the science and society interplay in brain research, and the development of novel neuro-technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Guidelines
• neuro-technologies
• personalized health technologies
• wearables
• ethical
• legal
• social implications

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Gillian Christie is a Health Innovation Manager at Vitality. She is a leader in personalized technologies that promote health and prevent disease, and explores their related ethical, legal, and social implications. Gillian previously worked at Grand Challenges Canada, where she researched investment areas within non-communicable diseases. At the Sandra Rotman Centre, she assessed health technologies for application in developing countries. Gillian was also a Director of SimPrints, a health technology start-up focused on patient identification using mobile biometrics. Gillian has spoken at a variety of events, including the World Economic Forum, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is a Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar and a contributing author to the Lancet and Rockefeller Foundation’s Commission on Planetary Health (July 2015). Gillian completed a Master’s (M. Phil.) degree at the University of Cambridge in Innovation, Strategy and Organization, and holds a MA (Hons) in Management from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She is a paid employee of Vitality Group, part of Discovery Ltd.

Notes

* Adapted from keynote address at the OECD’s workshop on ‘Neurotechnology and Society: Strengthening Responsible Innovation in Brain Science,’ September 16, 2016, Washington DC.

1 Founded by the South African insurer, Discovery Ltd., Vitality is an incentive-based health promotion program offered globally.