Life Sciences, Biomedical and ICT Convergence
- [World Health Organization]
Delivering ICT Infrastructure for Biomedical Research
- Overview
Life sciences, biomedical, and ICT convergence is the integration of life sciences, biomedical technologies, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to improve healthcare:
- Life sciences: The study of living organisms and life, which includes subdisciplines like zoology, botany, anatomy, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, and neuroscience.
- Biomedical: The application of natural sciences to develop healthcare technologies, interventions, and knowledge.
- ICT: The integration of computing and telecommunications.
Digital health tools have advanced significantly over the past decade, greatly improving patient care. The rise of technology has fostered collaboration across fields such as biotechnology, digital health, and clinical practice, resulting in a more integrated and efficient healthcare system. As these tools continue to advance, cross-disciplinary collaboration is essential to addressing complex health challenges.
The convergence of these fields (life sciences, biomedical, and ICT) can lead to:
- Improved healthcare: More effective and efficient healthcare delivery, better treatment outcomes, and new ways to prevent and treat disease
- Smarter care: More personalized, precise, predictable, and smarter care, even outside of hospitals and clinics
- New breakthroughs: Combining life science expertise with physical science and engineering knowledge can build on recent advances in genomics and molecular and cellular biology
- Knowledge network: A network that integrates information from multiple sources, such as medical histories, molecular data, health outcomes, and information on social and physical environments
Some challenges to the convergence of life sciences, biomedical, and ICT include interoperability, data privacy, regulatory compliance, and technology adoption. Collaboration between IT developers, clinicians, policymakers, and patients can help to overcome these challenges.
- Medicine 4.0
The adoption of advanced technologies in healthcare processes and services has ushered in the industry’s fourth revolution: Medicine 4.0. Since then, health systems, clinics, and hospitals have expanded their use of telemedicine, integrated connected medical devices (wearables), started digitizing medical records, and made interoperability between healthcare systems commonplace.
Medicine 4.0, which leverages technologies like AI, IoT, and big data, offers several advantages including: personalized medicine based on individual patient data, real-time patient monitoring, early disease detection, improved diagnosis accuracy, remote healthcare delivery through telemedicine, reduced healthcare costs, efficient treatment planning, and enhanced patient engagement by providing them with access to their health information and proactive management tools; ultimately aiming to deliver more precise and preventative healthcare.
- Biomedical Research
"Biotech is the New Digital" -- Prof. Nicholas Negroponte, Founder, MIT Media Lab..
"Discovering causes. Developing cures." -- The University of California, San Francisco
Biomedical research is a broad science that involves studying biological processes and the causes of disease through careful experimentation, observation, laboratory work, analysis, and testing.
Scientists expand this knowledge base to discover ways to prevent disease and to develop beneficial products, drugs, and procedures to treat and cure diseases and conditions that cause illness and death in ourselves, our family and friends, our pets, farm animals, and wildlife.
Biomedical research requires the input and participation of many people with different backgrounds and skills from both the life sciences and the physical sciences. Such a research team may include physicians, veterinarians, computer scientists, engineers, technicians, researchers, and a variety of scientists from different areas of the life sciences.
- ICT for Life Sciences
As technology continues to evolve rapidly, so too does its impact on the way we work. From cloud computing and robotics to virtual reality and blockchain, the potential impact of technology on the rapidly growing field of life sciences is enormous. There are five technology trends in life sciences that deserve special attention: artificial intelligence and analytics, Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), data integration platforms, cloud content management, and information security.
Accelerating the digital transformation of life sciences during the Covid-19 pandemic (2020) has put enormous pressure on the life sciences industry and tested it in unprecedented ways. Lockdowns shocked the system and exposed flaws, forcing every function to assess and adjust its roles and responsibilities almost overnight. To adapt to this new operating environment, life sciences organizations need to re-examine the digital technologies they are implementing.
- [Lotus in Drunken Moon Lake, National Taiwan University - Hsueh Fen Juan]
- Biomedical and ICT Convergence
The field of biomedicine involves the application of various natural science disciplines to develop knowledge, interventions and/or technologies for use in healthcare. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector focuses on telecommunications, computing, and the integration of the two. The convergence of biomedicine and ICT presents enormous opportunities for the healthcare and ICT industries.
In addition to finding ways to treat and prevent disease, the convergence of biomedical and ICT technologies and solutions will improve treatment outcomes and overall improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery.
One of the fastest growing areas of ICT in healthcare is the use of wireless access for IP-enabled handheld digital devices. Wearables and implantable technologies promise to enable levels of monitoring and healthcare management unprecedented in the history of health sciences. From treatment management to clinical decision support, connected devices are rapidly evolving tools to advance the practice of healthcare.
- Embracing Emerging Tech Trends with Confidence
The healthcare industry is moving toward smarter, more precise, more predictable, and more personalized care, beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics. Healthcare technology is leading global transformation. Numerous innovations have driven transformative vaccine strategies and increased use of digital technologies such as smart imaging analysis and virtual care to drive new preventive care and treatment strategies.
Gain insight into exciting new growth opportunities, strategic advice, best practices and future developments in:
- Transformative Vaccines
- Virtual Care
- Artificial Intelligence-based Medical Imaging
- Hospital Efficiency Solutions
- Digital Biomarkers
- Microbiome Therapeutics
- Combination Immuno-oncology (I-O) Therapies
- Laboratory Information Management Solutions (LIMS)
