Frontiers Health 2024: Connecting changemakers, cultivating health system change
Frontiers Health returns to Berlin 17th-18th October, bringing together hundreds of professionals, experts, and enthusiasts to discuss the potential of digital evolution in health and care.
Hosted in the innovative bcc Berlin Congress Center, conveniently located in the heart of the city and within walking distance of Alexanderplatz, Frontiers Health is a highly curated event, convening ecosystem leaders in conversation over the next ‘frontier’ of innovation in health and life sciences.
Indeed, Frontiers Health brings together founders, C-Suite executives, and senior government and academic thought leaders – in short, changemakers – and is designed to provide a unique platform to learn, exchange, and become inspired. The audience reflects the multifaceted ecosystem of health innovation: pharmaceutical and technology companies, start-ups and scale-ups, investment funds, foundations and non-profits, patient associations, and scientific societies.
Founded in 2015, there have since been over eight global editions, and the conference has brought together 12,000 delegates and 1,600 speakers. Last year alone, over 1,300 delegates from 50 countries, representing all areas of the health innovation ecosystem, attended Frontiers Health.
The principles on which such a conference are based are of paramount importance, so Frontiers Health Chairman Roberto Ascione – president of health innovation at EVERSANA and founder of Healthware Group, now a part of EVERSANA – spoke with pharmaphorum about the conference’s four foundational pillars and its overall manifesto for 2024 and beyond.
Foundational pillars: The ethos that roots Frontiers Health in innovation
A frontier is a border between what is known and yet unknown, and Frontiers Health seeks in particular those frontiers that push boundaries. Gathering together changemakers within large organisations and those entrepreneurs building new ones, Frontiers Health aims to move the healthcare ecosystem into the future with new and novel solutions.
“Frontiers Health represents an exceptional platform to explore the frontiers of innovation and digital transformation together with all players in the ecosystem, working towards a world where the combination of cutting-edge technologies and innovative healthcare practices converge to redefine the boundaries of what is possible,” Ascione said. “The word ‘frontiers’ echoes as a reminder, urging us to push the boundaries and shape a path towards a future where everyone has access to the full spectrum of innovative and transformative health solutions.”
The conference is built on four key strategic pillars, with each and every keynote, fireside chat, panel, and deep dive brought to annual audiences becoming ‘ladders up’, as it were, to at least one or more of these central focus areas.
AI and cutting-edge technologies
These days cutting-edge technologies are critical to the transformation of the entire healthcare landscape, and artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most recent – and impactful – of such technological accelerants.
In life sciences, AI is helping to unlock previously inaccessible insights from the sheer mountain of data being gathered in R&D, through wearable devices and remote diagnostics, and in virtual care, enabling personalised solutions for people wherever they need them.
“In today's rapidly evolving landscape of life sciences, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is not just a technological advancement but a pivotal shift that is transforming the way we understand and approach healthcare,” Ascione said. “Among the most significant contributions of AI are the realms of drug discovery and development, personalised medicine, and diagnostics. AI is also enhancing decision-making processes, improving operational efficiencies, and enabling more precise patient care.”
From pioneering new technologies to validating innovative concepts, and to fostering discourse on emerging fields like quantum computing or brain computer interfaces, Frontiers Health is dedicated to empowering the visionaries who are propelling the industry into the next era.
Value creation: Societal and financial
As digital innovation and new therapeutic modalities begin to show promise, there comes a new focus on value creation from investors, healthcare systems, and patients. Gone are the days of the “growth at all costs” mindset.
Instead, new solutions must deliver on their promises to address unmet needs for patients and HCPs, while also achieving meaningful revenue and profitability for investors and shareholders, as well as ensuring broader access.
“In the dynamic ecosystem of Frontiers Health, the significance of patients transcends a mere participatory role; their active involvement is paramount,” Ascione said. “Patients contribute invaluable recommendations regarding innovative solutions, actively engage with healthcare professionals, and bring forth a unique perspective that stands as a cornerstone in our collective mission to shape the future of healthcare. We shed light on the transformative role patients can play in reshaping the landscape of clinical development and beyond, emphasising the need for collaborative alliances between biopharma and patient communities to realise breakthroughs in the face of challenging medical conditions.
Frontiers Health makes it its mission to help enable a sustainable future for healthcare, shining a spotlight on innovations that are setting a higher standard of value across the board within global healthcare systems.
Patient- and HCP-driven innovation
The best inventions happen because someone – whether a patient, a doctor, or a parent – sees a gap in the market and sets out to fill it: they address an unmet need.
Patients and HCPs play crucial roles as designers of healthcare solutions that solve the biggest challenges. However, it’s up to the wider ecosystem of investors, life sciences companies, healthcare systems, payers, and policy leaders to help scale their concepts and reach the individuals who need them most.
Frontiers Health brings to the forefront the most promising of these solutions, so as to facilitate widespread systemic adoption and improve health outcomes globally.
Health equity
At the end of the day, unless innovative therapies and modalities are accessible to all who need them, the job of the health innovator is not done. It’s one thing to design an effective solution, but it’s quite another to get that solution into the hands of the right patients.
Frontiers Health knows that achieving health equity requires a commitment from public and private institutions working together: collaborations between policymakers, NGOs, industry, community leaders, HCPs, regulators, payers, and more.
“Addressing health equity is crucial and urgent because it ensures everyone can achieve their highest level of health, regardless of socio-economic or environmental factors,” Ascione added. “As a foundational pillar in our design and implementation process, we want to ensure that health equity serves as a guiding principle that directs our choices and initiatives when conceptualising our events. Health disparities often stem from complex, interrelated issues that require comprehensive solutions. Collaboration is necessary because it allows for the pooling of resources, expertise, and knowledge across various sectors and disciplines. By working together, we can develop innovative and effective strategies to eliminate health disparities and promote equitable access to healthcare services for all.”
The mission of the conference is to bring these essential parties together to help chart a path towards a more equitable, person-centric future in healthcare.
A health conference that stands apart: The Frontiers Health manifesto
Over the years, Frontiers Health has shifted from ‘digital health’ to health innovation in the broader sense, as we are now living in a fully digital age. The conference continues to cultivate an ecosystem of industry conversation through key partnerships, offering high-quality networking opportunities, and, lately, an expanded focus on its guiding themes and topics, from life sciences innovation and research to drug discovery, clinical trials, and data science.
Frontiers Health kicks off October 17th at the Berlin Congress Center. It’s not too late to register at a reduced price with our promo code FH24PHP20.
And learn more about the Frontiers Health manifesto in this video here.
Frontiers Health Video Manifesto from Frontiers Health on Vimeo.
