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Mark and the team at Willis Towers Watson invited Matthew to give the keynote at their annual European summit, on the future of healthcare. He presented on what he called the biggest and best screen he has ever used: the five storey IMAX screen at London's Science Museum.
He posed a question: what would you do with another 20, 30 or even 50 years of life? Would you care more about the environment, or think differently about your career and inheritance? As science fiction becomes science fact, he argued, these are increasingly viable questions. He went further still, from researchers in India working on new ways to resuscitate the recently deceased to the possibility of bringing back ancestors who died hundreds of years ago.
"Of all the sectors I track the biotech and healthcare space is by far one of the most dynamic, with only the technology sector coming anywhere close in terms of the sheer breadth and disruptive power of the breakthroughs."Matthew Griffin, London, January 2020
Of all the sectors he tracks, Matthew sees biotech and healthcare as one of the most dynamic, with only technology coming close in the breadth and disruptive power of its breakthroughs. He showed nanobot swarms that may one day perform in vivo surgery, remote robotic surgery over 5G, and breakthroughs in 3D printed organs, cancer vaccines, designer humans, in vivo gene editing, memory editing, storage and transfer, and regenerative medicine.
The session set out the innovations that will shape healthcare for the next fifty years and raise everyone's chances of living to a very ripe old age. It landed so well that the chairman of one of the UK's largest healthcare providers all but rugby tackled him afterwards.
311 Intelligence
What this means for your leadership team
Longer lives stretch planning horizons.
Matthew asked what people would do with another 20, 30 or even 50 years of life. He pointed to the environment, careers and inheritance as areas where thinking may change. Leadership teams should test long term plans against that possibility.
Care may move beyond the clinic.
Remote robotic surgery over 5G was one of the breakthroughs he showed. 311 tracks Remote Surgeries as a trend to Explore, with wide use expected by 2034. Predictive Healthcare is a trend to Prepare for, with wide use by 2029, as care shifts towards prevention.
Biotech timelines vary widely.
In Vivo Gene Therapy is at TRL 8, with wide use expected by 2049. Organ Printing is at TRL 4 and Memory Editing at TRL 3, and both are expected to reach wide use by 2052. Matthew sees biotech and healthcare as one of the most dynamic sectors, so these dates deserve regular review.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
Which healthcare shifts should we Prepare for now, and which only Watch?
Where does our sector depend on care being delivered in person?
What would our people policies look like if careers ran decades longer?
The trends and technologies behind this session
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
What does this healthcare session mean for organisations?
It suggests that longer lives and faster biotech progress are planning issues, not distant ideas. Matthew argued that questions about careers, inheritance and the environment become more viable as science fiction becomes science fact. Leadership teams should review long term assumptions on that basis.
How do remote surgeries relate to the session?
Matthew showed remote robotic surgery over 5G. 311 tracks Remote Surgeries as a trend to Explore, with wide use expected by 2034. It points to care that no longer depends on the surgeon being in the same room.
How does in vivo gene therapy relate to the session?
Matthew included in vivo gene editing among the breakthroughs that could raise chances of a very long life. 311 tracks In Vivo Gene Therapy at TRL 8, with wide use expected by 2049. It fixes faulty genes inside the body.
How can 311 brief our leadership team on this?
Through a private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector, in person first.
Bring this to your leadership teamA private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person first, anywhere in the world.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s session and 311 data.
If Matthew gave this session today
Hundreds of emerging technologies, mapped with their implications.
The codex explores hundreds of emerging technologies and their implications for global culture, industry and society, the same breadth of breakthroughs Matthew showed reshaping healthcare.
