A good dose of AI: how technology is transforming healthcare

Mattias Ljungman, co-founder and partner at venture capital firm Atomico, argues that rapidly shifting demographics and limits to what governments can do mean the future of health will be determined by new technologies.

It is clear that governments cannot solve our greatest problems on their own. Many of the challenges the world faces today have been on the agenda for years. Two of the greatest – climate change and the provision of adequate and manageable healthcare – have been grappled with by governments for decades to varying degrees of dissatisfaction.

For real progress we need to turn to the entrepreneurs employing cutting-edge technology, who are our best hope for change. I am not referring to people like Bill Gates – although they are doing amazing things – but rather a new generation of entrepreneurs and engineers in Europe. They are tackling hard problems, often straight out of the region’s outstanding research universities, and are now poised to use this technology to change the world.

Healthcare is one area where technology introduced by entrepreneurs is already having an impact. The world’s major regions are expected to see healthcare spending increases ranging from 2.4 per cent to 7.5 per cent between 2015 and 2020, while the US alone spends more than USD3 trillion annually on the sector. Despite the debates on the state’s role in healthcare that rage on both sides of the Atlantic, experience suggests that it will not be governments which ultimately move the needle, but technological innovation.

healthcare spending

One technology with enormous potential for healthcare application is artificial intelligence (AI), where a variety of European innovators are taking the lead.

Take London-based BenevolentAI, whose team is working with bioscientists to accelerate discoveries in medicine. It has already identified compounds which researchers believe will be effective in treating multiple sclerosis. Firms are working to make the job of over-burdened medical professionals easier.

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Elsewhere, DeepMind is applying its techniques to medical research, starting with radiotherapy and the diagnosis of eye conditions. This new intelligence is already better than humans at determining where radiotherapy should be targeted for patients suffering from head and neck cancers. Its ability to interpret eye test results is also improving the chance of catching eye problems earlier, and will soon be able to inform treatment decisions.

Founded in London and expanding into the US, Hinge Health is employing sensors and remote health coaching to improve the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal disorders.

And as universities across Europe such as ETH Zurich, TU Munich and Imperial College London produce more and more specialists in hard sciences like AI, the upside for healthcare is enormous.