Brief Overview/Summary
Today's session was about technology in health care and biomedical sciences. Here is a summary of what we discussed in class.
- Black Swan event
- A discussion on why Singapore's expenditure on health care (in % of GDP) less than other developed countries?
- Drivers for change in the health care industry
- Why is there now a need for medication to be personalised?
- Presentations by various classmates on this topic
Interesting Observations/Key Takeaway Points:
- Prof introduced the term 'Black Swan event' and I thought the name of this terminology is quite funny. The definition of a black swan is an event that takes us by surprise and having bountiful of impact on people. I am able to relate this concept of black swan to disruptive innovation/technology that we have been talking about in class.
- An interesting fun fact Prof told us in class!! Human beings are actually 47% similar to a banana in terms of our genetic make up! I thought this was quite hilarious haha! A banana could probably be my long long long distant relative ;)
- Singapore's health care expenditure as a proportion to GDP was also brought up during class. Healthcare constitutes only about 3-4% of our GDP, and this is considered low as compared to other developed countries with the US & UK at 18% followed by others such as France, Germany and Canada at about 11%. This could be due to the fact that Singaporeans finance our own medical expenses through the various policies that are in place such as Medisave from citizens' CPF accounts as well as the emphasis on taking good care of our health so that we do not need to incur hefty health care costs in future when people age. However, I am looking forward to Budget 2014 and whether there will be an upward trend in health care expenditure due to an ageing population in Singapore and the inevitable need for the elderly to up their medical expenses.
- This brings about the point on Drivers for Change in Healthcare. The 2 that were most relatable to me were demographic and epidemiological change as well as changing consumer needs, demands and expectations.
- Demographic and Epidemiological change: These changes include development from rural to urban, a growing ageing population and changing patterns of disease. In the past, people would usually suffer from diseases due to the lack of sanitation, proper drinking source, etc which therefore led to the top 3 causes of death to be lower respiratory infections, diarrhoea diseases and perinatal diseases. This is actually happening even right now in less developed countries that do not have a clean drinking source of water. I remember watching a short advertisement when I was in a cinema waiting for my movie to start and thought it'll be appropriate for this point About Clean Drinking Water
- On the other hand, developed nations suffer a different kind of 'patterned' disease and these include heart diseases, depression and road accidents. There is a change from communicable to chronic disease over time as well as across space (developed VS developing) which requires different treatment types and prevention methods.
- Prof also showed us another video on obesity due to changing consumer needs, demands and expectations. Obesity is a condition where a person's BMI is well over 30kg/m^2 and it is a socioeconomic disease. In the video citing China as a case study, this was due to the growing wealth of the Chinese due to the opening of China's economy as well as the One Child policy implemented. Parents are now well abled to feed 'good food' to their only child and these children do not engage in physical activity to enable the body to burn the food they consume hence resulting in obesity. It might not only be due to the 'good food' available but also the increasing demand for fast food since fast food is becoming more affordable and serve as a more convenient option in today's context. Others may attribute the fact that because it is more common now for a family to receive dual income attributed to women's increase participation in the work force, kids often do not get to eat healthy food but instead opt for food that are convenient and tasty therefore resulting in obesity. All in all, obesity is a result of social and economic changes that lead to different lifestyle choices made in terms of their eating habits.
- As such, I suppose there is a growing trend for nutraceuticals or more commonly known as functional food. I would think Yakult/Vitagen is a good and commonly known example of functional food as it has prebiotics and probiotics that is consumed to aid digestion.
- I went to YouTube to search for the video on Oscar Pistorious and a short summary of his prosthetics legs. It was really inspiring to see how someone with a disability was able to still live his life and doing what he enjoys with the development of technology. Beyond Reason
- I think out of the 5 presentations today, Janice's presentation on Google's Smart Contact Lens stood out the most for me. It was on how Google's Smart Contatc Lens was able to help diabetic patients monitor blood glucose levels in a patient's body without the need to draw blood ~3 everyday. With this technology, the level of glucose is measure through bodily fluids (tears). I think this is a fantastic innovation which really makes the life of diabetic patients much more convenient. Even though Janice did point out that this only serves the function of convenience and ease to patients, to me it is a break through as the inconvenience of having to measure glucose level in one's body through drawing of blood can really be quite a hassle. On top of that, I do not think that there is a permanent cure for diabetes as of now but this invention can be considered to be a stepping stone closer to the goal of curing diabetes.
- We also discussed a question on previous examination questions on disruptive change.
a. Explain the difference between disruptive and non-disruptive innovations.
Disruptive innovations are innovations that make whatever innovations in the field before completely redundant. An example is the industry of photography where digital photography is a disruptive innovation as it makes previous innovations such as print photography and film cameras completely redundant. Non-disruptive innovation on the other hand is an add on to the current innovations.
Evolutionary innovation VS revolutionary innovation however focuses more on the speed of change, slow and fast paced respectively. Therefore, a disruptive innovation can be both evolutionary or revolutionary.
b. Dividing each answer under 4 sub-headings, describe the (potential) social, economic and environmental implications of each of the following areas of technological innovation, and explain why you consider it to be either (potentially) disruptive or non-disruptive:
i. Smartphones
Social: Changes the way we live, socialise and work as play and work now lies between a line fuzzier than before due to smartphones.
Economic: Companies who were the first to introduce the concept of smartphones and/or able to popularize it and explain why it is an innovation needed now are able to retain a large portion of the pie. Companies who did not see the influence of smartphones eventually lost out since the then current innovations were made completely redundant, aligned with the definition of disruptive innovation.
Environmental: Smartphones may or may not be disruptive to the environment as this concerns what we previously discussed on waste being more cyclical than linear nowadays. With smartphones, the cyclical process may be more than before as from production to disposal, smartphones are more detrimental to the environment than say, paper.
∴ Disruptive
ii. 3-D printing
Social: With 3D printing, we are now able to socialise with one another in a new way since we are now able to better communicate with one another through the aid of 3D printing (such as gifting someone a present just simply by printing the item out)
Economic: Businesses are able to use this technology to produce prototypes instead of painstakingly producing something that can simply be done with 3D printing
Environmental: This would depend on what raw materials are used in the process of 3D printing. Would printing still be confined to paper and ink or will new "materials" be used such as in the example prof showed us where they were able to create real life organs by 3D printing using chemical compounds.
∴ Disruptive as it is a completely brand new innovation that puts 2D printing redundant.
iii. Regenerative medicine
Social: Definitely disruptive as this would mean repairing of organs if they are no longer in tip top conditions. This would also cope with the changing demographics as globalisation and a natural trend of falling fertility rates in developed nation become more prevalent
Economic: I would suppose this would be a 'blockbuster' type of drug and drug companies who invented these medications would expect to earn buckets of gold with this. The concern here is whether or not these drug companies are prioritising social needs above economic gains. Nonetheless, it is a disruptive innovation
Environmental: This could be in the form of the making of the medicine, whehter it is the unethical methods of producing it or the byproduct that comes along when the medicines are produced.
∴ Disruptive
x. Social networking
Social: Disruptive. The way we communicate have vastly changed since writing of snail mails.
Economic: Businesses are now also making use of social networking to progress and marketing, advertising, sales are all conducted through social networks now which make previous business methods somewhat less important (eg. giving out of flyers)
Environment: I would think for social networking to take place, some form of a technological gadget has to be used like a computer/laptop/tablet/smartphone and the enviornmental effects would be the same as those I have mentioned above under the category of smart phones
∴ Disruptive
The 6 other categories would be done in another post :)
Personal ratings:
7/10
i. Smartphones
Social: Changes the way we live, socialise and work as play and work now lies between a line fuzzier than before due to smartphones.
Economic: Companies who were the first to introduce the concept of smartphones and/or able to popularize it and explain why it is an innovation needed now are able to retain a large portion of the pie. Companies who did not see the influence of smartphones eventually lost out since the then current innovations were made completely redundant, aligned with the definition of disruptive innovation.
Environmental: Smartphones may or may not be disruptive to the environment as this concerns what we previously discussed on waste being more cyclical than linear nowadays. With smartphones, the cyclical process may be more than before as from production to disposal, smartphones are more detrimental to the environment than say, paper.
∴ Disruptive
ii. 3-D printing
Social: With 3D printing, we are now able to socialise with one another in a new way since we are now able to better communicate with one another through the aid of 3D printing (such as gifting someone a present just simply by printing the item out)
Economic: Businesses are able to use this technology to produce prototypes instead of painstakingly producing something that can simply be done with 3D printing
Environmental: This would depend on what raw materials are used in the process of 3D printing. Would printing still be confined to paper and ink or will new "materials" be used such as in the example prof showed us where they were able to create real life organs by 3D printing using chemical compounds.
∴ Disruptive as it is a completely brand new innovation that puts 2D printing redundant.
iii. Regenerative medicine
Social: Definitely disruptive as this would mean repairing of organs if they are no longer in tip top conditions. This would also cope with the changing demographics as globalisation and a natural trend of falling fertility rates in developed nation become more prevalent
Economic: I would suppose this would be a 'blockbuster' type of drug and drug companies who invented these medications would expect to earn buckets of gold with this. The concern here is whether or not these drug companies are prioritising social needs above economic gains. Nonetheless, it is a disruptive innovation
Environmental: This could be in the form of the making of the medicine, whehter it is the unethical methods of producing it or the byproduct that comes along when the medicines are produced.
∴ Disruptive
x. Social networking
Social: Disruptive. The way we communicate have vastly changed since writing of snail mails.
Economic: Businesses are now also making use of social networking to progress and marketing, advertising, sales are all conducted through social networks now which make previous business methods somewhat less important (eg. giving out of flyers)
Environment: I would think for social networking to take place, some form of a technological gadget has to be used like a computer/laptop/tablet/smartphone and the enviornmental effects would be the same as those I have mentioned above under the category of smart phones
∴ Disruptive
The 6 other categories would be done in another post :)
Personal ratings:
7/10
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