Innovations in health often come from different sectors

That care innovation has taken off in Flanders is due to an academically validated strategic vision. Internationally renowned research centres, knowledge institutes, industry, entrepreneurs and healthcare sector sustainably attune their expectations and range on offer in a carefully extended ecosystem. This helps them, in co-creation with the persons with a care need and their informal caregivers, to offer the right care at the right moment. A “health in all policies” policy translates this integrated approach throughout all the policy areas. Flanders’ Care was founded in that context. It is a programme of the Government of Flanders, aimed at improving quality care and stimulating responsible entrepreneurship in the care economy. As coordinator, Carine Boonen stands at the birth of quite a lot of cross-fertilisation.

“The future of care will no longer be restricted to curing what has gone wrong, but will largely focus on personalised prevention: preventing somebody falling ill. This was also the case in the traditional Chinese culture, which aims at keeping people healthy. If somebody fell ill there, it was a failure by the doctor. Today you can predict so many things, before birth and even before conception, that a moment will arrive when nobody falls ill. Then we will only be focused on preventing that we become sick. Key terms are the 4 Ps: predictive, preventive, personalised and participative.

What will the hospital of the future look like? One thing is certain, there will be a lot fewer beds. A patient will only be tinkered with when something goes wrong, when prevention has failed. We will be able to solve many problems at home. Complex innovation will reach into the living room.

Robot surgery was invented together with engineers who saw how useful it could be for medicine.