The relentless development of new ideas, products, practices and services has transformed everyday life to a degree we could scarcely have imagined a decade ago. This transformation spans entirely new artifacts (such as scarily smart mobile phones), how we perform old tasks (such as checking into airplanes, paying tolls and taxes), and even the revival of defunct practices (such as pedaling around cities on rented bicycles).
Professor Amar Bhidé credits multiplayer venturesomeness for this dynamism: Innovation has become highly democratized and decentralized. And we take for granted that things will continue getting better, faster, and cheaper.
However, medical innovation may be lagging. Some advances have been dramatic, for instance with regards to HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and minimally invasive surgery. But overall advances in health care have not had the same transformative impact on the common person’s life as, for example, information technology.
In his lecture, Professor Bhidé will contrast his earlier work on the venturesome economy with findings from his ongoing research on groundbreaking medical innovation. This contrast provides lessons on how to make life science and health care more innovative and venturesome.
