The Futures of Health

Who are healthcare services produced for in the future? How to support the abilities of individuals, and how will megatrends shape and mold the available resources of today? Who should own the data on your personal health? What is the impact of e-health and other disruptive technologies?

In early 2014, Demos Helsinki and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare launched a research project on the freedom of choice in healthcare and the future of health and wellbeing. The project focuses on the individual that consumes services. It also produces insight into the promotion of the freedom of choice through legislation, influence of the market, and the ability of municipalities to offer options.

Demos Helsinki will produce a scenario model on the futures of health and healthcare. The work will consider health as a whole, to a large extent built upon aspects outside the scope of social and healthcare services. Health is related to the totality of the individual’s way of life, living conditions, infrastructure, capabilities, and environment just to name a few. When changes in these phenomena are discussed in relation to the future of health, we find new and previously unrecognised resources for promoting human wellbeing.

Our partners in the research project include the Finnish Social Services Institute, the pharmaceutical company Novartis, the umbrella organisation for social and healthcare providers SOSTE, and many others. The project is funded by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes).

For more information, contact researcher Satu Korhonen