‘The Future Delivery of Medicine: 2020’ to be forecast at London conference

University College London (UCL) and the Science|Business news service organize Nov. 5/6 meeting with international experts in research, industry and policy to predict how converging medical technologies will change healthcare

London – 23 June, 2008. New technologies will force fundamental change in the way healthcare systems operate. Low-cost gene sequencing and biopharmaceuticals will make personalized medicine a reality – tailoring the treatment to the patient. The spread of broadband networks makes telemedicine feasible for many, and computerized patient records will transform medical research. New imaging and diagnostics technologies open the door to more preventative medicine.

So what will it be like to be sick in 2020? Who will treat you? How will they get paid? How will health authorities decide which new technologies are worth the money?

These are among the pressing questions to be examined at an international gathering of research, industry and policy experts Nov. 6, organized by UCL Advances, UCL’s centre for entrepreneurship and business interaction, and the Science|Business news service. The conference will draw on expertise from all the new technology strands – bioinformatics, imaging, diagnostics, devices, biopharmaceuticals and more – to create a composite picture of the patient experience in 2020, and to discuss what healthcare authorities should be doing now to prepare for that day. The outcomes will include a survey and special report summarizing the new scenarios – plus expert recommendations for action.

The conference is a joint venture between UCL Advances and Science Business Publishing Ltd., a UK-based media company focused on R&D investment and policy across Europe.

For more information, contact:

Richard L. Hudson
CEO & Editor
Science Business Publishing Ltd.
+44 790 155 6421
[email protected]

Timothy Barnes
Executive Director
UCL Advances
[email protected]
+44 207 679 3671

About UCL Advances

UCL Advances is UCL’s centre for entrepreneurship and business interaction. UCL has built a reputation as a pioneer of collaboration between industry and academia. Often in partnership with the London Business School, we have established many, now mainstream, initiatives that span the gaps between science discovery and exploitation. To focus the capabilities of the wider university community on topics of major societal or market potential we seek to:

• Link the expertise and creative thinking skills of three distinct communities - researchers, business and investors - who have complementary perspectives on shared problems
• Deploy a systematic programme of stimulating engagements within and between these communities that develop a network with 'shared representations' of the challenges to be addressed
• Develop networks that broaden and deepen the 'intellectual space' within which individuals can deploy their creativity to develop 'boundary busting' solutions
• Build a university culture that embraces and rewards enterprise activities by academic researchers
• Provide educational programmes that equip academics to participate in a meaningful way in activities to bring their innovations to the benefit of society
• Motivate members of the network to share expertise in pursuit of shared challenges

About Science|Business

Science Business Publishing Ltd. is a London-based media company focused on R&D investment in Europe. It reports news daily online and in a weekly newsletter, and organizes events to bring together public-sector researchers, corporate partners and policy makers. It was founded in 2005 by the former managing editors of the Wall Street Journal Europe and leading science journal Nature, and works with a network of 10 leading European research universities, including UCL.

More information at www.sciencebusiness.net.