I can see what might have been considered science fiction 10-15 years ago evolving into treatments with impact on human health. We are in a golden age of harnessing data science, AI and digital technology to help push innovation to improve human health.
Jake LaPorte, Global Head of the Novartis Biome, outlined his hopes for wider pharma industry collaboration in a podcast discussion with Rachel Chalmers from the Alchemist – a global accelerator dedicated to enterprise ventures.
Jake, the first life sciences guest on the podcast series, said: “I was invited as part of their corporate innovation thought leader series to talk about the Novartis Biome and the progress we are making in helping to push digital innovation to improve human health. It was a great opportunity to invite those with a digital health interest in the pharma industry to get in touch. We want to open up our blueprints to create a broader industry-wide community that tackles some of the fundamental challenges in digital health, to make innovation happen.”
The wide-ranging discussion covered the role of the Novartis Biome in transcending corporate structures to collaborate with the tech ecosystem in co-creating digital solutions that made an impact on patient health and outcomes.
“We also touch on why corporate innovation is so hard, collaboration in the post-COVID world and some top tips on managing wellbeing to avoid burnout in this digital world,” said Jake.
He highlighted the emergence of informal ‘community’ collaborations via platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams during the COVID-19 pandemic when corporations “scrambled to facilitate remote working en-masse.”
“The rise of informal communities coming together to organise themselves around a problem has implications for how corporations do problem-solving and become more agile and flexible in creating innovative healthcare solutions for the future,” he said.
