The e-Health Trends 2024, an annual event organised by Interaction Healthcare, brought together 500 people at Station F and over 4,000 remotely on January 30th, 2024. A diverse panel of experts - from both the public sector and industry - provided a comprehensive overview of the e-Health ecosystem in France. Here are 5 perspectives.
Overcoming challenges to accelerate innovation
Innovate, innovate, innovate: that's the mantra of e-health. However, financing and guiding innovation remain major challenges for project developers. To meet these challenges, the Agence de l'Innovation en Santé (AIIH) has successfully launched a one-stop shop and has already supported nearly 200 innovative projects in just a few months. The France 2030 plan, acting as an accelerator, is mobilising more than €7 billion to stimulate innovation in the healthcare sector. Another major challenge is to demonstrate the real impact of innovation on a population scale. University hospitals generate colossal data sets, but it is difficult to cross-reference them. This explains the rise in France of Health Data Warehouse (HDW) projects, which centralise, pseudonymise and standardise data to speed up medical research through secondary use of the data.
Being pragmatic
CES 2024 confirmed the dynamism of the healthcare sector by showcasing concrete and increasingly realistic solutions. This year, start-ups presented innovations focusing on AI and connected objects. They even went so far as to make the home a health player. When you consider that 80% of innovations no longer exist 5 years after their announcement at CES, we can only be delighted to see start-ups this year that are more pragmatic than in previous years.
Navigating the complex AI landscape
Artificial intelligence, and not just generative AI, is already used by 50% of carers. 90% of doctors believe that it has a positive impact on patient care*. Digital training and a critical approach are therefore becoming crucial. There are many issues at stake: costs, availability of structured data, transparency of training data, algorithmic and social biases, regulatory complexities, etc. State-supported digital health training, scheduled for September 2024, demonstrates the government's commitment to the responsible integration of AI.
Representing the invisible
Digital twins, already well known in many sectors including industry, are opening up infinite possibilities in healthcare. From accurately modelling organs for surgical planning to understanding the context in which care is delivered, digital twins are revolutionising the sector. By creating a highly accurate virtual copy based on the physical and behavioural characteristics of a real-world product, process or system, the digital twin lends itself to all kinds of tests and configurations.
Making France a European leader in e-Health
Sovereignty and access to digital innovation in healthcare are essential if we are to consolidate skills and technological assets, particularly around data. To support the e-health ecosystem, government initiatives are focusing on medical research, streamlining care processes and pathways, medical training and digital therapies, with the clear aim of making France a European leader in e-health.
*National barometer on the impact of AI in medical practice, PulseLife x Interaction Healthcare