The third FutureHealth Basel conference took place in the Congress Center Basel on Tuesday. Titled “Me, Myself and Algorithms”, the conference focused on the future of healthcare and the tension between digitization, people and profits. Over the course of the conference, it became clear that Switzerland should take a pioneering role in digitizing the healthcare system. Data security was also an important topic.

The conference brought a number of international experts to Basel, a city that is strongly influenced by life sciences in Switzerland. Speakers included Eugene Borukhovich, founder of the American company YourCoach Health, and Bart De Witte, a leading expert in digital health, both of whom spoke about the role of algorithms in the diagnostic process, among other topics.

Pamela Peele, Chief Analytics Officer at UPMC Enterprises, an American healthcare company and insurer, was another of the speakers. She explained that her company has incentives to keep patients healthy because it combines insurance and services under one roof. A discussion was also held on how such a model could be implemented in Switzerland.

Parallel to the main sessions, the conference also offered a wide range of what it calls ‘Deep Dive’ sessions, which looked at the role of artificial intelligence in healthcare or global cooperation in health data. Another topic was the challenge of an electronic healthcare economy in Switzerland. “This seminal topic is essential for strengthening and advancing the regional life sciences cluster,” said Martin Dätwyler, director of the Basel Chamber of Commerce.

The conference was organized by the Basel Chamber of Conference and NZZ Konferenzen, and conference partners included BaselArea.swiss. It participated in the event with its DayOne Accelerator program, which supports startups active in the field of digital health. Several startups presented their ideas at the conference and received valuable feedback. They were also able to make new contacts.