COST Foresight 2030: Benefitting from the Digital Revolution – Life Enhancement Workshop Report

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Introduction Excerpt

In all working groups of the first COST’s workshop (Harnessing the Digital Revolution, 1 to 3 April 2009), human health emerged as a key area, due to pressure for better healthcare from government’s health organisations and individuals. Participants noted that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) advancements in quality of life are likely to garner maximum user acceptance.

Participants in the subsequent Life Enhancement workshop (30 June to 2 July 2009) shaped a vision for 2030 with ICT at the heart of healthcare and biosciences, empowering people to take charge of their lives. The workshop explored three areas:

•  Personalised medicine – managing health on the basis of the individual’s genome
  enabling a more accurate diagnosis, drug treatment, customised therapies and webbased
  models of healthcare delivery.
• 
  Combating ageing – new prospects in regenerative medicine including stem cell
  research and gene therapy.
• 
  Cyber human – advances in neuro-prosthetics, robotics and human-machine interfaces
  that enhance the quality of life.