Issue 44: What Do Pandemics Mean in the Digital Age?
Welcome to Backstory, a weekly newsletter turning global technology shifts into a three-minute read. This week, we’re thinking about the role of medical technology in a knowledge economy – Mary Ames, Director of Strategy
THE BIG TAKE
What Do Pandemics Mean in the Digitial Age?
The global response to China’s coronavirus outbreak is breathtaking in its scope and organisation. Any black swan of this scale carries with it profound lessons for professionals and leaders worldwide. On the national level, countries are re-evaluating their exposure to global pandemics, levels of preparedness, and strength of their local knowledge economies to assist in finding a cure.
Making change: With the region’s largest and most robust knowledge economy, the UAE has been a critical link in the response to the crisis. UAE-based engineers are at the forefront of creating technology to identify, curtail, and monitor global pandemics such as the coronavirus. If there's a silver lining to this terrible virus, it's that the UAE and other small countries in the emerging world are demonstrating just how pivotal they are in the global medical preparedness arena.
Medical innovation: Given the rapid speed at which the coronavirus is spreading (and wreaking havoc on global markets), there's obvious value with any tool that can speed up the process of evaluation and get drugs into the hands of people who need them. That’s where future technologies such as artificial intelligence come into the picture. Developing new technologies requires further spending on medical research and creating the right infrastructure for innovation to take root.
From technology to saving lives: From world-class institutions like the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi to Dubai Healthcare City, the country is building one of the top medical research infrastructures in the world. This investment will ensure the UAE is at the forefront of combating global diseases and pandemics. The country has already had a major impact on the global fight against diseases such as Polio. As part of a well-rounded and expansive knowledge economy, medical technology is a critical facet. The coronavirus is just the latest reminder.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.”
Plato
OUR VIEWS THIS WEEK
Technology as culture: New technologies are only as disruptive as the mindsets behind them. To fully realise the power of technology to transform society, we need cultural shifts in how we work and live. In most cases, this requires leaders to set the boundaries of possibility. This week, we explored how the recent creation of the Dubai Council demonstrates that disruptive innovation starts with culture change.
Food waste for good: Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week recently concluded and so we reflected on the areas where the UAE can make the biggest change in sustainability. This week, we argued that food waste is an untapped market with a golden opportunity for true impact. The UAE is known for innovative solutions to a changing climate. New tech that converts food waste into energy could be the next market for growth.
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SPOTTED ELSEWHERE
Roadblocks: Have you ever wished your street was quiet and empty of traffic? Well, an artist in Berlin might have found a cheeky route to a quiet afternoon. The artist Simon Weckert discovered a funny Google Maps hack that enabled him to create traffic hotspots on the mapping service. He simply put 99 smartphones in a wheelbarrow, opened Google Maps, and walked around. The service thought the phones were in cars and thus diverted users away from his street. Lots of effort but if you want a quiet block, it’s certainly one way to game the system.
App failure: Speaking of smartphones, we take smartphone applications for granted. Just think about how many apps you use on a daily basis from Gmail to Slack and Careem. They're so well designed that they tend to fade into the background. Until they don’t. An application designed by a company called Shadow is apparently behind the chaos in reporting the results of Monday’s Iowa Caucus in the United States. The app was meant to help the voting process but because it was so poorly designed, it ended up derailing the entire thing. Just goes to show how brilliant our apps really are.