Impact dialogue with Ashmeet Sidana, Chief Engineer, Engineering Capital & Sanjiv Goyal, Chair, IIT2020: Future is now summit
By Sanjiv Goyal
Data is the new oil. The potential influence of data is analogous to the way oil shaped the geopolitical landscape as the world transitioned from a coal-based economy. Just like oil, data has a dual nature. When utilized appropriately, it creates revolutionary advancements and improves our standard of living, but misapplied, it turns toxic.
Who owns our health data?
This week I sat down with Ashmeet Sidana, Chief Engineer and covert CEO of Engineering Capital, to discuss how data is going to shape the future of the world in the coming decades. In our discussion, we explored how the evolution of data sharing and beliefs about privacy will impact the healthcare space.
To change the face of the healthcare system, we need a global, standardized open-system network for sharing data. The primary issue of creating this isn’t what you might think. It’s not a lack of resources or technology — it’s trust issues.
The medical industry is working within a closed system model. There are vast entrepreneurial opportunities in the healthcare sector right now that hinge on solving this very problem and creating a secure network for data to flow through. There are three ways to address it, that if implemented successfully, could open the way for medical breakthroughs and drastically streamline efficiency.
The first way is through the creation of regulatory frameworks. Passing laws that protect privacy and govern how data can be shared is crucial. These laws already exist for the tech industry, and we see examples of them in California, the home of Silicon Valley.
The second way to build trust is with AI. Take the example of blockchain. You can trust the ledger no matter who is using it. Banking has already made the shift to being online and is seamlessly connecting financial institutions and government bodies. Consumer privacy issues have been successfully addressed by the financial sector through precise agreements about data usage. Healthcare is the next frontier.
With the COVID19 pandemic spreading from continent to continent, the amplified interest in social justice, and fires and storms ravaging communities, we are learning that our challenges aren’t mutually exclusive. The illusion of separation is melting away as we are forced to collectively come to terms with the universal themes of our fragility, humanity, and mortality.
To develop better medications, procedures, devices, and effective healthcare warning systems that will be able to mitigate the spread and devastation of future pandemics, we need to be able to collect and analyze data on a global scale. Our world is more connected than ever; shouldn’t our data be as well?
The third way to build trust is more complicated. It relates to shifting cultural and psychological expectations about privacy and safety. For example, Facebook lowered the threshold for what society keeps private, and people started sharing more personal information online. Will there be a company in the near future that does the same thing with health records, vitals, medical studies?
Having spent two decades in Silicon Valley, the thing that stood out to me the most was how open people were with their ideas. Having traveled extensively, I noticed entrepreneurs elsewhere felt the need to guard their brainchildren. The reason for Silicon Valley’s enormous success has been the culture of trust and open exchange. There was an excited air of teamwork rather than competition.
In the early days of Silicon Valley, entrepreneurs lived by the adage: Two heads are better than one. The focus was on innovation, pushing accepted limits, and positive impact, not profits. Of course, things are different now.
There wasn’t a preoccupation with money. The thrill was exploring what was possible, pushing limits, and risk-taking. Of course, things are different now. Making the world a better place for all, not for a few who happen to get rich enough to enjoy the best of what it has to offer.
In order to solve the most significant problems facing humanity and future generations, we are going to need more places that exemplify the thought exchange culture of Silicon Valley. Could we successfully recreate an environment that mimicked the culture of innovation and teamwork that we saw in those early Silicon Valley days? What if we could create a blueprint of a culture that idealizes innovation and exploration. We would need to realign our values, and create economic incentives that focused on profits in the long run and not the short term and idealized teamwork and selflessness away from profits and towards teamwork for the greater good of all.
The world has tried to recreate the Silicon Valley formula, but the conditions have to be just right. It takes more than capital. Fortunately, India may be getting close. With a highly educated population unafraid of taking risks and legal frameworks incentivizing intellectual exchange.
When we think of the future, we generally think in terms of linear time, conceptualizing “the future” as a point in time that will arrive in a matter of hours, days, months, or years. However, in reality, the future has more to do with geography than with a timeline. Progress happens in pockets. We have to stop asking when the next big thing will happen and start asking: Where is it already happening?
Our world is shifting from a focus on atoms to a focus on quarks. How much does money weigh? Who cares? Currency is becoming increasingly intangible. The “gold standard” is the old standard. We have the technology, and we have the resources to put most systems online. Now is the time. But with healthcare, who will get there first?
I will pose the same challenge here as I did to Ashmeet in our conversation: How can we create a trusted data-sharing blueprint for the benefit of all? Can we come up with a standardized open system, wherein the trust issues are resolved? We have done it in all other sectors. Why can’t we do it in healthcare?
These are the types of forwarding thinking problems we’ll explore in my IIT 2020 Impact Video Series. Let’s meet head-on those problems that, if solved, would improve life for billions and for generations to come.
More Information:
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