Use of medical applications based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to recognize symptoms and diagnose them, surgical robotics, digital twin of organs… The digital transformation of the healthcare sector, which accelerated exponentially with the COVID-19 pandemic, is underway and there is no turning back. This was particularly highlighted at the 2024 edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) held February 26-29 in Barcelona.
The prestigious technology congress, which brought together more than 100,000 congress attendees and 2,400 exhibitors, had a specific and broader section this year on digital health, demonstrating the great interest generated by the application of technology in a sector as important as healthcare. Navarra Health Cluster attended to learn about the innovations in healthcare presented this year and also to accompany the different associated entities that attended: CEIN, Cinfa, Darwin Biomedical, Eversens, Genbioma, Tedcas and the University of Navarra.
Some of them participated in the show dedicated to entrepreneurship 4YFN (4 Years From Now) that takes place in parallel to the MWC, which concentrates much of the dynamism of the congress. With a strong innovative and disruptive focus, this international platform for connecting emerging companies, investment entities, accelerators, institutions and large corporations in the technology-digital sector has a dual objective: to publicize its programs for the acceleration of projects and the scaling of innovative startups; and to promote visibility and access to investment for firms in its ecosystem.
Another aspect of great interest: the Mobile World Congress featured a total of 19 presentations related to the main developments in the sector, both in prevention and diagnosis as well as in the treatment of diseases. Regarding the disruption that new technologies represent in the advancement of healthcare, it is worth highlighting the presentation by Sourabh Pagaría, Executive Vice President at Siemens Healthineers, on “Preventive Medicine: shaping healthcare futures with AI-driven Tools”, who explained that the future of preventive medicine, after the power of technology and the data revolution, lies in the creation of digital twins, the first examples of which already exist in cardiology. Also the presentation of Iñaki Berenguer, managing partner of LifeX Ventures, who said that AI would revolutionize the industry by allowing treatments to be developed more quickly, with better access for the greatest number of people, and to be more effective with more personalized care for patients.
