Technology Foresight of Politecnico di Milano has conducted foresight activities to explore potential opportunities and challenges, preparing for a technological paradigm shift in personal health. The aim was to identify the most disruptive technologies in the realm of personal health and assess their impact on shaping future scenarios. The time frame extends from the present to 2040.

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Methodology:

• Mapping the landscape: Desk Research on the Future of Health: Selection, from foresight studies and scientific publications, the 50 most recurrent technologies and innovations expected to be transformative.  
• Experts’ preliminary analysis: identification of 28 core technologies.
• Extended and in-depth analysis to identify the most promising 10 technologies, engaging Politecnico di Milano’s community and a group of physicians through a dedicated survey. 
• Impact and Relevance Assessment to shape the final outcome.

The top 10 technologies are:

• Applied Artificial Intelligence (Applied AI)
• Biomedical imaging techniques
• Biosensors
• Data Science
• Digital Twin/Modelling
• Drug Delivery Smart Systems
• Genetic Editing
• Implantable devices
• Neurotechnology
• Next Generation Vaccines
  

Each technology description includes: examples of potential fields of application, the phase(s) in which the technology is relevant (prediction/prevention/diagnosis/treatment/rehabilitation), opportunities, requirements, risks, impacts.

The report continues with a series of insights, derived from the analysis of alternative visions of the future associated with health, with both positive and negative elements, aiming at understanding the opportunities and challenges posed by each context and at identifying the conditions that will allow moving in the preferred direction, without neglecting risks and possible barriers.

The ultimate objectives of TRIGGER are to provide EU institutions with knowledge and tools to enhance their actorness, effectiveness and influence in global governance; and to develop new ways to harness the potential of public engagement and participatory foresight in complex governance decisions, thereby also tackling emerging trends such as nationalism, regionalism and protectionism.

TRIGGER specific objectives are:

• Advance the state of the art in understanding global governance;
• Evolution of the EU’s interaction with global governance, in particular so-called “actorness” and “effectiveness” of the EU;
• Understand how global governance and emerging technologies interact, and what role the EU plays in this respect, in particular as “regulatory superpower”;
• Identify emerging trends that strengthen / loosen deeper global governance and cooperation;
• Build capacity for strategic foresight and public engagement inside EU institutions.

The TRIGGER consortium is composed of 14 partners, including four non-EU countries. TRIGGER will achieve its objectives thanks to the combined effort of four research sub-groups:

• a group focused on global and EU governance, which will create an unprecedented Atlas of Global Governance REGulation and Europe’s AcTORness (AGGREGATOR);
• a group focused on the relationship between governance and emerging technologies; 
• a group dedicated to strategic foresight and public engagement, which will use new techniques such as AI-enabled sentiment analysis and innovative public engagement methods to develop a tool on Co-Creating the European Union (COCTEAU); and
• a group specialised in dissemination and communication. All major deliverables will eventually be merged into a toolkit dedicated to Public Engagement for Responsive and Shared EU Strategies (PERSEUS).