InnoPeaks: a further step forward towards a revolution!

Xavier Comtesse is a key influencer in Switzerland and innovation specialist, a seasoned visionary of healthcare’s digital evolution and revolution, as well as a mathematician and doctor of computer science. He enjoys a first-class reputation in Switzerland and is a mentor and adviser for the InnoPeaks project. He opened the first Swissnex office in Boston in 2000 and founded HEALTH@LARGE in 2015, a think tank focusing on healthcare in the digital age, with other experts.

Latest publications: Health 4.0 – The Digital Tsunami (2017) and IA – Entreprise augmentée, médecine augmentée (2018).

Towards personalized medicine

By agreeing to get involved in the InnoPeaks project, Xavier Comtesse is right where he likes to be: in the healthcare sector that is about to be disrupted by the technology revolution. Major changes are on their way!

Because of digital technology and artificial intelligence, innovation is gaining momentum and boundaries are being redefined. Today, genomics are combined with neuroscience; big data are merged with algorithms and social networks with the Internet of Things…  More and more, technological achievements are helping to redefine the meaning of prevention and patient experience, allowing us to see what tomorrow’s medicine will be like: customised or precision medicine.

Data will change everything

“As you know, data is at the very heart of the technology or digital revolution.  A computer keyboard is able to predict two years in advance if you will be affected by Parkinson’s disease, by analysing how you hit the keys! », said Xavier Comtesse.

The technological revolution is a shift in paradigm. “It is like shifting from photography to cinema, the world is changing”, he added.

InnoPeaks and the digital transformation

According to Xavier Comtesse, InnoPeaks is fully in line with the digital transformation that is taking place in the health sector, thanks to its innovating projects based on themes related to the digital revolution in the health insurance system, such as competitiveness and performance, security, experimentation, customer and patient experience, health technology, connected objects, genetics, prevention and artificial intelligence.

All players will need to redefine their position. Xavier Comtesse is convinced of this: “Small players, such as flexible and fast-moving start-ups, will be offering new services… Today, a company must be able to capture new trends and developments, and to know how to recognise the gems of the future. That is why InnoPeaks is so important!”

Linking DNA to big data

Personalized medicine is increasingly becoming a reality thanks to connected objects that are generating massive amounts of data. “By linking this increasing amount of data to DNA, something huge is going to happen. To succeed in combining the history of each one of us with one’s DNA will help to define precision medicine, which is at the crossroads of these two areas. Big data, or acquired information, is the history and DNA is innate information, which is a form of big data in itself. Once again, processing information is at the heart of these concerns”, concluded Xavier Comtesse.

Let’s get started!

Xavier Comtesse added that “prevention is now ever more important and becoming a continuum. Everyone’s role is set to change. Insurers will be providing increasingly personalised services to their customers. However, we are still a long way from what will be able to do tomorrow. So, let’s get started!”

For start-ups, InnoPeaks is a further step forward towards a revolution that has already begun.