2019年5月19日

These 3 focus areas will change the future of medicine

At Microsoft’s recent Future Now conference, Chief Medical Officer Dr Simon Kos delighted an audience with a future vision for the technological potential in healthcare. Move over surgical robots and drug-dispensing vending machines, Kos sees health’s precision medicine, and personalisation of care as the new frontier encompassing physical, mental and social aspects that ultimately determine our health and wellness.

1. Precision medicine: relies on genomics to provide doctors with information around treatment and prevention. It can take hundreds, sometimes thousands, of unique algorithms to analyse the billions of data points from patients’ genetic profiles. 

2. Mental health care: A tech-enabled model of care leverages data to predict best practice measures and also uses telepsychiatry to connect with people on a more regular basis. Instead of using a highly qualified psychiatrist to see someone every six weeks, you would use a behavioural psychologist or a nurse to reach out several times a week and it changes the whole engagement dynamic.

3. Personalisation and prevention: People want a personal health record that’s fed actively with information from qualified feeder systems and they want some sort of artificial intelligence (or agent) to use that data, and mine it for insights, and feed it to them in snackable, actionable ways. They need to be able to use AI to help implement changes, improve their immediate health and make healthier choices for the future. Prevention is one of the key areas for health because ignoring health problems can end up costing 2-3 times more, particularly with mental health and chronic diseases.

San Francisco's homeless population has swelled by 17% in two years

San Francisco has long dealt with a homelessness crisis, exacerbated in part by the region’s technology boom and housing shortage, but a new street count of the city’s homeless shows just how bad it’s gotten. In January cast San Francisco’s homeless population at 8,011 – up 17% from two years ago. 

Federal guidelines are used to calculate these preliminary totals, not city guidelines, which include more nuanced classifications of homelessness. So the actual count will likely be higher – like it was in 2017 when a preliminary street count of 6,858 preceded a more complete total of 7,499.

Nevertheless, the data is a grim reminder that San Francisco’s homelessness problem is not improving, especially at a time when another wave of wealth is expected to soon wash over the city. Multiple tech companies, including ride-sharing giant Uber, are gearing up for their 2019 IPOs, which could potentially result in a widened existing income inequity gap. A bill passed in November, Proposition C, is expected to raise $US300 million for homeless programs by raising taxes on tech companies. And plans for a 200-bed homeless shelter is in talks to go up along the city’s Embarcadero, angering some nearby neighbours who are protesting its construction.

H&M is part of one of the biggest fashion retailers in the world

H&M Group is one of the largest fashion retailers in the world, and while its namesake brand is globally recognised – H&M has over 4,400 stores in 72 countries around the world. These brands, of which there are now seven, are an important piece of the H&M puzzle.

Cos is H&M’s second largest brand by store count after H&M itself. It has more than 270 stores in 41 different markets around the world and offers higher-priced and seemingly better-quality clothing. Cos’ profitability is in line with H&M despite having 95% fewer stores.

Weekday is one of H&M’s smaller brands, with just 38 stores in total. It offers low-cost basics and fashionable denim pieces, which are targeted at a younger audience.

Monki is one of the more daring and colourful brands in H&M’s portfolio. It has 127 stores across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

& Other Stories was to create a standalone beauty store, but when it launched in 2013 it had added women’s clothing, accessories, and shoes to the mix. This chain is more expensive than H&M and has a more polished aesthetic.

H&M Home initially launched online only in 2009 but has since grown to have its own stores and shop-in-shops in H&M’s own stores.

Arket opened its first store and launched online in 2017 and has since opened 16 stores across Northern Europe. It's focus is on well-made, long-lasting, and functional men’s, women’s, kid’s, and homewares.

Afound is H&M’s own version of TJ Maxx. It sells discounted products from across H&M’s portfolio in addition to stocking external brands. H&M was in the midst of an inventory crisis in June 2018 – at one point, it had $US4 billion worth of unsold clothing in circulation – and analysts were hoping that Afound might be a good solution to shifting this.