Producing Public Good Through Innovative Technology

We continue our series by looking at how collaborations between governments and new technologies will influence business and the community of the future....

...How does the new technology influence the life sciences? Is any of this relevant?  Yes, on several levels. 

First, as the public becomes more accustomed to metering and sensors, there is every reason to think there will be great demand for and receptivity to this regarding drug products and medical devices. 

Second, it’s all part of the continuing trend toward substantial accumulation of even greater amounts of data.  Just as the society will be wrestling with how best to utilize data that technology is increasingly making available, so will the life sciences industry, and in fact, some of the data or at least some of the subjects will overlap. 

Third, in some respects, whether one agrees with this development or not, some aspects of the pharmaceutical industry are moving toward a quasi-public utility (see William Looney, “What will Keep CEO’s Awake in 2011” in 3/11/11 online edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Global Digest for a discussion of this point), so thinking in terms of public goods and social utility will become increasingly important –for better or worse...