Harnessing digital technologies for health through a new global collaborative

The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the urgent necessity of resilient and responsive health systems across the globe. Research, innovation, and emerging technologies need to be leveraged wisely and collaboratively for universal healthcare. Emerging geographies of innovation in the Global South need to be engaged in full measure.

The International Digital Health & Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I- DAIR) aims to create a new CERN-like but networked global institution for health innovation and research enabled by digital technologies. Led by Ambassador Amandeep Gill, a small interdisciplinary project team is building partnerships with key stakeholders including the World Health Organization (WHO), governments as well as premier research and technology institutes from around the world.

2021 is a key year as the team puts together I-DAIR’s governance structures, its hubs in different regions of the world and its initial research projects in areas such as Real Time Epidemiology and Interoperability. It is also a crucial year for building common blueprints on patient-centered digital infrastructures, capacity-building and on the future digital health research agenda. This will set the stage for a formal launch with substantial global investments into digital health over the period 2023-2025.