I’ve been lukewarm to the blockchain push in Healthcare, and sceptical on its positioning as a gateway to interoperability.
Despite some success, we’ve not seen anything like the groundswell projected. Was blockchain considered a step too far, or a nice to have ‘icing on the cake’ when in reality the cake hadn’t yet been baked?
And yet, Q1 2022 has been marked by a few noteworthy alliances – looking at the bigger picture through a pragmatic lens, without sensationalism.
‘Noteworthy’ given the names involved. One is Nokia (with its Bell Labs R&D arm) and Equideum Health – formerly blockchain specialist ConsenSys Health, led by the experienced Heather Leigh Flannery, ex-Hashed Health.
Today it’s at pre-launch stage, initially US-focussed, so I’ll return as it evolves, as I still have questions.
This joint proposition shifts the power to the patient, who via trusted peer-driven ‘learning networks’, can permission life sciences researchers within chronic care (the initial target base) to access personal data. Usage context is key, and monetization or other incentives the bonus.
Crucially, #HealthEquity is a high priority here, and joint projects will echo and scale Equideum’s independent pioneering work, such as with DHIT: enabling vulnerable populations to digitally own their data and decide how and where it’s shared.
Bravo for Nokia, with its SaaS-based Data Marketplace chosen to power Equideum’s Exchange™ platform.
In my own work with tech vendors, I dig deep on brand relevance. I’m not hailing this partnership as a comeback for Nokia – recently it placed the wrong bet in Healthcare with Withings – because that would be insulting. Nor is this a case study about failing fast, or a telco looking to latch on to Healthcare without doing its homework.
This is a story about leadership that looks at mis-steps as a form of accelerated learning; that has spent the last four years upskilling to devise a better response to real world unmet need; that challenges itself and gets buy-in from its teams to venture into unexplored territory. Because Nokia clearly wants to grow a relevant and sustainable footprint within Healthcare.
If this alliance carries risk, it’s well calculated: Nokia, already familiar with blockchain, brings Federated #ML/#AI orchestration, connected devices and ‘ageing in place’ experience; Equideum adds #security, and #tokenization. Together, they do the heavy lifting and broker.
It’s also a shared bold vision, since it embodies ‘the future is now’ but recognises the complexities surrounding each component alone – eg. cognitive augmentation, remote decentralised trials, adaptive trials, edge computing, Web3 (not the metaverse) – but accepting the challenge of bringing them all together.
I give it a gold star for the open invite to the clinical trials matching community to shape this Exchange™ over the next 6 months.
This isn’t a panacea, but concepts such as the digital twin mean we all deserve self-sovereignty.
