The IMD celebrated the release of its 2022 World Digital Competitiveness Ranking by hosting the 2022 Digital Competitiveness Summit,co-organized by digitalswitzerland and the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). As part of the panel discussion on “Regulating the digital world: does it hinder or drive competitiveness?”, Melissa spoke about the challenges facing healthcare in a world concerned about data privacy.
“From an ethical point of view, the goal of sharing information, data and insights can be very valid but all too often, regulation meant to protect patients blocks us from doing something good, for instance in healthcare. This is because people don’t foresee exceptions, and regulation has been built around fear: ‘we must protect our data’.”
“[A healthcare software] platform only works if people let us share the information we learn from their data and we have to convince patients and doctors that we are trustworthy. To the extent that we have GDPR showing we are certified and are doing the right thing, it helps build trust. If we have laws that build help to confidence, we can break down fear. But that also only comes if we have the funding to do it,” she said.