The announcement was made by Prof the Lord Darzi of Denham, executive chair of WISH at a press conference on Monday at QF headquarters. Omran Hamad al-Kuwari, executive director, CEO Office, QF; and Khalifa al-Kubaisi, head of Press Office, QF, were also present on the occasion.
“WISH is making a great positive impact on several healthcare systems across the world. Many of the WISH research reports have been presented in several countries and some of the recommendations in these reports have had significant impacts on a number of healthcare systems across the globe", said Lord Darzi.
“When, back in 2012, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation, announced her intention to create WISH, she offered global healthcare leaders an exciting opportunity to come to Qatar and use WISH as a base from which to capture and disseminate the best new evidence-based, healthcare-focused ideas,” he continued.
For the fourth time, WISH, will convene its meeting of global leaders, policy-makers, and innovators in healthcare, charging them with exploring new ways to build a healthier world through collaborative efforts and the sharing of novel ideas. The biennial summit will feature keynote speakers drawn from both inside and outside the healthcare sector.
Lord Darzi also announced that applications are open for the WISH 2018 Innovation Showcase competition – a competition that offers entrepreneurs and healthcare innovators from around the world an opportunity to display their innovative projects or products at next year’s summit. Successful applicants , not less than 20, will be invited to Doha to be part of an Innovation Showcase gallery that will run alongside the main summit.
WISH 2018 will also see the inauguration of ‘The WISH Hub’, which will provide interactive demonstrations in health-related technologies – such as robotic devices, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality – and will offer a place for summit attendees to network, take part in informal group discussion sessions, and meet the authors of WISH’s latest reports.
Al-Kuwari said, “Qatar Foundation is dedicated to making Qatar a leading global centre for excellence and innovation. We seek to foster collaboration across our mission areas, and WISH is a prime example of our approach in creating multi-disciplinary synergies in research and development.”
WISH 2018 will focus on nine topics that highlight and address some of the world’s most pressing healthcare challenges. Groups of experts from around the world will work together to build evidence-based research on the topics in the months leading up to the summit. They will present their findings in a series of reports that will be published prior to the summit and explored during panel discussions at WISH 2018. The topics will be announced over the coming months and will focus on a range of medical, social, humanitarian, and policy-driven areas.
Prof the Lord Darzi of Denham, Omran Hamad al-Kuwari and Khalifa al-Kubaisi at the press conference. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed
The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), will hold its 2018 conference at the Qatar National Convention Centre on November 13–14.
