QF to launch inaugural World Innovation Summit for Health

During the summit, a distinguished audience of decision-makers from across the world will convene to discuss practical, lasting and innovative solutions to global healthcare challenges.

The high-profile event, which is the successor to last year’s Global Health Policy Summit in London, will bring together heads of state, ministers, senior government officials, academics and thinkers, as well as some of the world’s most influential business leaders.

Dr Mohamed Fathy Saoud, president of Qatar Foundation, said: “Qatar Foundation has launched a number of crucial initiatives within medical research and healthcare that benefit people both nationally and internationally. We now have a much more enhanced understanding of how innovation can overcome globalised healthcare challenges, and the value of creating a far-reaching network that is a lasting resource for innovators and reformers worldwide.”

The mission of WISH is closely aligned to the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, and represents her ongoing commitment to raising the standards of healthcare nationally and internationally. HH Sheikha Moza announced WISH during last year’s Global Health Policy Summit which was jointly organised by Qatar Foundation and Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation.

The Right Honourable professor the Lord Darzi of Denham, chairman for the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and Executive Chair of WISH said, “WISH is about action. This summit will look at ideas which are evidence-based, scalable, and sustainable – often ideas which have already been implemented somewhere in the world – and work out how to implement them far more widely.”

He added, “The Summit will be based on the concept that radical innovation is needed to meet the world’s health challenges, and that this requires more collaboration between those bodies and individuals that are in a position to make a difference. I hope that in time this annual event will become the Davos of healthcare.”

Prominent international healthcare innovation experts will chair the summit’s working groups which focus on eight themes: obesity, mental health, integrated and accountable care, end-of-life, road traffic accidents, empowering patients, antimacrobial resistance and big data.

WISH’s objectives complement the mission and vision of Qatar Foundation and Qatar National Vision 2030, while serving to highlight Qatar’s growing role as an emerging centre for healthcare innovation. Through WISH, Qatar Foundation aims to create tangible and long-lasting solutions in healthcare advocacy, policy, research and delivery. In keeping with this objective, the Summit has been designed to build a network of health experts and to facilitate an interdisciplinary approach, as well as best practices that can transform healthcare policies and systems globally.