“A ship in the harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for,” observed that sage 19th century philosopher William Shedd. In other words, technology of high potential is of little value if the potential is not exploited. As the shape of 2020 is increasingly defined by the coronavirus pandemic, digitalisation is like a ship loaded with technology that has a huge capacity for transforming mankind’s combat against infectious disease. But it is still moored safely in harbour. Instead of sailing bravely into battle, it remains at the dockside, cowering from the storm beyond the breakwaters. Engineers and fitters constantly fine-tune it, and its officers and deckhands perfect their operating procedures, but that promise is unfulfilled, restrained by the hesitancy and indecision of officialdom. Out there, the seas of the pandemic are turbulent and uncharted, and it is impossible to know in advance everything of the other dangers that may lurk beyond those cloudy horizons. However, the more noble course is for orders to be given to complete the preparations, to cast off and set sail, and to join other vessels crewed by valiant healthcare workers and tireless researchers, already deeply engaged in a rescue mission for the whole of the human race. It is the destiny of digitalisation to navigate those oceans alongside other members of that task force, and the hour of destiny has arrived. This article focuses on the potential enablers and recommendation to maximise learnings during the era of COVID-19.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world we live in, and it has the potential to transform struggling healthcare systems with new efficiencies, new therapies, new diagnostics, and new economies. Already, AI is having an impact on healthcare, and new prospects of far greater advances open up daily. This paper sets out how AI can bring new precision to care, with benefits for patients and for society as a whole. But it also sets out the conditions for realizing the potential: key issues are ensuring adequate access to data, an appropriate regulatory environment, action to sustain innovation in research institutes and industry big and small, promotion of take-up of innovation by the healthcare establishment, and resolution of a range of vital legal and ethical questions centred on safeguarding patients and their rights. For Europe to fulfil the conditions for success, it will have to find a new spirit of cooperation that can overcome the handicaps of the continent’s fragmented technical and legal landscape. The start the European Union has made shows some ambition, but a clearer strategic vision and firmer plans for implementation will be needed. The European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) has listed its own priorities: data, integrating innovation into care, building trust, developing skills and constructing policy frameworks that guarantee infrastructure, equitable access, and legal clarity.

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