About the Life Sciences Supermind
The Life Sciences Supermind brings together a group of leaders in the biosciences and related disciplines, using an online platform and synchronous virtual events, to gain insights into key challenges the life sciences sector will face in coming years.
The overall challenge posed to the group is:
How do we identify and apply the learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic to reimagine the institutions, processes, policies and tools we use across the Life Sciences to address global health needs for all?
Participants will be invited to contribute their ideas, and comment on ideas submitted by others. The specific categories that will be used in the convening are still being finalized, but a preliminary list includes:
- Disruptive technologies and methodologies e.g. incorporating multiuse platforms and technology, disease agnostic approaches, digital tools.
- Future of scientific research and development, e.g. new skillsets, tools to accelerate lab productivity, innovation models, funding models, collaboration across institutions.
- Public health preparedness, science and technologies, e.g. both infectious and chronic diseases, emerging technology within Life Science, creating a new discipline.
- Science communication, within the scientific community and to general public.
- Flexible and resilient manufacturing, supply, and distribution chains, focus on shifting needs, increaseing resilience to turn the capacity for the future.
2020 Pandemic Respons Supermind
During May and June of 2020, the Pandemic Response Supermind convened a group of experts to address the challenge:
How can we develop pandemic resilience—the ability for society to recover quickly from global disease outbreaks—both in resolving the current COVID-19 pandemic and in building the public health and other infrastructure to prepare for future pandemics?
Participants were invited to contribute ideas in five topic areas: diagnostics and monitoring; transmission control; access to therapies and vaccines; validating, sharing, and communicating scientific insights; and pandemic reparedness.
Those initial contributions were grouped into categories, and participants voted on which would have the greatest potential impact in both the near and the long term.
Insights from the online exercise then served as the basis for a series of Catalyst Conversations about the key topics addressed in the online activation and a Pandemic Response Supermind Report summarized the results.