Health & Wellbeing

Nutrition is a critical part of health and poised to play an increasingly significant role in future healthcare. It is relevant for disease prevention and chronic disease management as diet is a modifiable risk factor. A person may reduce their risk of certain diseases and the negative impact on the food system by aligning nutritional intake in accordance with environmental sustainability and human genetics. Malnutrition, either undernutrition or obesity, represents a major public health threat. Environmental degradation and global urbanization add to nutrition-related health problems such as infectious disease, contamination, nutritional deficiencies, and dietary changes in both rural and urban settings. The interplay between the natural and built environment plays a key role in ensuring individual and public health, with a focus not only on treatment but also prevention.

The quality of life is intrinsically intertwined with both physical and mental health. A comprehensive understanding of the interaction between brain and body, the molecular and biochemical drivers of disease development and the positive effect of physical activity are paramount for advancing health outcomes. Close collaboration between basic, translational, and clinical research is critical to accelerate the translation of research results into medically relevant applications. This includes the transfer of novel technologies for clinical decision-making such as digital tools, the inclusion of patients and the public into all stages of health research, as well as wearable monitoring devices.

Emerging data types, including genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and transcriptomics, combined with clinical parameters from increasingly autonomous measurement systems, are revolutionizing therapy decisions at the individual level. This advancement underpins the growing field of precision medicine, which aims to tailor medical treatments to each patient’s unique biological profile. The quest for personalized medical treatment is closely linked with the development of new biocompatible and/or responsive materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The vision to miniaturize macroscopic medical devices for the targeted drug delivery or for the performance of localized surgery is deeply rooted in our ability to produce small-scale objects that can autonomously perform these complex tasks.

An estimated one-third of the global population lives with a health condition that could benefit from rehabilitation. This share is expected to rise in the coming years due to environmental changes and demographic shifts. Healthcare is decentralizing from institutions (hospitals, retirement homes) towards outpatient and home settings. This shift requires multimodal approaches to guide, support and track patients and people living with disabilities over time through a comprehensive array of services. Achieving this requires a technology-driven yet holistic approach that incorporates patient involvement in technology innovation. And, it needs to be one which considers medical, economic, environmental, legal, and societal aspects, towards further developing the continuum-of-care. It is critical to restore and maintain independence, productivity, and quality of life for patients and people living with disabilities and to contribute towards an inclusive society.