I don’t normally hang out with investors and philanthropists, but I attended the Milken Institute Asia Summit last week in Singapore. As the selected University of Melbourne attendee, I spent a week with the Advancement office refining a pitch (below, in case you are interested), and my remit was to identify contacts and try to get time with people who would listen to my pitch. My introverted side was in panic mode as I tried to strike up conversations in crowded, noisy rooms with a sea of people I didn’t know. Luckily, I had a fundraising colleague from the University with me. And I ended up learning a lot.
The Milken Institute brings together investors, philanthropists, and people like me hoping to find someone enthused about the opportunity to invest in the important work we are doing. Some causes were more compelling than others. At my dinner table, Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay were getting their picture taken. They are sons of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, the first two climbers to reach the summit of Mt Everest, and they were fundraising in support of Sir Edmund Hillary's Himalayan Trust, which was established in 1960 to fund capital projects in the Khumbu Valley region of Nepal.
The Insitute also hosted panels on important topics. I participated in a panel on The Growing Need for Digital-Centric Strategies in Mental Health, but two of my favorites were unrelated to my field:
A panel on our oceans with scientists and engineers and a representative from McLaren, my son’s favorite supercar - turns out engineers from McLaren are partnering to save the reef
An evening panel with two of my favorite actors--Simu Liu and Manny Jacinto--talking about positive changes for Asian actors
Oh - and Tony Blair was an insightful closing speaker! His talk is here.
For my conversations with fundraisers and philanthropists, I learned that
the “grateful patient” philanthropic model still exists, but there other models are growing
Philanthropy has moved from wanting to invest in concrete things like buildings or being the main recognizable cause of a change to wanting to contribute to larger causes
Many family foundations are now being run by the grandchildren, and like other young adults, they have strong social consciences. So they are looking to contribute to transformative initiatives that will make the world better than it is now
Philanthropists want evidence that their investments are making change. One person described the metrics they use as outcomes for individuals, for organizations, and for the system. They want to know not only how it helped a person or group of people but how long the change will endure.
The Minister of Health for Singapore, Ong Ye Kung, shared their strategy for improving health.
A theme I heard over and over was the fact that our proportionately older population is one of the two pressing problems of our time (along with climate change). Minister Kung said we need to redefine the problem: Mortality used to be the main metric for health of a society, because people died suddenly from a variety of infectious diseases. We have that largely solved now, and now we live longer, but we suffer. In Asia, there is an expected life span of 84 but a “health span” of 74 - that leaves 10 years of low quality life.
We need to extend the health span.
One problem is human nature: “The road to heaven is like hell, the road to hell is like heaven.” They hope to help correct this basic human behavior by engineering incentives at the heart of the healthcare system. A national initiative called Healthier Singapore is trying to do that by focusing on preventive health and providing resources, incentives, and rewards for living healthier.
To support their new model, they are building a platform for innovation that includes applying AI for risk prediction and prevention and developing new innovations for the future. I liked that he said
The process of innovation needs to be guided - not every idea is a good idea. An innovative solution needs to be solving a real problem.
We should be able to demonstrate the solution can solve the problem, is easy to use, will be used, and is scalable. For example, tracking everything about people will provide a lot of knowledge, but how much of that knowledge is useful? We may produce a lot of hypochondriacs - data we collect should have a reason and an action.
How we pay for healthcare impacts the accessibility and affordability of services. The US prioritizes accessibility despite high costs, the UK focuses on affordability but with less accessibility. Singapore is pursuing a balanced approach from the start, emphasizing payment methods to control costs effectively. How you pay will determine how much you pay.
So, back to my title - do I belong in this crowd? The new experiences I had in Singapore pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me a lot. My understanding of what drives investors and philanthropists is not deep, but I am passionate about my pitch. I look forward to continuing to grow outside of my academic bubble.
My Pitch Thanks to the University of Melbourne Advancement team and Omar Dabash for their help The problem · Hospitals and other healthcare settings continue to use manual processes that do not maximise the latest technology including AI: leading to a poor patient experience and poor health outcomes. · There is a significant global gap in the market to fast-track viable, outstanding solutions. Who we are and what we do · The team I lead at the University of Melbourne, bridge this gap through the Validitron: a globally unique offering that brings together a state-of-the art digital simulation facility and a digital sandbox with a world-class multidisciplinary research team. · We help people across all stages of the innovation lifecycle develop and validate digital solutions that are fit for purpose, safe and effective within a range of healthcare settings and markets. · International companies are coming to us because this combined model is not available elsewhere. Summary of solution & impact · With the appropriate investment in incubation programs, people, research and training and education ($52 Million over 8 years) we can scale our unique expertise. · Specifically, we seek to: establish a new incubator program focused on implementation for clinician innovators and start-ups, attract more global experts to the University, expand our capacity to provide research expertise to hospitals and implement cutting edge education models for students and health professionals. · This will enable more innovators to design effective, safe and viable digital solutions, catalyse further funding, and build a blueprint to demonstrate how to use simulated healthcare environments to develop and validate digital interventions that are widely adopted and improve patient outcomes globally. Why us, why Australia · Funding the University of Melbourne, as a world leading research University in Australia, is the ideal place to do this because of our proximity to the largest Biomedical Precinct in the Southern Hemisphere. · We are also home to some of the most remote communities in the world and can test and validate solutions for priority populations with complex needs. These are also some of the reasons why we have been entrusted to deliver to some of the largest philanthropic gifts in Australian history. |
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