Vision Zero Cancer & OECD OPSI: workshop on mission driven innovation around personalised medicine

On 7–8^th of October, Vision Zero Cancer together with OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation met together with around 60 participants, speakers, and panellists for a Mission-oriented Innovation Bootcamp – a journey into the intersection of mission-oriented innovation and personalised medicine. The purpose of the workshop was to introduce the concept mission-oriented innovation and how to use it for working together to make personalised medicine available for all cancer patients.

The focus of the two-day bootcamp: A journey into the crossing of mission-oriented innovation and personalised medicine, was to introduce the concept, collecting perspectives on how to make the mission come to life, to decide who needs to do what and share how to activate the ecosystem and synergies across different innovations. In the digital workshop, the participants had the opportunity to ask questions, work together and learn from speakers who transparently shared their experiences and hinderances on the topic.

Ebba Hallersjö Hult, head of Vision Zero Cancer, highlighted how important it is to involve the whole healthcare system. OECD and UCL IIPP showed that shared missions with combined strategy, coordination, and implementation to tackle global complex challenges works and pointed to the example of developing a global vaccine for Covid-19.

Many international examples where shared. Health Holland are working on a mission for better dementia care, where an important mechanism has been to connect the overall mission with the work in so called Field Labs. Germany’s mission-oriented work with their Decade against cancer is a valuable example of taking a more patient-centred approach through webinars, events, and panels to include the public. The UK, Camden borough, is working on a mission for combatting child poverty demonstrating a central mapping tool for getting the big picture of all the activities that needs to happen simultaneously to achieve a mission. Australia’s work on Genomics Health Futures mission showed success factors in setting up inclusive expert panels to set the mission and its implementation. Together this went to show how important it is to try different ways of working towards missions and sharing experiences along the way, across sectors and between different areas of societal challenges. 

The importance of communication and trust was addressed and highlighted during the panel discussion. The panel also discussed the value of working in different partnership models and broadening the perspectives with unusual players, always factoring in the individuals behind the topics discussed and that human behaviour is one of the crucial factors determining if we move towards the mission.

– The pandemic has tested the healthcare system around the world but has also created an opportunity to redefine cancer care. We are not going back to the past. We are going to add a new normal and it is a great opportunity to define that new normal together, says Ebba Hallersjö Hult.

In February 2021, the European Commission presented Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. With new technologies, research and innovation as the starting point, the Cancer Plan sets out a new EU approach to cancer prevention, treatment, and care. Personalised Medicine represents a paradigm shift in health and requires the coordinated action of multiple stakeholders. Vision Zero Cancer believes that a Mission-based approach can be successfully applied to the implementation of personalised medicine and the outcome of workshops held during the bootcamp renders this belief.

We look forward to further exchanging valuable lessons on how missions can tackle wide societal challenges in innovative ways and to collaborate across sectors to achieve a transformation around cancer so that it is eliminated as a life-threatening disease for future generations, working towards the vision that no one should die from cancer and more people should live longer and better.

Participants:

The team co-hosting the event together with Vision Zero Cancer: OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI). Chiara Bleckenwegner, Angela Hanson, Piret Tõnurist, Philippe Larrue, Rebecca Santos, Luca Kuhn von Burgsdorff and Davide Albeggiani.

Sharing mission-cases: Elspeth Langford and Saraid Billiards with the Genomics Health Futures Mission, Hubert Misslisch with The National Decade against Cancer, Kirsten van Spronsen from Health-Holland and Weronica Sarnowska with Camden Council.

Panelists: Anders Brinne (Vinnova), Bernd Stowasser, Bettina Ryll (Melanoma Patient Network Europe), Hans Hägglund (Regionalt cancercentrum), Henry L. Li (UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose), Richard Rosenquist Brandell (Genomic Medicine Sweden), Suzanne Håkansson (Astra Zeneca), Terje Peetso (The North Estonia Medical Centre) and Ulrik Ringborg (The European Academy of Cancer Sciences).