3
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual event that celebrates the convergence of interactive, film, and music industries in a high-energy, festival blender. Now in its 30th year, it sprouted from the growing music scene of Texas’ capital, Austin. Health has been an entry into the interactive track since 2011, growing exponentially since it’s advent from a pre-SXSW event called Social Health in 2010 and continues to bring together innovative leaders and change-makers in the healthcare world. SXSW 2017 continues to provide a concentrated jolt of creativity and inspiration and it is a great place to be if you’re interested in technology and the future of healthcare innovation.
Beyond debuting exciting new developments in health tech and accelerating venture capitalist funding for health tech entrepreneurs, the Health track has grown to collectively gather industry, health professionals, providers and those interested in harnessing technology for health to address such pivotal issues as value and outcomes to affordability and accessibility. There is much diversity in session topics, with such titles as ‘Privacy in Emerging Health Technologies’ to ‘Mind the Machines: Neurotech and AI for Brain Health’ but overall, collaboration and innovation are constant themes in the form of Hackathons. Other key trends include Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), providing a rallying cry at SXSW to actively solve problems and improve health outcomes in this Digital Health Age.
Alongside the Health track panels and workshops, there are interactive keynote speakers, a health and wearables accelerator pitch event, and opportunities to play and explore new tech with exhibitors and in special installations. You’ll see several issues of this blog, which is certainly not exhaustive of the scale of SXSW, but merely attempts to share a few of those highlights and experiences that were both memorable and meaningful. It hopes to give an insight into the convergence of health and IT that is transforming healthcare for all stakeholders.