"Over the next three days, we will be talking about the important topics of our time - sustainability and health - which are of great importance not only for society but also for our newly founded TUM School of Medicine and Health." With these words, Prof. Dr. Joachim Hermsdörfer, new Head of the Department Health and Sport Sciences, welcomed a total of around 325 guests to the 3rd interdisciplinary "Future of Health" Summit, which took place from October 11 until 13, 2023 at the TUM Campus at the Olympic Park in both presence and virtual form.
Klaus Holetschek, the Bavarian Minister of State for Health and Care, new parliamentary party leader of the CSU and patron of the Summit, opened the event via video message. This year's theme was "Sustainable Health," offering an interdisciplinary, scientific discourse on current topics in sustainable health research and setting different focal points.
October 11, 2023: Why sustainability matters in health
This question was explored by the six speakers on the first day of lectures, divided into two panels followed by a panel discussion. Host Prof. Dr. Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz (TUM, Chair of Preventive Pediatrics), André Andonian (Member Advisory Board (SG) TUM, Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Company), and Prof. Dr. Werner Lang (Vice President Sustainable Transformation) led the event.
In addition to the effects of climate change, the global societal challenges were discussed, such as the change in traffic in large cities and best practice examples in Amsterdam, as well as the complex challenges posed by the production of plastic waste: "In 2050, there will be more plastic waste than fish in the ocean" (Dr. Jodi Sherman, Yale University). The problems surrounding global air pollution were also discussed: "99 percent of the world's population live in places where the air quality standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) are not met" (Prof. Dr. Miranda Scheurs, TUM, Chair of Environmental and Climate Policy).
October 12, 2023: Sustainable nutrition
On the second day of the Summit, the focus was on sustainable nutrition. According to the German Bundestag, around 13 million adults in Germany suffer from obesity. Among other things, this is due to unhealthy, hardly sustainable nutrition and its production. Mark Schneider (CEO Nestlé), TUM Partner of Excellence, explained under the topic "Plant-based nutrition: good for you - good for the planet" how the globally active company intends to tackle the numerous social challenges: "Speaking at the TUM School of Medicine and Health is an honor. We are very interested in the topic around plant-based nutrition because it represents the intersection of two important goals: Firstly, sustainable food production and secondly, health promotion through healthy eating." Schneider explained that prevention is one of the most important determinants of people's health well-being and "nutrition and sustainable production of food is prominent for health prevention".
October 13, 2023: Chronobiology and health / Technical innovations and sustainable health
The spectra of chronobiology and health as well as technical innovations of sustainable health were discussed on the event's closing day. Among others, Prof. Dr. Manuel Spitschan (TUM), Head of the Assistant Professorship of Chronobiology & Health and moderator of the first panel, spoke about light's profound influence on human health, cognition, and well-being. The second section of the day dealt with the technical developments, challenges, and opportunities for sustainable health around the topics of "Artificial Intelligence," "Augmented Reality," and "Big Data."
Stefan Vilsmeier (CEO Brainlab), Platinum Partner of TUM Venture Labs in the area of healthcare, explained in his presentation "Surgical metaverse as a bridge between AI and AR" which possibilities digital technologies offer in everyday surgical practice: "There are intense discussions in society about metaverses, AI or AR - we have been working on putting these components together for the surgical field of application for the last twenty years. These technologies contribute greatly to improved patient care today," says Vilsmeier. He explained, the concept of digital transformation, from analysis to final implementation in augmented reality, is the bridge between the digital and the real world.
Finally, a positive conclusion of the event was drawn by the organizer Prof. Oberhoffer-Fritz, who concluded the event with a review of the previous three days: "In the future, we must focus on global health research and promotion because everything is interconnected in our networked world - environment, climate, politics, society, and innovations. We heard this in the presentations of our experts, and this is crucial for a sustainable, health-oriented development of our planet," explained the head of the Chair of Preventive Pediatrics and already looked ahead to the next Summit in 2024.
The event was again organized by TUM Sport and Health for Life, with Dr. Sara Schulz as the main project collaborator.
Funded by the "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" (DFG) - Project number 530965840
To the "Future of Health" Summit and the program overview
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Text & photos: Bastian Daneyko