The COVID crisis exposed the cracks in healthcare systems around the globe. New research data shows how to make these systems more resilient and reduce inequalities, opening innovation opportunities for startups and traditional companies.

Technology will be the default for healthcare and the way it is delivered – everyone agrees on that – but wonders why change is not coming fast enough, says Jan-Willem Scheijgrond, Vice President, Global Head of Government and Public Affairs at Philips, the global health technology company. The reason is “we didn’t have the right data” to give government officials clear priorities on precisely where to intervene, he says.

“You need to look at governance, financing, service delivery, the healthcare work force and managed care and for each of these elements assess where are the pain points and where can we improve,” says Scheijgrond. “What’s more there are huge inequalities in healthcare and health in every country and the causes for this are different in every country and the solutions are different. That is why there is a massive need for data to not only assess the weaknesses but analyze the deeper underlying causes.”

A group called the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) is taking on that challenge. The group, which includes the London School of Economics, World Economic Forum, Philips. Astra Zeneca, KPMG, the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation and the WHO Foundation, is collecting specific research data about domestic healthcare systems around the world, using a framework designed by the London School of Economics. On November 22 it released findings from 13 countries.  The new research builds on evidence gained through an earlier round of work in 2021 that studied health systems in an initial group of eight countries. The goal is to eventually do the same for every country in the world.

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SkyNRG, a Dutch scale-up focused on building up Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) capacity for the aviation sector to meet its 2050 Net Zero commitment, has partnered with promising tech companies in the industry such as World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer LanzaTech to access the best new SAF technologies; it has sourced and blended SAF and distributed it to 40 airlines and 50 corporates worldwide as part of proof-of-concept trials; it is developing three €500 million SAF producing facilities on two continents; and it has corporate customers like KLM and Boeing lined up to buy what it produces.

Despite SkyNRG’s efforts and supportive legislation like Europe’s Fit For 55, the EU’s plan to turn climate goals into law by reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030  the Dutch company will only be able to fill 2% of one airline – investor KLM’s – fuel consumption when its first SAF production facility is up and running.

Globally only about 0.1% of airline fuel contains SAF today, due to both quantity and price issues. To meet the International Air Transportation Association's goals some 2,500 SAF producing facilities will need to be built over the next 28 years. These projects need to be financed and ways must be found to incentivize the purchase of more sustainable fuels, which today cost more than double what airlines are paying for fossil fuels.

SAF is just one of a crop of advanced energy solutions that promise to help put the world on track to meet climate change targets.  Although progress is accelerating it is not happening anywhere near fast enough, say experts.

To help speed up the energy transition the World Economic Forum this week convened an inaugural meeting of a new Advanced Energy Solutions community comprised of technology companies, project developers, financial institutions, investors, and the large corporates who will buy the green solutions. (The Innovator moderated one of the sessions.)