Compared to the innovation potential in hardware, the untapped potential of software is enormous. André Heeg Managing Director and Partner • Health care will continue to move closer to the • Science- and evidence-based facts will continue to people, especially the older generation, given the compete with fake medical news. We live in a time demand. The move will be powered by digitally enabled when misinformation, such as about the pandemic or products and services, such as home testing, home about diet and nutrition, spreads very easily. Conse- monitoring, at-home care, telemedicine, e-prescriptions, quently, the need to establish sources of trustworthy, and health checks that can be performed without doctors. reliable, and accurate medical information is becoming This trend will include a subtrend involving patient- increasingly acute. Many people try to gain an advantage centric care models and offerings that generate patient or benefit by distributing false or misleading medical engagement and, ultimately, the use of related services information and even by discrediting medical profession- and products. als. Managing that trend with readily available, truthful medical information will become more and more • Medtech will move from hardware-wired to soft- important. ware-coded. Traditionally strong medtech companies will further explore and expand their efforts to support their hardware with software products and services. Compared to the innovation potential in hardware, the untapped potential of software—especially the appli- cation of AI algorithms—is enormous. This includes software on both the provider side, such as in workflow management and decision-support tools, and the patient side, such as in preclinical administration and evaluation support and post-procedure report generation.