Every March, thousands of thinkers, futurists, and creative people from nearly every industry flock to Austin, Texas to take in the trends and innovations shaping the future of film, technology, and music. We were among them, taking it all in through a health focused lens, and SXSW 2018 left us exhausted and inspired. The growing ubiquity of health was evidenced by the surge of the festival’s health track, including its first ever Wellness Expo. Patient centricity, health data, social responsibility, and women in tech dominated the conversation. We’ve curated the all hot health topics, along with our POV on implications in this comprehensive recap. Hope you enjoy reading this report as much as we did curating it!
2. 2
SXSW
is
an
annual
forward-‐focused
gathering
of
creative
minds
in
Austin,
Texas.
Every
year
it
gathers
over
70,000
of
the
brightest
thinkers,
futurists
and
creative
minds
from
nearly
every
industry.
The
purpose
of
the
event
is
to
“create
an
opportunity
for
creative
people
and
the
companies
they
work
with
to
develop
their
careers,
to
bring
together
people
from
a
wide
area
to
meet
and
share
ideas.”
Recently,
SXSW
began
offering
a
health
track
of
speakers
and
panels,
and
this
year
offered
a
Wellness
Expo
for
the
first
time.
Fortunately
we
work
in
a
category
that
touches
every
person,
every
industry,
every
technology
– and
truly
great
healthcare
communications
fall
in
the
sweet
spot
between
science,
technology
and
art.
There
was
no
limit
to
health
related
insights
to
be
had.
SXSW
left
us
exhausted
and
inspired
– we
are
fortunate
to
be
working
at
such
an
exciting
time.
We
hope
you
enjoy
the
following
recap
from
the
event
and
find
it
useful
for
your
business.
You
are
likely
reading
this
because
you
want
to
make
your
company
as
impactful
as
possible,
and
help
as
many
people
as
possible
– which
is
why
we
love
working
with
people
in
this
industry
like
you.
SXSW
2018
3. SXSW
year
by
year
A small
group
of
people
met
to
chat
about
the
future
of
entertainment
and
media,
and
decided
to
organize
an
official
event
for
the
following
year.
1986
1987
The
inaugural
SXSW
event
had
172
acts
and
700
registrants
Film
&
Multimedia
events
introduced
1994
The
internet
contributes
a
major
presence
for
the
first
time
1996
SXSW
Multimedia
becomes
SXSW
Interactive
1999
2015
SXSW
launches
Interactive
Health
and
MedTech Expo
Capitalizing
on
the
UT
Austin
Dell
Medical
School
–
opened
in
2013
as
a
med
school
based
on
the
best
tech
in
the
world
2009
Foursquare
is
launched
and
is
the
breakout
app
of
the
festival
2012
Social
Discovery
Apps
are
the
tech
to
watch
at
the
Interactive
Festival
2018
Finalists
of
the
SXSW
Accelerator
Pitch
event
include
Cambridge
Cancer
Genomics,
Aetheris,
HealthTensor,
Nanowear,
Nextbiotics
4. 4
Differentiating
Trends
vs.
Trendy
Tech
In
a
not-‐to-‐be
missed
Keynote
address,
Amy
Webb,
Futurist
and
founder
of
The
Future
Today
Institute,
presented
her
annual
tech
trends
report.
She
gifted
us
her
Four
Laws
of
Technology
Trends,
that
explains
the
difference
between
a
technology
trend
and
technology
that
is
just
trendy.
All
technology
trends
share
a
set
of
four
conspicuous,
universal
features:
1. Tech
trends
materialize
as
a
series
of
un-‐connectable
dots
that
begin
as
weak
signals
on
the
fringe
and
move
to
the
mainstream.
2. Tech
trends
are
driven
by
basic
human
needs.
3. Tech
trends
evolve
as
they
emerge.
They
are
not
static.
4. Tech
trends
are
timely,
but
they
persist
over
long
periods
of
time.
5. 5
2.
Social
Responsibility
:
Pharma
and
healthcare
companies
shared
their
initiatives
and
progress
to
make
the
world
a
better,
safer,
healthier
place
to
live.
3.
Science
+
Art
+
Technology
collaboration:
Pharma
companies
are
leaning-‐in
on
innovation
incubators
–
fostering
creative
environments
for
smart,
nimble
startups
in
hopes
of
evolving
their
business
model.
1.
Patient
centricity:
Entrepreneurs
are
coming
up
with
health
solutions
to
help
patients
first,
but
also
help
brands
reach
consumers
on
their
terms,
where
they
are.
4.
Diversity
and
Women
in
Tech:
The
Women
in
Tech
community
was
out
in
full
force
at
SXSW
–
presenting
keynotes,
sharing
creative
ideas
and
generously
offering
support
to
other
women
in
the
industry.
2018
Trends
5.
VR
and
AR
Become
Reality
for
Healthcare:
VR
and
AR
are
beginning
to
realize
their
potential
as
relevant
and
useful
technology
for
healthcare
marketers.
6. Serving
vs
selling,
putting
the
patient
first
It
isn’t
news
to
health
marketers
that
patients
have
become
increasingly
engaged
in
their
own
healthcare
decision
making,
shifting
the
paradigm
of
control
and
demanding
healthcare
providers
and
stakeholders
to
shift
their
strategy
to
serve
the
needs
of
patients
as
consumers
rather
than
sell.
There
were
a
number
of
exhibitors
and
panelists
at
SXSW
this
year
sharing
their
own
version
of
using
technology
to
put
“patient
at
the
center”
– offering
solutions
that
impact
and
improve
the
consumers
day-‐to-‐day
health
and
life.
This
means
being
where
the
consumer
is
– offering
real
value,
not
just
tech
gimmicks.
Patient
Centricity
1.
7. Patient
Data
Tracking:
Verily
– Project
Baseline
Google
owned
Verily
has
partnered
with
Duke
University
and
Stanford
medicine
on
first
of
it’s
kind
observational
study
to
collect,
organize
and
analyze
broad
phenotypic
health
data
over
the
next
four
years.
The
goal
is
develop
a
well-‐defined
reference
of
good
health
and
a
rich
data
platform
to
better
understand
the
transition
from
health
to
disease
and
identify
risk
factors
of
disease.
‘The
study
includes
clinical,
molecular,
imagine,
sensor,
self-‐reported,
behavioral,
psychological,
environmental
health-‐related
measurements
from
onsite
visits,
continuous
data
collection
through
sensor
technology
and
regular
engagement
via
an
online
portal
and
mobile
app.’
https://verily.com/projects/precision-‐medicine/baseline-‐study/
8. Chatbots
conversationHEALTH is a
digital
health
startup
that
delivers
personalized
conversations
between
healthcare
brands
and
their
target
consumers,
patients,
and
HCPs.
Interactions
are
powered
by
human-‐assisted
AI
to
drive
engagement,
adherence,
loyalty,
and
outcomes,
through
both
text
and
voice-‐based
channels.
conversationHEALTH creates
conversational
solutions
for
consumers,
patients
and
HCPs,
including:
consumer
awareness
about
a
condition,
patient
support,
and
HCP
resources.
Wearables
– Motiv
San
Francisco
based
Motiv created
a
ring
that
monitors
heart
rate
and
sleep
better
than
wrist-‐
worn
trackers.
A
recently
added
feature
is
Sleep
Restlessness
tracking
which
can
monitor
how
often
you
toss
and
turn
while
you
sleep.
It’s
heart
rate
tracking
capabilities
have
also
become
much
more
sophisticated.
9. Hearables
Poppy
Crum,
Chief
Scientist,
Dolby,
introduced
the
new
wave
of
in-‐ear
devices,
or
hearables,
which
can
pick
up
stress,
heart
rate
level
and
speech.
A
hearable
device
can
help
predict
the
onset
of
psychosis
by
analyzing
statistical
properties
in
your
language
and
heart
rate
data.
Using
just
our
voices,
scientists
can
predict
the
onset
of
multiple
sclerosis
and
diabetes
(through
physiological
changes
that
affect
your
vocal
tract).
Crum
sees
the
future
of
hearables
as
devices
to
help
provide
us
the
content
we
need
when
we
need
it.
Walking
into
a
restaurant
and
dimming
background
noise
so
you
can
only
focus
on
the
person
you
are
talking
to,
providing
search
content
from
audio
cues
-‐ imagine
walking
down
the
street
and
asking
for
reviews
and
getting
all
that
information
in
your
ears.
10. Everybody’s
talking
about
it…
We’ve
all
heard
the
stats…
1
in
5
adults
in
the
US
owns
a
voice-‐activated
smart
speaker
(47.3
million
people),
41%
of
adults
conduct
at
least
one
voice
search
per
day,
50%
of
all
searches
will
use
voice
by
2020.
So
what
does
that
mean
for
us
marketers?
It
is
important
to
start
thinking
about
this
now,
be
curious.
Consider
developing
a
voice
strategy,
identify
business
problems.
Voice
technology
will
make
brand
experiences
conversational
in
the
next
few
years.
Eventually,
we
will
have
ambient
voice
technologies
embedded
in
our
environments.
Voice
– the
next
digital
disruption
11. Carnegie
Mellon
completes
Harpy
Program.
It
understood
1000
words.
Microsoft
introduces
Clippy
Microsoft
introduces
speech
recognition
feature
for
Office
XP
IBM’s
Watson
wins
Jeopardy!
April
14:
Apple
introduces
Siri
Microsoft
introduces
Cortana
at
annual
BUILD
developer
conference
Amazon
officially
launches
Amazon
Echo
in
US
Microsoft
launches
Cortana
on
Windows
10
desktops
and
mobile
devices
Microsoft
Cortana
added
to
mobile
platforms
Amazon
introduces
Alexa
&
the
Amazon
Echo,
available
to
Prime
members
only
IBM
introduces
the
IBM
Shoebox,
the
first
digital
speech
recognition
tool.
It
recognized
16
words
and
digits.
Dragon
launches
Dragon
Dictate,
the
first
speech
recognition
product
for
consumers
(only
$6,000)
Google
launches
Google
Now
Amazon
introduces
the
Alexa
Skills
kit
https://www.voicebot.ai/2017/07/14/timeline-‐voice-‐assistants-‐short-‐history-‐voice-‐revolution/
1961 1972 1990 1996 2001 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
SoundHound
launches
voice-‐
powered
virtual
assistant
app,
HOUND
Amazon
launches
Amazon
Echo
Dot
&
Amazon
Tap
Google
introduces
the
Google
Assistant
as
part
of
messaging
app,
Allo
Microsoft
adds
Cortana
voice
control
to
Xbox
One
Amazon
Launches
Echo
in
UK
&
Germany
Samsung
acquires
virtual
assistant
startup
Viv
Amazon
cuts
price
of
2nd gen
Echo
making
it
even
more
accessible
at
$49
Google
launches
Google
Home
&
Smart
phone
Pixel
Chinese
Manufacturer
LingLong
launches
Echo
Competitor,
DingDong
Actions
on
Google
Platform
launches
Google
Home
Samsung
introduces
Bixby
alongside
Galaxy
S8
device
Alexa
skills
surpass
10,000
in
US
Google
Home
launches
in
UK
Google
introduces
multi-‐user
support
for
Google
Home;
can
recognize
6
different
voices
Amazon
introduces
the
Echo
Look
Baidu
unveils
its
first
device,
Xiaoyu,
in
China
Harman
Kardon
reveals
new
speaker,
using
Cortana
Amazon
introduces
calling/messaging
feature
for
Echo
Devices
Apple
introduces
HomePod
Amazon
Echo
Show
launches
Alibaba
launches
GenieX1
Smart
Speaker
How
did
we
get
here?
12. The
Google
Fun
House
Google
went
all-‐in
with
their
Google
Home
device,
looking
to
chip
away
at
the
Amazon
Echo
market
share.
Google
showcased
quite
the
spectacle
with
their
Google
Fun
House,
with
different
AI
powered
functions
and
products
presented
in
every
room.
There
was
a
bouncing
car
outside
(voice
activated),
dancing
flamingos
in
the
garden,
a
margarita
making
machine
and
a
light
room.
These
may
seem
like
superficial
executions
of
voice,
but
the
point
was
to
show
the
visitors
that
you
really
can
ask
for
and
do
almost
anything
using
voice
technology.
https://9to5google.com/2018/03/10/google-‐assistant-‐fun-‐house-‐tour-‐sxsw-‐2018-‐gallery/
13. Social
Responsibility
Working
in
healthcare
opens
our
eyes
to
many
of
the
problems
facing
our
communities
including
those
less
fortunate
across
the
world.
We
have
the
responsibility
to
capitalize
on
our
resources
to
effect
change.
There
were
a
number
of
booths
within
the
exhibit
hall
showcasing
the
good
work
that
non-‐profits,
biopharmaceutical
and
healthcare
companies
are
doing
to
help
those
in
need.
The
energy
was
contagious
– many
booths
offering
opportunities
to
get
involved
or
even
participate
while
attending
the
festival.
2.
14. Social
Responsibility
Pfizer’s
booth
supporting
the
UN
Global
Goals
showcased
16
global
initiatives
to
improve
population
health
and
offered
attendees
the
chance
to
make
a
specific,
personal
commitment
to
support
a
variety
of
related
causes,
and
document
the
commitment
in
a
photo
booth.
Sadiq Khan
Mayor
of
LondonPfizer
Sadiq Khan
– Mayor
of
London
– shared
his
thoughts
about
how
tech
and
government
can
come
together
to
improve
outcomes
for
all.
He
focused
on
burgeoning
issue
of
online
hate
speech,
reading
half
a
dozen
Tweets
he
has
received,
showing
how
this
content
is
not
stopped
by
tech
companies,
impacting
victims
mental
health
and
career
choices.
He
also
focused
on
how
big
tech
companies
can’t
be
above
the
law,
citing
the
Uber/London
dispute.
Tech
moves
very
fast,
and
often
regulations
don’t
exist
for
particular
technologies,
however
the
onus
should
be
on
tech
to
work
with
regulators
to
reform
laws
to
make
business
fair
for
all
while
still
allowing
growth
and
advancement.
15. Dr Fei-‐Fei Li,
Megan
Smith
&
Joanne
Chen
spoke
about
the
importance
of
avoiding
perpetuation
of
human
biases
through
AI.
We’re
at
a
historic
moment
in
our
development
of
AI
capabilities
and
have
the
responsibility
to
make
AI
more
human
centric.
Because
AI
is
created
by
humans,
and
intended
to
behave
like
humans,
it’s
incumbent
on
all
of
us
to
guide
its
development
with
human
concerns.
If
we
build
our
AI
future
on
the
data
of
the
past
we
risk
perpetuating
societal
biases.
A
compelling
example
of
an
analysis
using
facial
recognition
and
NLP
was
used
to
compare
male
and
female
roles
in
movies
revealing
that
speaking
roles
are
consistently
dominated
by
men.
Based
on
data
sets
like
this,
machine
learning
will
be
trained
to
under-‐represent
communities.
The
democratization
of
AI
requires
the
participation
of
more
people,
and
more
diverse
people,
in
its
creation.
It’s
not
just
a
tool
for
the
technology
giants,
but
a
resource
for
all
walks
of
life.
We
need
to
ensure
diversity
of
thought
with
disciplines
beyond
data
and
computer
science.
We
also
need
to
ensure
AI
education
is
part
of
early
childhood
education
curriculum
with
an
emphasis
on
girls,
racial
minorities,
and
other
groups
whose
perspectives
have
been
underrepresented.
Democratizing
AI
16. True
Pharma
+
Tech
Collaboration
The
best
healthcare
communications
are
a
combination
of
science
+
technology
+
creative.
We
saw
many
pharmaceutical
and
healthcare
companies
embracing
technology
partnerships
through
incubators
and
accelerator
programs
where
collaboration
can
lead
to
programs
and
services
that
improve
patients
lives.
Novartis
has
even
hired
a
new
Chief
Digital
Officer
to
lead
these
efforts
and
reports
directly
to
the
CEO.
Open
innovation
models
offer
the
ability
to
work
alongside
other
experts,
be
educated
and
find
inspiration
from
people
outside
of
your
corporation’s
mindset.
3.
17. Tech
+
Pharma
Collaboration
Bayer
Grants4Apps
Bayer
has
created
an
open
innovation
incubator,
looking
to
collaborate
with
like-‐minded
healthcare
innovators
on
self-‐
care
initiatives.
They
had
representatives
speak
at
a
few
events,
and
had
a
talent
recruitment
booth.
The
incubator
focuses
on
nutrition
support,
external
pain
management,
digital
self-‐care
solutions,
and
skin
and
sun
protection.
Fast
Company
Panel
demonstrating
real
alignment
btw
Pharma,
Payor,
Provider:
• Panelists
focused
on
solving
well-‐articulated
and
documented
healthcare
quality,
cost,
and
access
challenges
• Specific
topics
included
telemedicine
for
mental
health
(Lantern
Health,
Pacifica),
where
all
3
stakeholders
are
helping
get
the
services
up
and
running,
offered
to
patients,
and
improving
access
to
both
providers
and
Rx
• Panelists
represented
Merck,
UPMC,
GE
Health
Investment,
Telemedicine
App
Medici
18. Women
in
Tech
(and
HealthTech)
The
female
executive
and
entrepreneur
presence
at
SXSW
was
astounding
– delivering
must-‐see
keynotes
and
panels,
sharing
creative
technologies
at
booths
and
gatherings
for
female
empowerment
and
networking
events.
Events
included:
Women
in
Blockchain Meet
Up,
Tech-‐no-‐color:
Advancing
Women
of
Color
in
Tech,
IEEE
Women
in
Tech
Meet
Up,
2018
Women
in
Digital
SXSW
Official
Rally
+
Party,
Women
Led
Cities:
Co-‐Creating
a
Feminist
City,
Femtech:
Women
&
Health
Tech
in
the
Trump
Era,
Body
Politics:
The
War
on
Women’s
Health,
The
Value
of
Women
Investing
in
Women
4.
19. Notable
Female-‐Led
Companies
in
Tech
Michelle
Longmire,
Founder
&
CEO
of
Medable: Apple
made
huge
inroads
into
health
with
their
“kits”,
the
ResearchKit for
medical
researchers
running
clinical
trials,
and
CareKit for
clinicians
who
want
to
engage
their
patients
outside
the
office
setting
for
ongoing
care,
monitoring,
and
digital
interventions.
The
major
barrier
to
uptake
for
these
kits
has
been
the
lack
of
technical
capabilities
and
resources
on
the
clinical
side.
Hence,
Medable
has
created
a
portfolio
of
apps
that
enable
researchers
and
clinicians
to
roll
out
these
services
without
needing
to
build
their
own
technology
capabilities
– over
200,000
patients
are
already
using
the
apps
with
their
clinicians,
and
the
line
of
academic
centers
and
biopharma
sponsors
continues
to
ramp
up
quickly.
There
is
an
opportunity
to
leverage
this
emerging
“channel”
of
HCP/patient
interaction
and
be
part
of
the
trend-‐
setting
group
that
will
learn
what
works
best.
Meghan
Gaffney
Buck,
Founder
and
CEO
of
Veda
Data: a
new
evolution
in
Big
Data/AI,
now
offering
“Data
Science
as
a
Service”,
focused
on
payors who
generate
massive
datasets
every
day
and
need
help
keeping
the
data
linked
accurately
to
the
right
doctors
and
patients.
Machine
learning
is
the
secret
sauce
that
uses
all
of
a
client’s
historical
data
to
learn
how
to
most
accurately
create
and
save
these
links
so
the
databases
can
deliver
actionable
insights.
Interestingly
the
original
technology
was
used
to
accurately
identify
stars
and
galaxies
across
different
views
from
different
locations
and
organizations.
20. VR
and
AR
become
reality
for
healthcare
2018
was
the
first
year
at
SXSW
where
we
saw
engaging
and
meaningful
applications
of
the
technology
for
health.
We
are
years
away
from
mainstream
adoption
of
these
technologies,
especially
VR,
but
should
continue
to
explore
ways
to
utilize
the
immersive
nature
of
the
technology
to
solve
brand
experience
problems
and
provide
value
to
the
user.
AR
adoption
is
much
higher
due
to
its
transparent,
intuitive
and
constant
nature.
Not
until
immersive
technologies
are
out
of
the
way
will
we
see
higher
adoption
rates.
Ready
Player
One
shared
a
promotional
experience
where
two
users
played
in
separate
rooms
in
real
life,
but
were
collaborating
on
the
same
tasks
side
by
side
in
the
game.
This
example
brings
up
amazing
possibilities
and
implications
for
healthcare
experiences,
especially
when
we
think
about
remote
patients
and
virtual
care.
5.
21. Cedar
Sinai
showed
how
they
are
using
VR
to
allow
patients
to
escape
the
four
walls
of
their
hospital
room
while
going
through
treatment.
Several
patients
suffering
from
severe
pain
were
better
able
to
deal
with
their
pain
once
whey
strapped
on
the
VR
headsets.
An
older
woman
suffering
from
chronic
liver
disease
and
intense
pain
was
able
to
fly
over
Iceland
in
a
helicopter.
She
said
she
did
not
even
think
about
the
pain.
Other
health
issues
being
addressed
by
VR
for
hospital-‐bound
patients
include
social
isolation,
boredom,
fear,
anxiety
and
panic
attacks.
One
application
utilized
heart
rate
and
breathing
data
to
identify
the
proper
meditative
atmosphere
for
the
patient,
to
help
slow
their
breathing
and
bring
their
heart
rate
back
to
normal.
Empowered
Brain
is
using
AR
to
help
children
with
autism
learn
basic
skills
and
help
with
behavior.
Oftentimes,
children
with
autism
have
a
difficult
time
making
eye
contact
or
looking
at
people’s
faces.
Using
Google
Glass
2,
children
are
able
to
see
filters
projected
on
people’s
faces
in
augmented
reality
much
like
a
Facebook
or
Snapchat
filter.
Features
included
the
game
Emotional
Charades
which
uses
emojis to
help
them
learn
and
read
people’s
emotions.
22. What
else
did
you
miss?
Cleo
Wade
– Poetry
ReadingHeadspace Sony
-‐ WOW
A
few
other
fun brands
we
interacted
with
Headspace, the meditation
app, offered SXSW attendees
“Room to Breathe” – a quiet,
private place to disengaged.
Cleo Wade, Instagram Poet and
“millennial” Oprah Winfrey, read poems
from her recently released book, Heart
Talk. A great reminder to never
underestimate the power of personal
branding (check out her Instagram) and
social media. Influencers are some of the
smartest people in the biz.
iVitamin .health
IVitamin is the UBER of IV
Vitamin therapy that features
unique IV drips, administered
by certified staff to replenish
your body of depleted
nutrients. Treatments include:
dehydration, wellness, weight
loss, low energy.
Launched in 2017, .health
is the new domain
extension for brands,
organizations, and people
who provide high-quality
health products, services
and information.
The Sony WOW house had
much to see and play with,
including but not limited to:
aibo the robotic dog, Xperia
communication robots, A(i)R
Hockey and VR soccer.
23. 23
Questions?
Reach
out
to
Kristin.Mengel@WPPHealth.com
Thank
you
for
contributions
from:
Justin
Fried,
CMI/Compas
Eugene
Lee,
CMI/Compas
Chris
Millsom,
ghg |
greyhealth group
Tom
O’Connell,
WPP
Health
&
Wellness
Mark
Pappas,
CMI/Compas
Michele
Sirkin,
CMI/Compas
Destry Sulkes,
MD,
WPP
Health
&
Wellness
24. 24
Read
on:
Check
out
WPPHealth.com
for
more
WPP
Health
&
Wellness
insights
for
2018.