Digital Therapeutics for Healthy Longevity: A Roadmap

The “Switzerland Innovation Park Ost” was founded in September 2021 and opened operationally on 1 January 2022. The project constitutes the sixth locality of the Switzerland Innovation initiative. Over the next months, the research partners will be outlining a roadmap in a strategy report.

The Switzerland Innovation Park Ost is shaped by the research partners Empa, the University of St.Gallen, The Cantonal Hospital of St.Gallen, as well as FH OST und RhySearch, amongst others. Our CDHI’s Scientific Director, Prof. Dr. Tobias Kowatsch is responsible for the research focus of «Digital Therapeutics for Healthy Longevity».

The scientific contribution of Prof. Dr. Kowatsch will focus on designing scalable digital health interventions for primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of non-communicable mental health und neurodegenerative diseases. An overarching goal of these interventions is the reduction in suffering from multiple illnesses. This is achieved by fostering a sustainable lifestyle in regards to exercise, diet, sleep and stress management, in order to maximise the average quality of life over the course of life. Additionally, illness costs should be lowered.

In order to achieve the outlined goals of the “Digital Therapeutics for Healthy Longevity” focus group , the following challenges will need to be overcome:

Prevention needs to be made measurable through minimally invasive proximal and distal biomarkers relating to a person’s biological age.
Personalised digital intervention components need to be defined that can be utilised in everyday life.
Sustainable business models for Healthy Longevity services need to be developed, in particular for target groups with a low socio-economic status.