IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2019 - 17

COMMENTARY

Juliano Marçal
Lopes

Patrícia Marrone Sérgio Luiz Pereira Eduardo Mario
Dias

Health 4.0

odern increases in
computers' capacity
to store and process
data have made pos-
sible the emergence
and advancement of countless tech-
nologies that directly impact the
daily lives of the world's population.
Although discussion of some of the
most powerful new technologies
began in the last century, only recent-
ly has their development generated
large paradigm shifts. Important
examples include artificial intelli-
gence, data mining, and machine
learning, among others. These tech-

Challenges for an Orderly
and Inclusive Innovation
nologies have then become re -
sponsible for the so-called Fourth
Industrial Revolution (or Industry
4.0), where there is convergence
between the digital, physical, and
biological environment.
The concept of Health 4.0 ad-
dresses the broad possibility of
applying the technologies of Indus-
try 4.0 to improve healthcare (as

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2019.2930265
Date of publication: 30 August 2019

shown in Table 1; cf. Democracy 4.0
[1]). In this commentary we address
the challenges and perspectives of
Health 4.0 and how the risk of lack
of control can delay its emergence
(see also [2]).
In recent years, research on dis-
ruptive technologies in Industry
4.0 has increased exponentially
in several fields, both in industrial

TABLE 1. Major Technologies in Accelerated Development and Their Potential Applications in Healthcare.
Technology

Application Examples

3d printing

Printing of organs, tissues, medications, and implants and customized prostheses;

Artificial Intelligence/ Machine
Learning/ Cognitive Systems/
Deep learning

Cross-referencing for the identification of treatments such as cancer. Appeal for consultation
for decision-making in the face of up-to-date studies. Analysis of a large volume of data to
identify behavior and trend. Prediction of CRISPR behavior in genome editing. Maintenance of
remote health equipment.

Augmented reality/ Mixed reality

Boosting in the training of health professionals. Agility in the implementation of new
technologies. Possibility of implementation of assisted practice.

Autonomous robots

Telemedicine and robotic surgery, with connectivity and integration of remote locations.
Robots for elderly care.

Autonomous vehicles

Communication with local traffic for ambulance priority.

Big data

Cross-referencing data for diagnosis and development of treatment more specific to the
characteristics of the patient's disease, as for example, Target Therapy.

Blockchain

Decreased bureaucracy involved in the health sector with increased reliability and data security.

Cloud computing

Creation of health-oriented applications with cross-database data for patient integration
into the care service.

Collaborative robots

Telemedicine. Surgery, treatment, and rehabilitation assistance.

Internet of things

Development of production systems, logistics for the distribution and use of integrated
medicines and health supplies through traceability.

SEPTEMBER 2019

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IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2019

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