What will we become not what will become of us

1
What will we become not what will become of us

• Our faculty, our choices our future
• Dr. Stan Kutcher DFM, June 2006

2
Prediction is selection not response

• Predictions would not be so hard if they
  werent about the future.
• Yogi Berra

3
Mega-trends

• Globalization
• The flat world
• Population explosion
• Technodomination
• Balance of power
• Envirostruggle
• Irrationality rising
• Urbanization
• Moores law - singularity

4
National trends

• Edu-techno-commercial clusters
• Steady but unequal growth urban driven
• Social transformation thru immigration
• Human resource shortages global competition
• Global partner with whom?

5
Local trends

• Economic diversification
• Population decline
• Urbanization
• Ethnodiversification
• Increased immigration
• Niche development
• QoL maintenance

6
Medicine trends

• Global infectious, lifestyle and economic
  diseases
• Global health human resource shortages
• Enhancement of normal human functioning
• Body-mind-nano-bio info-cogno-techno-IT-science
  and its commercialization
• Social irrationalities evidence development

7
What does all that mean for us?

• Need to direct our development informed by
  those trends - based on
• Our strengths
• Niche opportunities
• Our realistic limitations

8
What happens with strategic choices

• Current levels of support for activities of
  excellence remain and are promoted
• Strategic priorities are used to direct new
  investments
• Strategic priorities are used to entice new
  investment

9
Our strengths

• In the top 20 of national ranking
• Internal collaboration strong
• Capacity building relatively easy
• Regional convergence
• Visionary leadership

10
Niche opportunities

• Who is doing it?
• What is not being done?
• Who is not doing it?
• What is the current and futuremarket for what
  we want to do?
• Can we afford the cost of doing it?
• Can what we do be linked easily to our
  unique/local environment?

11
Our limitations

• Risk management
• Capitalization
• Human resource requirements
• Sustainability
• Potential competition or collaboration

12
Sexy strategic niches we should avoid

• Rural health
• Elder health
• High tech expensive (eg regenerative health,
  imaging driven research)
• Public health
• Nano-bio-geno-medicine
• Human enhancement health

13
Our strategic niche(s)

• Research niche virology and vaccines drug
  discovery clinical evidence creation (clinsci)
• Education niche clinical education linked to
  IT/info-systems/robotics to train specialist
  clinicians, physician assistants, clinical
  scientists, future clinical teachers AND global
  pre-clinical education (languages, global health,
  off-shore education, virtual classroom)
• Development niche globalization of our research
  and education niches Middle East, India, SE
  Asia, Brazil, Mexico, Africa (in and out)
• NESeaboard medical school Canada/USA

14
Our barriers

• Risk averse environment
• Structural growth enhancers lacking
• Vituperative competition for small spoils
• Fear of excellence good is the enemy of great
• Others gain is my loss
• Clarity of vision

15
Our opportunity is now

• There are many futures, the one we pick today is
  the one we will have tomorrow
• When you innovate you have got to be prepared
  for everyone telling you that you are nuts