GPH NOTES 10-10

I. Innovation as a system
PROCESS innovation is really the most crucial form of innovation
-makes things affordable and available to the masses
-it's produced as a SYSTEM
-the system involves public health institutions (world bank, for examples)
-also ngos, doctors without borders
-also public investment (NIH)
-also private investment (pharmaceuticals)
1980 to present, there's been NGO pressure to develop drugs
-doctors without borders, for instance
also, private companies are important in this regard
-they actually do a lot of innovation for profit. woot free markets

innovation systems tend to be more national than international
-so now we're talking about Europe and the US
-japan hasn't really been a big producer of breakthrough medicines

dk

II. The public component
-look at the public component
-in Europe, the public component is much broader than it is in the US
-this is because for the most part, universities and research centers are PUBLIC in europe
-until the 1940s, europe was the place to go for research universities (especially germany)
-hopkins was actually built on the german model
-germany was competing with the UK and france, but neither of these countries were really even close with regards to medicinal research and science
-while all this was happening, the US was starting an entirely different system
-US system was extremely different
-extremely complex by world standards
-community colleges, four year colleges, 2 year colleges, technical schools, etc etc
-while other countries decided they couldn't afford to educate everybody in this way, the US decided to just get it done with
-it was expensive, but the costs were spread and hidden all over the place so there was less sticker shock
-after WWII, the US put more money into science and engineering than any other country could afford
-not only did it put massive amounts of money in, it also decentralized the system with peer review
-there was a boom in spending, and so huge increases in state colleges
-schools are open to innovation coming in
-after the war, the germans had driven out lots of their best scientists, left them weak, but strengthened the US
-the US had supplanted europe as the leaders in technological innovation
-now, there's competition between state universities
-this promotes innovation, which is good

III. The non-profit component

this includes things like rockefellers and the gates foundations
-these are awesome!
-teaching hospitals are really important
-why is this under non-profits?

IV. The private component
are these things like teaching hospitals
-what the FUCK is going on?
-what does this have to do with anything???
oh sweet monkey jesus what is going on


V. The links and vulnerabilities

3 sets of institutions are very linked
-in the US, the boundaries between them are very loose
-lots of times people would bounce back and forth between industries
-ceos would be former university professors or whatever
-this means that in biotech, the US shot ahead of the curve
-close personal links between private and public research, this was good

what are the implications and risks?
-public funding could be cut
-if there's controversy, or even if there's just budget tightening, the funding goes downhill
what the fuck is he talking about now. jesus


VI. Trade-offs in the system

dk