New report: Empowering 8 Billion Minds via Ethical Development and Adoption of Neurotechnologies

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Empow­er­ing 8 Bil­lion Minds: Enabling Bet­ter Men­tal Health for All via the Eth­i­cal Adop­tion of Tech­nolo­gies from WEF GFC on Neu­rotech­nolo­gies on Vimeo.

A new report (opens PDF) cre­at­ed by the World Eco­nom­ic Forum Glob­al Future Coun­cil on Neu­rotech­nolo­gies, Empow­er­ing 8 Bil­lion Minds: Enabling Bet­ter Men­tal Health for All via the Eth­i­cal Adop­tion of Tech­nolo­gies, pro­pos­es a frame­work to address pri­va­cy, trust and gov­er­nance issues in the use of tech­nolo­gies for men­tal healthcare.

Men­tal health dis­or­ders are among the lead­ing caus­es of mor­tal­i­ty and could cost the glob­al econ­o­my $16 tril­lion by 2030. By col­lect­ing and analysing data to inform treat­ment, it is eas­i­er for more peo­ple to access infor­ma­tion and engage with pro­fes­sion­als. While tech­nolo­gies, includ­ing smart­phones, wear­able sen­sors and arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, are suc­cess­ful­ly meet­ing the cur­rent gaps in care, there are risks … The report calls for eight actions to real­ize the ben­e­fits of tech­nol­o­gy for men­tal health­care while mit­i­gat­ing the risks:

  • Cre­ate a gov­er­nance struc­ture to sup­port the broad and eth­i­cal use of tech­nol­o­gy and men­tal healthcare
  • Devel­op reg­u­la­tion that can enable inno­va­tion and ensure safe­ty and efficacy
  • Embed respon­si­ble prac­tice into new tech­nol­o­gy designs
  • Adopt a “test and learn” approach in imple­ment­ing tech­nol­o­gy-led men­tal healthcare
  • Exploit the advan­tages of scale by deploy­ing inno­va­tions across larg­er communities
  • Stan­dard­ize the met­rics used to mea­sure, assess and under­stand men­tal health
  • Build tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions that can be sus­tained over time
  • Pri­or­i­tize low income com­mu­ni­ties and countries

About the Report:

Title: Empow­er­ing 8 Bil­lion Minds: Enabling Bet­ter Men­tal Health for All via the Eth­i­cal Adop­tion of Technologies

Descrip­tion: The Forum’s Glob­al Future Coun­cil on Neu­rotech­nolo­gies high­lights the role tech­nol­o­gy is now play­ing in help­ing to address men­tal health con­cerns, map­ping the areas for spe­cial focus and high­light­ing the eth­i­cal con­sid­er­a­tions for gov­ern­ments, pol­i­cy mak­ers and health leaders.The Coun­cil urges gov­ern­ments, pol­i­cy-mak­ers, busi­ness lead­ers and prac­ti­tion­ers to address the bar­ri­ers keep­ing effec­tive treat­ments from those who need them, which include eth­i­cal con­sid­er­a­tions and a lack of evi­dence-based research. The report out­lines eight actions that will enable tech­nol­o­gy to eth­i­cal­ly address men­tal ill-health at scale.

To learn more, click HERE (opens PDF)

The Report in Context: