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Biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, but also nutritional science and food research: life sciences are becoming increasingly important. But what solutions are needed in view of the aging of the world’s population? What ( practicall) paths does futurology see in life sciences?

Feasible health – what’s behind it?

Are we always in control of leading a healthy life ourselves? How much do we depend on impulses from science and research – and on an industry that is becoming increasingly important? What is behind the so-called life sciences? Life sciences means the interdisciplinary scientific and industrial study of biological structures and processes in the broadest sense. It includes biology, medicine, pharmacy and biochemistry, but also agricultural technology, nutritional sciences and food research. In Switzerland, the Anglo-Saxon, strongly commercially oriented understanding of the term has prevailed, while in Germany the translation of “biosciences” primarily means research institutions and training courses for basic research.

The science for healthy living

Life sciences stand for physical fitness, healthy nutrition, prevention, repair and the preservation of key life functions. Artificial joints or devices to help with limited mobility come to mind. And of nutritional supplements, medicines, diagnostics, and other health-related products. The need is well-founded: Ever-increasing competition in our professional lives, and more and more in our leisure time, drive us to ever more ambitious goals. These are signs of our prosperity, which has been accompanied by a sharp increase in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases since the mid-1950s. Today, medical progress raises the expectation that even congenital diseases and deformities can be eliminated or their consequences reduced. Thanks not least to the successes of the life sciences, life expectancy has risen by 15 to 20 years worldwide over the last five decades.

Demography as a driver of the life sciences

High life expectancy means, on the one hand, that more and more people are reaching old age with good physical and mental vitality. On the other hand, the number of those who are no longer able to lead a self-determined life as a result of chronic, age-specific diseases is growing. In a study, economists from the renowned London School of Economics show the effects of increasing life expectancy in economically advanced countries and in the emerging economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. By the middle of this century, about one-third of the population in the economically advanced countries and China is expected to be over 65, with a steadily declining proportion available as “productive” workers. An increasing proportion of the working-age population will then be absorbed by caring for a steadily growing number of people who become permanently dependent, mainly as a result of dementia.

Don’t be afraid of robots – they are urgently needed

The foreseeable shortage of labor will only be compensated for by automation and the use of robots and artificial intelligence. Life sciences play a central role in this: from medication to surgical interventions and artificial joints to the monitoring of follow-up treatment or long-term care. Digitization is creating new job profiles and workplaces with new requirement profiles, to which the use of robots is also adapted. Seeing robots as job killers is therefore largely unfounded. Rather, new forms of interaction between humans and machines are emerging in the life sciences, while preserving human sovereignty.

Where health is “made

Together with locations in the USA and China, Zurich is one of the leading life sciences locations. Apart from the big players in the pharmaceutical industry, the sector in this country is characterized by numerous start-ups, often university spin-offs. These are mostly dependent on government funding and private venture capital. The willingness of investors to forgo dividends for years or to contribute additional funds is a sign of their optimism. The demographic challenge puts the fear of China’s sole dominance into perspective: The combination of digitization, AI and life sciences has become a question of survival for China itself.

Future research – the perspectives and opportunities of life sciences How does moderning with futurology show the perspectives – and the possibilities of the life sciences and their effects? Demographic development provides a framework for scenarios in which possible futures 20 to 30 years ahead of us make visible the importance of the life sciences and their influence on the way we live. We not only see how further achievements will change our lives. We also see from which centers of the life sciences the strongest impulses are emanating and to what extent previously less favored regions and locations are being given the opportunity to catch up. Put another way: We try to show ways in which life sciences can continue to generate different levels of profit, but as far as possible there should no longer be any losers in the proc