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July
ESF-IfW Conference on the Global Health Economy, The Global Organisation of Biomedical Innovation: Funding, Intellectual Property Rights, Incentives and the Diffusion of New Technology
Location: Salzau (near Kiel), Germany
Dates: 3-8 October 2007
Abstract Submission Deadline: 20 July 2007
Venue: Salzau Castle
Chaired by: Frederic M. Scherer (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, US) & M.N. Graham Dukes (University of Oslo, NO)
Biomedical innovation is likely to be the most important source of future gains in quality of life and longevity worldwide and represents the socially most valuable major investment opportunity at the beginning of the 21st century. The process of globalization has enhanced that opportunity by extending the scale at which economies of scale in the generation and diffusion of new medical knowledge and technology can be exploited. To do so more efficiently will require the reorganization of a wide variety of activities, institutions and regulations that determine how well the private incentives are aligned with the global priorities in maximizing human welfare. Particular emphasis will have to be placed on novel knowledge management systems that allow the social benefits and risks of new therapies to be predicted with greater accuracy and earlier in the development process of biomedical technologies.
The conference will assemble leading scholars from the most dynamic and most promising fields of biomedicine as well as health economists and other social scientists who can help with new insights from their own research to identify efficient research and investment strategies for specific fields and contribute to the design of knowledge management systems in biomedical innovation. In this way, the conference will provide a unique forum to develop and discuss new ideas about funding, about the design of intellectual property rights and other incentive mechanisms and about diffusion policies, both with regard to research findings in general and with regard to particular new technologies that are ready for practical application. Specific fields to be represented may include nanomedicine, systems biology, functional genomics, pharmacogenetics, cancer research, organ transplantation, infectiology, and immunology.
In each of these fields, the conference will consider technological opportunities and current innovation barriers in order to identify priorities for further research investments and policy action. To determine research priorities and the optimal amount of funding, the conference will discuss new developments in economic methods, such as cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, as well as strategies to mobilize the required funds at the national and at the global level. The distribution of the financial burden across social groups within and between countries as well as the role of health insurance schemes, government taxes and other mechanisms in raising the funds will be considered.
A second set of issues for the conference arises from the role of intellectual property rights and other incentive mechanisms in the development of specific fields; patents, the strongest form of intellectual property rights, are known to have serious shortcomings and may not even be the second-best solution in some fields of biomedical innovation, nor should they be uncritically viewed as a panacea to the diffusion problem. The conference will discuss how new strategies to set incentives for innovation and diffusion, such as the academic model of “open source,†can play a greater role in biomedical research and development, especially in view of the need to improve the flow of knowledge between universities and private industry.
A third set of issues arises from the diffusion problem, broadly defined as spanning the whole value-chain from the inventor to the consumer of health care services that incorporate biomedical innovations. Diffusion in this broad sense is bound to be affected by a variety of critical policy choices, such as in the design of regulations for clinical trials, in the definition of information and efficacy requirements for biomedical product approvals, and in the pricing and reimbursement decisions of social health insurance and national health systems. Our conference will provide the forum to discuss how these choices and other organizational issues in biomedical innovation can and should be resolved within countries and at the international level — from a European and from a global perspective.
Sessions will focus on:
- Demand and Supply in the Global Market for Biomedical Innovation
- The Role of Government Funding and Private Insurance
- Intellectual Property Rights and International Trade
- The Social Returns to Biomedical Research
- The Fragile State of Europe’s Biomedical Industry
- Health Care Institutions, Investment Incentives, and the Diffusion of Innovation
Detailed scientific programme (including list of invited speakers) and application form are available from www.esf.org/conferences/07247.
Closing date for application & abstract submission: 20 July 2007.
Some grants available for young researchers to cover the conference fee and possibly part of the travel costs. Grant requests should be made by ticking appropriate field(s) in the paragraph “Grant application” of the application form.
Contact: Ms. Jean Kelly (jkelly@esf.org).
July 20, 2007: Health Economics
July
5th Health Services Research and Policy Conference: Listening to the Past, Looking to the Future - How can Health Services Research contribute to assessing fads and fashions in health policy and practice?
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Dates: 2-5 December 2007
Abstract submission deadline: 11 July 2007
Venue: Langham Hotel
There are always new ideas around about what will make health services more effective, efficient, and equitable but how many are backed by evidence or have been shown to work as well as their protagonists would have us believe? This conference will provide a perfect end-of-year opportunity for researchers, policymakers, managers, and practitioners from New Zealand, Australia and other countries to get together and consider the extent to which past innovations have lived up to expectations and to examine whether ideas now being touted as solutions for health services are supported by evidence.
For more information please visit: http://www.healthservicesconference.com.au/
More details about Abstract Submission
July 11, 2007: Health Research
July
Australian Conference of Health Economists Call for Papers and Organized Sessions
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Conference Dates: 27-28 September 2007
Abstract Submission Date: 2 July 2007
Venue: Customs House
The 29th Australian Conference of Health Economists, organised by the Australian Health Economics Society (AHES), will be held in Brisbane on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th September, 2007.
Abstracts for papers are invited on any topics relating to health economics (presentations will be 20 minutes), and proposals are invited for organised sessions (lasting 1.5 hours). Session organisers will have some discretion on the organisation of their session, but one suggestion would be to combine three speakers with an overall discussant. Note that an individual is only allowed to present one paper at the conference, either in a contributed or an organised session.
Abstracts and session proposals should be e-mailed in pdf format to Michael Shields (ahes2007@econ.unimelb.edu.au) no later than Monday 2nd July 2007. Abstracts and session proposals received after the deadline will not be considered. Authors/Session Organisers will be notified of decisions regarding acceptance by Friday 27th July 2006.
A full copy of the paper (7,000 words maximum) is required by the 19th September 2007 and papers will be placed on the AHES website one week prior to the conference.
Keynote Speakers
- Professor Jim Butler, Australian National University
- Professor Ali McGuire, London School of Economics
- Professor Wynand van de Ven, Erasmus University
The conference will be held in Brisbane at the Customs House (http://www.customshouse.com.au/)
The local organiser is Luke Connelly (University of Queensland; e-mail: l.connelly@uq.edu.au).
Further conference details will be made available at: http://www.ahes.org.au/.
Travel Scholarships: The Australian Health Economics Society will finance up to two Travel Scholarships to assist junior researchers in the Asia-Pacific region to attend the 2007 Conference and present a paper. AHES will refund the travel and conference expenses up to a maximum of A$1,500 per scholarship. Anyone wishing to be considered for these scholarships must have their complete conference paper, together with a supporting letter from their PhD supervisor or Head of Department, submitted by Monday 2nd July 2007 to Michael Shields (ahes2007@econ.unimelb.edu.au).