Economics of Digital Health Technology

The E-DHT has four aims:

Connect: it brings together researchers in the global north and global south to further our understanding on all aspects of health economic research on digital health 

• Provide a platform for those with an interest in the economics of DHTs across the global north and global south 
• Bring together those interested in using economic methods to study and investigate DHTs, including early career researchers 
• Encourage multidisciplinary collaborations by drawing on expertise and application of methods from other disciplines (e.g., clinical collaboration, cognitive sciences and social sciences) to foster synergies in health economic research in DHT (e.g., process evaluation, risk predictive models) 
• Offer opportunities to broaden the dialogue with stakeholders and international organisations 
• Share our research and knowledge to inform the wider global policy community, decision-makers and practitioners by organising workshops, talks and webinars9  

Collaborate: to encourage collaborative ways to conduct research across the global north and global south 

• Stimulate discussion and debate on current knowledge and research methods of DHTs 
• Encourage collaboration that could include research grant applications, journal articles, commentary, opinion pieces, blogs, podcasts  
• Organise workshops and training including dedicated events including to support early career researchers and to have inclusive participation of research across countries  
• Disseminate and share updates about research underway, publications, presentations, webinars, funding calls, through the development of a newsletter and/or an active social media channel (e.g., blog or podcast) 

Identify: to identify research gaps in digital health technology to support research priorities 

• Facilitate debate and discussion of the current evidence, methods and identify gaps in our thinking of DHTs  
• Provide a platform for researchers and early career researchers (global north and global south) to share their research 
• Support health economic research capacity by identifying research opportunities to fill knowledge gaps 
• Disseminate information and research opportunities (e.g., funding calls, grant applications, international research)  

Develop: to develop methods in health economic research and support teaching materials drawing on the most up to date evidence  

• Share international research of the ways in which economic thinking can further our understanding of the wide-ranging impact of DHTs on the health and social care system 
• Encourage the development of new ideas and methods to conduct rigorous, original economic research and generate evidence  
• Offer the exchange of experiences in the development of relevant teaching materials on the economics of DHTs 
• Function as a forum for teachers whose interest is in digital health to present and receive feedback drawing on the most recent evidence