VIDEO: Esther Dyson interview with Terry Stone from Oliver Wyman Health & Life Sciences
WE’VE BEEN WIRED, tired and inspired at Swhype this week, whilst checking out the WIRED 2014 conference at East London’s Tobacco Dock. We thought we’d share some of the amazing projects and ideas which were presented over the last two days. It’s an incredibly motivational event, featuring more than 50 speakers from around the globe, from entrepreneurs, research scientists and inventors to human rights activists and startup founders.
One of the most ambitious projects but also one of those which really might just change things is The Way To Wellville, an initiative from non-profit organisation HICCup which is aimed at improving the health of individual towns and communities who have applied to be part of the project.
Through research, learning and testing, together with the help of health and food companies, the plan is to run the project in 5 US towns which are particularly vulnerable to issues like obesity and mental health. The progress and effects of the Wellville project can then be measured over 5 years and scaled to other parts of the US.
Speaking at WIRED 2014, serial investor and founder of Wellville, Esther Dyson (@edyson) explained that the hope is other towns will be inspired to copy the model and ultimately the idea of improving the health of whole communities will spread throughout the States and beyond.
In a nutshell, as Dyson says, “stress creates poverty, poverty creates ill health, ill health creates poverty. We’re trying to give people back their resilience to stress – it’s giving them the wisdom, the connections, the networks they need.”
We’ll be watching the progress of The Way To Wellville from across the pond and offering any help we can along the way.