Writing the Future offers 10,000 pounds for the best 3000 word sci-fi story about the state of UK healthcare in the year 2100.

“Thinking about the state of our health 83 years from now is vital if we are to continue delivering the best possible care” says Professor Ara Darzi, Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation.

But how can we encourage and achieve innovative and creative thinking in healthcare?  A new competition hosted by our Centre for Health Policy, Kaleidoscope Health and Care and the Commonwealth Fund offers prizes for writers who we are hoping can help us to realise this goal.    

The aim with this prize is to attract outsiders who can bring a fresh perspective with a story that displays ingenuity and insight, as well as being an enjoyable and interesting read.

Health innovation 

Asked to think about future innovations in health, most people might mention a new HIV vaccine, a cure for Alzheimer’s disease – or a drug to confer long-lasting fertility. These would certainly be blockbuster gains for humanity but with the rising cost and diminishing returns from drug development, there are likely to be few such silver bullets in the next decade.

The big gains are likely to come from innovations in general-purpose technologies – smartphones, computing, bio-engineering – that have already transformed our world. Until 1998 there were no online bookstores. Yet today, Amazon has 40% of the books market. Until a dozen years ago few people banked online. Today 60% do. Mobile phones may play as significant a role in healthcare in this century as the stethoscope did in the last. 

We have made enormous strides against the major killers of the past such as smallpox, tuberculosis and diphtheria. The new challenge comes from the chronic conditions that blight so many lives in the modern world – diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Here, advances in genomic medicine could help us to identify individuals at risk and allow us to intervene earlier.

Writing the Future 

The top prize for the competition is £10,000 and the closing date is 8^th August 2017 with winners revealed in October 2017.  Entrants must be aged 16 or over. We welcome applications from UK and non-UK residents and you do not have to be a published writer to enter.

To find out more about the competition and how to enter, visit the website.