Keynote Speaker
| Title | Gamification and Global Health Challenges |
| Speaker | David Wortley FRSA Consultant, United Kingdom |
Abstract
The world is facing serious challenges to health policies and funding as a number of lifestyle related conditions threaten societies across the world. The growing problems of managing issues such as diabetes, obesity and dementia against a backdrop of an ageing population and finite health resources will inevitably create a situation in which, without some kind of intervention, there will be insufficient financial and human resources to be able to provide care and treatment for anyone but the most needy or most wealthy. Technology has largely been focused on improving the productivity of health practitioners and care workers but this presentation offers an alternative view that takes advantage of a window of opportunity created by developments in gamification practices facilitated by emerging technologies in the areas of remote sensors, cloud computing and data visualisation. The presentation will show how this combination of technology and gamification can be applied to engage citizens in taking responsibility for the better management of their own health and lifestyles and thereby reducing the demand on core health and care services.
Biography
David Wortley is a freelance consultant on the strategic use of immersive and emerging technologies such as serious games, virtual worlds and social networks. His mission is to help organisations and individuals, leverage the power of these technologies for competitive advantage and business/personal development. He has recently acted as an adviser on Serious Games and Augmented Reality for the EU Vision 2020 strategic document prepared by the ICT Directorate. David is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) with a career which has embraced the converging and emerging technologies of telecommunications (Post Office Telecommunications), computing (IBM), digital media and community informatics (Mass Mitec, a rural SME) and the creative industries (De Montfort University Leicester, UK). He is a serial entrepreneur and innovator with a passion for applying technology to social and economic development. Most recently, David was Founding Director of the Serious Games Institute (SGI) www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk at Coventry University and was responsible for the development of the Institute as a global thought leader in the application of immersive technologies (which include video games; virtual worlds and social networking) to serious social and economic issues such as education; simulation; health; commerce and climate change. Working with academics; regional development agencies and leading computer games companies, David made the SGI a focal point for games based learning, simulation and immersive 3D virtual environments and an engine for innovation and social and economic regeneration. David is a respected and sought-after international conference speaker and writer for global publications on Learning Technologies, Defence and Health applications. He has written numerous papers on technology and society and is a regular conference presenter.
