I will confine this text to just a few factors that are key drivers for the adoption of nanotechnology and materials science in medicine and biomedicine, grouped by categories.
Public Health
A significant number of diseases considered today the cause of high mortality rates will find, on the forthcoming years, a cure and / or an effective precocious diagnostic ready to be included in the processes chain of health care practice.
This progress will stand, in part, on the discoveries in several fields of nanotechnology and materials science.
At the same time, new emerging diseases will appear, calling to action many scientists from diverse fields (including nanoscientists and materials scientists).
Social and Economical Key Drivers
The economical crisis that affects all countries nowadays triggered several other crises. One of those is a social crisis. The majority of wealth is concentrated into a minority of individuals and organizations while the majority of individuals live their lives on a remedied situation, on poverty or even on extreme poverty.
Thus, there is a minority of individuals capable of affording fortunes for their own treatment, while a majority of individuals don’t visit even the dentist and dye precociously.
This very sad phenomenon is intimately related with the price policy, prices practised to end users (patients and citizens in general) and health policy practised by governments.
One factor that will make all the difference will be the reduction of costs to end users in production and supporting services.
Nanotechnology and materials science has demonstrated trough numerous studies that as scientific and technological achievements are being published and then passed to commercialization channels, the costs of production will be reduced. In some cases, this reduction will be tremendous. Consequently, the value chain of medical and biomedical industry as well as supporting services will be improved.
Meanwhile, among the decision makers and top executives from medical and biomedical industry and supporting services whose value chain was enhanced by nanotechnology and materials science, a few ones will have wisdom and good sense enough to be visionary. They will discover a new strategy that will allow their organizations to be more competitive: through decreasing the final prices to end users, while maintaining the profit level or, in some cases, even increase it..
The majority of patients and citizens in general will have opportunities of accessing to the same level of quality in health care.
Social Responsibility, Commercial Competitive Positioning, and Completive Advantage
The organizations implementing strong programs of social responsibility have a much better competitive positioning on their markets and a stronger competitive advantage, when compared with the ones in the same market, implementing a weak social responsibility program or even none.
Social responsibility enhances the image of organizations; increases brand awareness, places organizations more close of leadership or reinforce the leadership position.
Social responsibility is today a highly crucial and a determinant factor for success of organizations. This will be highly enhanced a near future.
The forthcoming social responsibility will include the reduction of costs to end users. Nanotechnology will allow the decrease of costs of production and consequently the costs to end users and, in some cases, will even allow industries and supporting services to increase their profit.
The first visionary decision makers and top executives from medical and biomedical industries as well as supporting services that understand this rule of the thumb will certainly drive their organizations to a better positioning on their markets. Those organizations will gain more competitive advantage and in some cases, a leadership position.