September the 8th, 2022 - The City of Dubrovnik hosted a recent conference on digitalisation in healthcare, and the potential of health tourism.

As Morski writes, the global health and wellness tourism market is worth more than 900 billion US dollars and is the fastest growing segment of tourism with annual growth of 15 to 20 percent. Croatia can do more in this than it does currently, and this was among the main messages from this week's conference "Digitalisation in healthcare and the potential of health tourism 365'', held in Dubrovnik.

The conference was organised by the Dubrovnik County Chamber of Commerce, bringing together experts from the fields of digitisation, innovation, healthcare and tourism.

The global data on the value of that market presented at the conference are actually estimates by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), according to which the largest part of the total estimated value of the global market, or about 800 billion dollars, refers to wellness, while the value of health tourism is estimated to stand at about 125 billion dollars.

With regard to the growing market value, which also stimulates the increase in demand for healthcare and wellness tourism services, as well as the growing life expectancy of the world's population, it was pointed out at the conference that these are opportunities for further development of that market, including right here in Croatia.

The global report on the health and medical tourism market confirms that there are opportunities for growth and predicts that revenues in this market will grow by 30 percent annually from 2021 to 2026, and everything was additionally accelerated by the global coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in a significantly increased interest in healthcare and wellness tourism. Croatia also has a great opportunity due to its natural benefits, professional staff and excellent offer.

What it lacks, and what is happening more and more in the world, is that this growing demand is accompanied by increased investments in healthcare infrastructure, which in recent years also includes significant investments in the areas of digital transformation and innovation, robotics and artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, the European Centre for Digitisation and Innovation in Healthcare was established right here in the Republic of Croatia, which provides strong support to the business sector in the segment of project application support, research, testing, and the marketing of new products and services, and therefore this centre is designated as a possible reference point for the development of that sector.

The participants of the Dubrovnik conference agreed that Croatia has the potential for developing digital processes, including the digital transformation of the healthcare system, but with the assumption that speeding up all administrative processes is paramount. Croatia is a very attractive destination, it is especially strong in the fields of dental, aesthetic surgery and ophthalmology. In addition, work can be done to attract significant investments in this segment of the tourist offer and the clear marketing communication of Croatia as a destination for year-round health tourism, which would begin to solve the problems of seasonality.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

June the 24th, 2022 - Dubrovnik hosts the 12th International Conference on Anthropological Genetics and Forensics, which saw 550 scientists, doctors and other experts from across Europe and the rest of the world descend on the Pearl of the Adriatic.

As Morski writes, the 12th International Conference on Anthropological Genetics and Forensics brought together the above-mentioned number of individuals from various prestigious European and international universities and institutions to discuss forensics and personalised medicine in Dubrovnik on Thursday.

The conference was organised by the International Society for Applied Biological Sciences ISABS, the American Mayo Clinic and the Sv Katarina (St. Catherine) Special Hospital. ISABS President Dragan Primorac pointed out that the congress will primarily answer what the medicine of the future will look like.

''First of all, I'm referring to the development of pharmacogenomics, gene cell therapy in the treatment of a number of degenerative diseases, as well as cancer. The future of medicine is to break out of the clichés of the medical tradition. The new concept is personalised medicine, and that means that the right therapy goes to the right patient at the right time, which we can find out more about by analysing glycomics, genomics, proteomics and epigenomics. Those who don't accept that will not be competitive on the global market,'' said Primorac.

Dubrovnik hosts many famous names, and this time three Nobel laureates also took part in the congress: Sir Richard Roberts, Thomas Südhof and Aaron Ciechanover, and Primorac has announced that they will work with about 200 students from the USA, Europe and Croatia.

Minister of Science and Education Radovan Fuchs pointed out that, in addition to the level of scientific thought and new achievements, the congress opened up opportunities for students to network and gain some new experiences.

''It's very important for young people. I'd especially like to emphasise forensics, but personalised medicine is also becoming more and more popular across the world, and that is certainly the future,'' said Fuchs.

Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic noted that the Ivan Vucetic Police Academy and the Centre for Forensic Investigations, Research and Expertise are scientific institutions within the Ministry of the Interior (MUP).

''Perhaps it's less known that these organiaational units of the Ministry of the Interior have scientific licenses, and in terms of forensics, the Ivan Vucetic Centre has an important role to play. The chief is a member of the American Academy of Forensics. We're at the very top of the global scale and we're certainly a leader in this part of Europe,'' said Bozinovic.

In cooperation with the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the conference discussed new forms of cancer treatment, pharmacogenomics, translational and personalised medicine, gene and molecular therapy and diagnostics, regenerative medicine and the use of stem cells in treatment, as well as other achievements of modern scientific research.

For more on conferences and congresses Dubrovnik hosts, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.