Today, the world stands at a moment of transition in sectors ranging from power generation to healthcare, notably as we face a decade of action on climate change and countries work to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

These were just some of the issues discussed during the Bloomberg Qatar Economic Forum hosted last week in Doha, a virtual event that gathered more than 2,000 government leaders, chief executives, influential voices and decision-makers from around the world.

GE, which supports Qatar National Vision 2030 and the country’s commitment to diverse and sustainable development, digital industrial transformation, and localized innovation, participated in Forum conversations on renewables and healthcare.

During a panel session “Next Steps in Sustainability: Achieving Reliability in Renewable Energy,” Danielle Merfeld, Vice President and Global Chief Technology Officer for GE Renewable Energy, said GE believes the fastest path to decarbonization – while ensuring available and affordable power – lies in a combination of renewable energy, natural gas, and a smart reliable grid.

She elaborated on this in response to a question about potential breakthroughs in the field of renewables. Among those she identified was the development of more powerful, and thus lower cost, wind turbines; more efficient storage solutions, such as pumped hydro; and smarter more agile grid forming technologies to ensure electricity availability amidst more complex supply and demand conditions. She said digitization will be an enabler for all three.

Also during the conference, Dr. Mathias Goyen, Chief Medical Officer, GE Healthcare EMEA spoke on roundtable entitled, “Digital Prognosis: COVID-19, data and the future of the industry.” During this session, he discussed the role of data, digitization, AI and connectivity in helping drive healthcare quality and delivery.

He highlighted three healthcare trends in the wake of COVID-19: a greater acceptance and demand for remote or virtual interactions; faster decision making and higher throughput enabled by AI, and the need for new ways to handle increased critical care loads and the urgency of keeping patients and staff safe. 

As well, he predicted the future of healthcare will be patient-centric, data-driven, value-based and more precise, with doctors working to predict an individual's risk of certain diseases and suggest preventative measures. She said AI will help reduce waiting times for patients and improve efficiency in hospitals and health systems.