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Interesting to consider how much data there is out there in healthcare

Projections indicate that there could be as much as 2,314 exabytes of new data generated in 2020.

That’s 2,314 billion gigabytes of data.

With a population of nearly 8 billion globally, that’s around 300 gigabytes of data per person per year.

Is this realistic?

How much of this data is being stored on phones and smartwatches, Fitbits etc.?

So who has this data and how useful is it when it sits in a commercial company’s silo and does not complement health system’s own data?

One simple truth - that volume of data requires collation, curation, contemplation (sorry - on an alliterative roll here).. but it really needs smart systems to convert it from data to wisdom.  Are we on the right path or are we drowning in the data?

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I think that sounds about right, especially if you factor in social media videos as well.

I do really worry about people's personal information management capabilities with this much data (and information governance too). There is definitely a gap in the market for smart tech to help people manage all of their personal digital assets.

  • 2 years later...
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The latest stat I heard is that each hospital generates more information than the Library of Congress.  That is meant to store all media created (although I think that excludes Tik Tok videos and social media).

I don't have a timescale for this but, if true, it's pretty impressive and also somewhat intimidating.

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