OSE 2050: Coruscant contributes to a national programme exploring the future of digital healthcare

Digital technologies are already transforming healthcare provision. Artificial intelligence, data, monitoring tools and connected devices are reshaping care pathways, professional practices and the role of patients. These transformations are opening up new possibilities while also raising questions around organisation, governance, ethics and access to care.

It is against this backdrop that OSE 2050 was launched, a national strategic foresight programme exploring how healthcare provision could evolve by 2050. Developed by the French Directorate General for Healthcare Provision and the French Health Innovation Agency, the programme’s first season, dedicated to the impact of digital technologies, is led by Hospices Civils de Lyon.

Coruscant, Willing’s applied artificial intelligence department, is contributing to OSE 2050 through the participation of its Director, Dr Nicolas Homehr. His dual expertise as a doctor and an AI specialist enables him to connect technological possibilities with the realities of healthcare.

At a time of rapid change, addressing today’s urgent challenges must go hand in hand with longer-term thinking. OSE 2050 explores plausible futures to test the choices being made today and help shape tomorrow’s public policies.

The initiative brings together scientific experts, healthcare professionals, citizens and science-fiction writers. Scientific knowledge and on-field experimentations help identify trends, potential disruptions and uncertainties. Contributions from citizens bring public expectations and concerns to the fore. These different perspectives feed into foresight scenarios designed to make the issues tangible and open up debate.

Within OSE 2050, digital technology is considered through its potential impact on the organisation of care, medical practices, the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients, and the use of health data.

More personalised care pathways could, for example, improve prevention and help tailor treatments. They also raise important questions: how can patients’ freedom of choice be preserved in the face of automated recommendations? What responsibility should healthcare professionals have when AI is used to support decision-making? What safeguards are needed around security, consent and the use of data?

These questions lie at the heart of the initiative: exploring what technologies could make possible and the conditions under which their use would be desirable.

As part of his role at Coruscant, Dr Nicolas Homehr took part in a working session at Hospices Civils de Lyon. Alongside institutional teams, healthcare experts and science-fiction writers, he contributed to discussions aimed at consolidating the common foundation on which the programme’s foresight scenarios are being developed.

Among the ideas put forward by Coruscant is that of digital health twins, considered at two different levels.

At regional and healthcare institution level, they could be used to simulate situations such as an epidemic, a large influx of patients or pressure on resources. These simulations could help healthcare stakeholders anticipate crises and inform their decision-making.

At his own individual level, Nicolas Homehr envisages a future in which every citizen could have a digital health twin from birth, evolving throughout their lifetime. It could become a tool for monitoring health and support more personalised medicine, notably by helping to assess different care options.

This forward-looking vision reflects Coruscant’s approach: exploring the potential applications of AI while examining the practical conditions for its use in healthcare. Data quality and protection, the reliability of simulations, medical responsibility and the patient’s role in decision-making are inseparable from the possibilities offered by technology.

The work carried out as part of OSE 2050 will result in foresight narratives and strategic recommendations for public authorities. The scenarios will be presented at a public event on 15 October 2026 in Lyon.

By bringing together scientific expertise, the realities of healthcare delivery, citizen participation and imagination, OSE 2050 creates a space to discuss future digital transformations and the choices that need to be made today.