Better Together: Building a Global Health Network Economy through Data Collaboration

The report argues that while health data constitutes approximately 30% of the world's data volume, its practical application is severely limited by fragmented standards and misaligned incentives. It proposes a 'health data network economy' based on network effects, where the value of data increases as more stakeholders—including governments, providers, and tech innovators—collaborate. The document outlines eight key enablers for this transformation, prioritizing cultural mindset change, value creation in sharing, data governance, and interoperability. To implement this, the World Economic Forum's Digital Healthcare Transformation (DHT) Initiative is launching an 'Activator Network' of multisectoral coalitions to create regional proof points. The report highlights specific focus areas in the European Union, India, the United States, and Latin America, and provides case studies such as the European Health Data Space and the Mayo Clinic Platform to demonstrate the potential of federated and standardized data models.

• Poor utilization of available health data results in significant global losses, costing more than $800 billion annually, which equates to approximately $2.2 billion per day.
• Enhanced health data collaboration and management could prevent approximately 3 million deaths worldwide every year, or more than five deaths per minute.
• The report identifies eight enablers for digital healthcare transformation, but prioritizes four as essential for immediate mobilization: cultural mindset change, value in data sharing, data rights and governance, and standardization and interoperability.
• The World Economic Forum is establishing an 'Activator Network' consisting of multisectoral coalitions at regional, national, or subnational levels to catalyze systemic change and create proof points for data collaboration.
• The report categorizes regional markets into three maturity stages for health data: 'emerging' (limited digital public infrastructure), 'standardizing' (defined vision and leadership engagement), and 'innovating' (data treated as a strategic asset with robust governance).

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Better Together: Building a Global Health Network Economy through Data Collaboration. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Better_Together_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Better Together: Building a Global Health Network Economy through Data Collaboration. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Better_Together_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Better Together: Building a Global Health Network Economy through Data Collaboration |date=January 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Better_Together_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025better, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Better Together: Building a Global Health Network Economy through Data Collaboration}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Better_Together_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }