Book

“When I first connected with the Green Sports Alliance” Meeting the Green Sports Alliance in 2017 completely altered my career trajectory. Founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Gardner Allen, the GSA is a non-profit dedicated to greening the sports industry and creating a sustainable future. Although sports are popular worldwide and have a great deal of influence, they also consume a lot of energy and produce a lot of waste, harming the environment. The GSA seeks to use the power of sports to raise awareness of environmental problems and inspire people to take action. I met the GSA while serving as a professor at a newly established medical school in Japan, a position I had eagerly accepted after a 38-year absence. However, my encounter with the GSA ignited a passion within me to leave academia and fully dedicate myself to the SDGs. The GSA's remarkable achievements in the sports industry inspired me to delve deeper into the environmental impact of healthcare and the global health disparities. I firmly believe that the medical field can undergo a similar transformation. Despite their crucial role in safeguarding public health, medical institutions are major contributors to environmental problems, including excessive energy consumption and waste generation, as well as social inequities in healthcare access. While the GSA has successfully utilized sports as a platform for positive change, I am convinced that the medical field has the potential to create a similar platform to address its own challenges. The integration of digital technologies, such as data sharing, telemedicine, and AI, into healthcare has the potential to transform the industry. Platformization can facilitate efficient resource allocation, patient empowerment, and the creation of novel healthcare services. This textbook is designed to equip readers with the knowledge needed to understand how platformization in healthcare can be a powerful tool for achieving the SDGs. We will delve into the specific challenges and solutions involved in building effective medical platforms.