Sessions
Keynote Address
8:50 AM - 9:10 AM Wed
Stephen Wright is based in the UK. After a period of university research, with degrees in geography and economics, Stephen began his professional career in resource and energy industry issues – consultancy, then an energy investing holding company.
He joined the European Investment Bank in 1987 to work on energy, and later industrial sectors, transport, mining, economic development in emerging countries, and solid waste. From 1997, he initiated, and then ran until 2007, the Bank’s project techno-economic and sector role in the health and education sectors. EIB clients were and are entities in the public and private sectors, and public-private partnerships.
For a decade, Stephen was a member of the steering committee of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, from its inception, and was the editor and co-author of the book 'Investing in hospitals of the future' (2009), with an accompanying case studies volume, 'Capital Investment in Health'. He has written many papers on healthcare planning, finance and PPP, and speaks regularly at, and organises conferences in, Europe and further afield.
In 2009, Stephen set up a research and strategic advisory organisation called ECHAA, focused on the interface between the built environment and delivery of healthcare. ECHAA supported a number of governments – particularly the Hungarian Ministry of Health and the Slovak Ministry (on health policy, healthcare planning, EU issues, infrastructure development, PPP projects and community health).
Stephen carries out multiple consulting assignments annually, mostly in the health sector, for a variety of clients including the European Commission, EIB, World Bank, World Health Organization and various governments. These are usually in emerging markets, in Europe or beyond, and cover health policy and finance, organisational structures, and PPP. In collaboration with others, Stephen also established a new think tank, called Integrate, of which he was the research director; Integrate was concerned with fostering long-term investment, particularly in social sectors, and via innovative financial instruments.
Stephen works periodically on research programmes with major universities in the UK and Europe, and with other collaborators has recently published a book (‘Understanding hospitals in changing health systems’) on modern hospital developments.