Designing the Future of Human Connection at WIRED Health London

The Connection Code came to London for its third chapter — and this time, the question got personal.

Hosted at The Outernet during WIRED Health, Sparks and WIRED brought together innovators, architects, and technologists for an evening built around a deceptively simple premise: the future of human health is something we design together.

Connection:2036 — Where the Series Came Full Circle

The evening marked the world premiere of Connection:2036 — an immersive AI artwork that began not in a studio, but in the hands of attendees at the Monastery of Sant Miquel in Barcelona.

At the Contemplation Corner, guests were invited to write by hand their answer to a single question: what will human connection look like in 2036? Those handwritten foresights became the raw material. Collected across the session, they were transformed into AI prompts and handed to artist ØLali — whose practice sits at the intersection of sound, language, and generative visual art — working in collaboration with Rock Badger Agency, specialists in turning data and human insight into immersive communication artwork.

What emerged was a living, moving artwork: generative visuals that bloom, shift, and evolve in real time — drawing on text, image, and sound to create something that could only have come from the collective imagination of 50+ industry leaders. No two moments looked the same. The piece didn't summarize what people said. It became what they meant.

Displayed across the screens of The Outernet — one of London's most technically ambitious immersive media environments — Connection:2036 marked the moment the series stopped being a conversation and became something you could see, hear, and stand inside. A monastery in Barcelona. A gallery wall in London. One idea, still moving.

The Panel: Architecting Human Health

The conversation was hosted by Erica Spoor, SVP Business Strategy at Sparks, alongside two speakers building the future of human health from very different angles.

Niamh Donnelly, Co-founder and CTO of Akara, has appeared twice on TIME Magazine's Best Inventions list — once for a robot caring for elderly residents in care homes, once for a sensor that gives operating room time back to surgeons. Her work sits at the intersection of AI-powered robotics and human-centered care, and her conviction is clear: the systems we design shape how people heal, and how cared for they feel.

Shawn Adams, Co-founder of POoR Collective, uses design to tell stories about identity, culture, and inclusion. His work asks what it means to build spaces — physical or digital — that reflect the people who inhabit them. His perspective grounded the evening in the communities most often left out of the design process, and made the case that the most human-centered solutions come from the people closest to the problem.

The conversation didn't stay abstract. It got specific. What drew each of them to the work. What they've built. What it felt like when the spaces and systems they designed actually changed someone's experience of being human.

And all the while, on the screens around them, the artwork built from Barcelona's collective foresight pulsed and evolved — a visual reminder that the ideas in the room had already been travelling. From a monastery to a gallery wall. From handwritten thought to immersive light. From one event to the next chapter of the same story.

What The Connection Code Is Building

Across three editions — from Web Summit in Lisbon to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to WIRED Health in London — The Connection Code has asked one question in three different contexts. What does human connection look like in a world being reshaped by technology?

The goal was never just to produce an evening. It was to design the conditions for the idea to keep living after it. Not a series of standalone moments, but a single idea gaining weight and meaning as it moves — through cities, industries, formats, and time.

The Connection Code is an exclusive collaboration between WIRED and Sparks exploring how creativity and technology can bring people closer together. Content production for the series is supported by Young Creators UK (YCUK) — the UK's first impact-led creative agency, dedicated to removing barriers to creativity and building careers for underrepresented young talent. A long-standing partner of Sparks, YCUK brings both creative excellence and a commitment to making the industry more accessible and equitable.