Innovation in HealthTech brought together academics, clinicians, regulators and businesses of the medical device ecosystem, providing a platform to discuss how technology could address the challenges involved in healthcare.
The event held on 11th and 12th June at Tyndall was enabled by the Celtic Advanced Life Science Innovation Network (CALIN) and the MedInvent project, in collaboration with the Health Innovation Hub Ireland, University College Cork Medical Education Unit and Assert.
From basic and clinical research to the regulatory pathways, Innovation in HealthTech kicked off with a panel discussion, linking different stages of medical device development chaired by Dr Ciarán Duffy of Enterprise Ireland.
Dr Paul Galvin, Head ICT for Health Strategic Programmes & Head of Life Science Interface Group at Tyndall, Dr Colman Casey, Director of the Health Innovation Hub Ireland and Mr Laurence O'Dwyer, Scientific Affairs Manager at Health Products Regulatory Agency Ireland, discussed the support mechanisms available for businesses in their route to the medical device market.
Keynote speaker Dr Brian Flatley brought S3 Connected Health's perspective on how digital technology could better connect healthcare professionals and patients.
On Monday evening, the room welcomed Consultant Respiratory Physician Dr Marcus Kennedy, Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Acute Medicine, Dr Corinna Sadlier, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Mr Stephen Brennan, and Prehospital Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Retrieval Physician Dr Jason van der Velde. The session was a demonstration of the existing challenges in clinical practice, and how medical device researchers and businesses could address these. Dr Velde also illustrated how a strong communication between clinicians and medical device developers could better incorporate the human factor into the design process and help save on precious time in healthcare.
With Dr Jef Vanderoost from the Faculty of Engineering Science at University of Leuven and Dr Eoin O’Cearbhaill of the UCD Medical Device Design Group, day 2 of Innovation in HealthTech took a step back and focused on medical device design and teaching how to design. Both speakers along with Dr Simon Baconnier of the European Nanomedicine Characterisation Laboratory gave examples of how distinct perspectives and expertise could educate each other to improve every step of the way in new technology development.
In the closing session of the event, Prof Lee Swanstrom of IHU Strasbourg gave insights into how future operating rooms may look like integrating artificial intelligence, robotics and high-resolution real-time imaging, while Dr Paul Galvin presented examples of the current Tyndall research in the sector.
The event focused on how technology has been shaping healthcare for the better and will continue to do so into the future and encouraged new links between diverse actors of the medical technology ecosystem on the path to that future.
About CALIN
CALIN is an Ireland Wales 2014-2020 programme part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government, which aims to support the life sciences sector by initiating collaboration between partner universities and SMEs in the two regions. For more information, visit www.calin.ie or email info@calin.ie
About MedInvent
MedInvent is an EU Erasmus+ funded project that involves the development of an online personalized learning environment with a view to extending creativity and innovation skills in medical device design to HEI students and SME-based learners. For more information, visit http://medinvent-project.eu/
