News Archive

Health & Wellbeing is hot and getting hotter…

More than 125 guests visited the End-of-Year event of EIT ICT Labs’ action line Health & Wellbeing at the High Tech Campus on 12 December. The line-up of 8 activities of the action line and 11 of the 18 SMEs of the Health & Wellbeing Business Community showcased the accomplishments and products to the audience. 

Showing results


The main purpose of the End-of-Year event 2013 was to give maximum showcasing attention to all innovators from the action line’s activities that were accomplished during 2013 as well as to showcase the innovative products of the SMEs. Furthermore networking and expanding the community was a chance for the exhibitors as well as the visitors.  In parallel sessions the research projects and SMEs gave 10-minute presentations in which they pitched their business cases. The presentations gave a good insight in the current status, achievements and ambitions. The attendants took also a great interest in the demonstrations on the exhibition floor. 


Conference

Patrick Strating, Node Director Eindhoven opened the event and acted as moderator. He introduced the Mayor of Eindhoven, Rob van Gijzel. The Mayor welcomed the international audience with a keynote on the impact of ICT as a crucial key enabling technology for Europe’s industrial and societal future and in particular for the Brainport region. He expressed the hope to see more of EIT ICT Labs’ achievements as he acknowledged that to maintain a competitive position, industry needs to be strong in ICT-innovations. This was followed by a presentation by the action line leader of Health & Wellbeing, Jean Gelissen, who gave a short introduction on EIT ICT Labs, the Action Line Health and Wellbeing and an overview of the programme.


Understanding user needs is imperative


In the afternoon, Sumi Helal full Professor at the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Department at the University of Florida gave a keynote on the 3rd Generation Tele-health Systems. In comparison to traditional and the recent Tele-health it will be for example able to monitor behavior activity, and abundance of vital signs, reduce work for clinical workers and it will be scalable and cost-efficient. And most important, it will decrease the clinical treatment. Sumi argued that a new science for understanding user needs is imperative. New viable business models are needed and at the same time it is extremely difficult to change existing healthcare, elderly care and insurance systems. 


The next big thing after the smartphone revolution

After Sumi, the floor was for Reinder Haakma of Philips who gave a sneak preview of 2014 high impact activity on personal self-management services within the action line Health & Wellbeing. He stated that wearable electronics are the next big thing after the smartphone revolution. The key areas are positioned in the continuum of personal health from preventive health to early diagnostics to chronically ill. Unobtrusive body signs sensing is a key enabler for a large number of connected monitoring applications: from body worn sensors, connected via e.g. a smartphone to the cloud, logged user data with real-time feedback via web devices leading to monitoring or coaching based on the logged information. The priority for 2014 will be on cardio fitness and energy monitoring in first instance. Reinder Haakma suggested that Philips is rethinking the current business models in this domain. He also mentioned that sports and fitness are becoming a significant part of the prevention domain.

Finally, Jean Gelissen concluded the event with an Outlook of the Health & Wellbeing activities in the next year and invited everyone to enjoy healthy drinks and snacks while networking with the best wishes for 2014!

More information:
Presentations
Handout
Leaflet Action Line Health & Wellbeing

Continue reading

Scroll up

Co-Funded by the European Union