Innovation challenges for Photonics in the Health sector

Submitted by Tanvir Singh Badwal on 21 February 2020

The first cross-sectoral workshop was organised by Secpho (co-organizer: Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol) within the framework of the DIGI-B-CUBE project on December 4th, 2019 in Badalona, Spain. The event involving 23 participants (SMEs, RTOs, hospitals, and 3 clusters) consisted of three main parts - presentation of participants, methodology used, and findings from previous events;  presentation of innovation challenges (health sector – hospital) and technological solutions (IT sector – SMEs and RTOs); and              networking.

During the second part of the event, five innovation challenges were presented by the representatives of the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, including:

  1. Design of a new ultra-fast vitamin C measuring device for the management of sepsis
  2. Associate a light alert to the noxious noise threshold present to the sound level meter installed in the unit
  3. Surgery guided by molecular and thernostic image in peritoneal carcinomatosis
  4. Non-invasive diagnosis of sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome – SAHS 
  5. Anorectal and/or urinary sphincter rehabilitation based on different light emissions

The event was part of the broader process initiated by secpho with several hospitals in Barcelona province in order to foster collaboration between health and IT sectors. This process consisted of: (1) identification of key stakeholders in the health sector in the city of Barcelona, (2) identification of main innovation challenges faced by the healthcare sector by organising 4 informative sessions on digitalisation (including one DIGI-B-CUBE sectoral workshop), (3) identification of potential solutions from the IT sector by organising 2 matchmaking events (including one DIGI-B-CUBE cross-sectoral event), (4) creation of cross-sectoral consortia. All these actions were conducted by secpho in close cooperation with ITEMAS Platform, national networking platform of hospitals in Spain. The whole process involved identification of 17 innovation challenges.

After the event, Secpho initiated several working groups with the aim of creating cross-sectoral consortia which would apply for DIGI-B-CUBE vouchers and as a result, Secpho has initiated 9 consortia for potential projects working on topics related to the challenges identified during the event. This is a crucial outcome to lay foundation for future DIGI-B-CUBE innovation projects.

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