The world may have turned upside down (and around) with Brexit, but London Technology Week happened nevertheless. It’s exploded into 400 events and 43,000 attendees, with 300 attending an event at London City Hall on health tech within the NHS. (Attendees invited to contribute in Comments.) Designer Brooke Roberts, an ex-NHS radiographer who advocates the fusion of fashion and tech, debuted her brain scan-inspired knitwear, accomplished by translating scans into digital files capable of programming industrial knitting machines. According to GP Bullhound in their annual European Unicorns report, 18 of Europe’s 47 billion-dollar digital startups are now based in the UK. So who needs the EU? TechCityNews, CNN, Yahoo Tech
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/MonBaby.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]On the other side of the Atlantic, there was a disappointing absence of wearables and health tech at the Consumer Electronics Association’s NYC summer event, CE Week. It’s been a major feature since 2009 at International CES in January; the NYC summer show and the November CES preview had always featured a mostly local exhibitor contingent and conference content. None this year–a representative cited a mystifying ‘change in direction’. There was one lone wearable way back in the exhibit hall–MonBaby, which came in from 16 blocks uptown. The snap-on button monitor works with any garment (unlike the Mimo onesie and the Owlet sock) (more…)The healthcare future according to Britons before London Technology Week
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ltw-2016-logo1.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]More robots than people, VR visits to the GP and 3D printed human organs were among the predictions in a survey of over 2,000 British adults. Also in their collective vision in the next 20 years (2036) were communications devices being embedded inside the human body (37 percent), a cloned human born by that year (50 percent), clothing connected to the internet (50 percent) and more driverless cars than conventional models. The study was conducted by SMG Insight and YouGov, commissioned by London & Partners, the Mayor of London’s promotional company, in the runup to London Technology Week through 26 June, highlighting London as a global technology hub. According to their release, an EY report ranked London as second only to Silicon Valley as the most likely place to produce the world’s next tech giant. The event also promotes Imperial College London’s Foresight team and their Tech Foresight 2036 on 24 June. Also ITPro.
Your weekly robot fix: ingestible robot fetches swallowed button batteries, more
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/mit-microsurgeon-2.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]A research team drawn from MIT, the University of Sheffield and the Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed an ‘origami’ robot to aid in the location and fetching the result of a common and potentially fatal incident–swallowed button batteries or other foreign objects. The robot is swallowed in a capsule which dissolves. It then unfolds its dried pig intestine appendages and is directed by external magnetic fields towards the battery, attaches to it and safely moves through the digestive system. Another potential use is to patch wounds or deliver medicine to a specific location. Unlike other robots, it is untethered and moves freely, propelling itself through a ‘stick-slip’ motion, and is resistant to acidic gastric fluids. Next steps for the team are to equip it with sensors and to perform animal and human in vivo testing. ZDNet
Nosocomial hospital infections may also get a good zapping by disinfecting robots. In an 18 month test at Lowell (Massachusetts) General Hospital, robots with pulsing xenon high-dose ultraviolet light from Xenex Disinfection Services disinfected the Lowell Hospital ORs nightly in addition to routine chemical disinfection. The study estimated that they avoided an estimated 23 infections at a cost savings of one life and $478,000. MedCityNews.
Robotics in healthcare will also be part of the five tracks centered on informatics available to attendees of HEALTHINFO 2016, August 21 – 25, 2016 in Rome’s H10 ROMA CITTA, organized by IARIA (International Academy, Research, and Industry Association). More information here.
And if you wonder if humans will be able to find work when robots take over everything (maybe we just go to conferences and have a guaranteed income?), take comfort (or not) in this interview with one of the two authors of Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines, a new book by Thomas Hayes Davenport and Julia Kirby. “One is to work alongside smart machines, and complement their activity. The other is to dip into what smart machines are unlikely to be able to do any time soon.” The emphasis on STEM education may be misplaced as many of these jobs will be replaced by AI. In healthcare, they predict that automation will displace specialists and empower GPs, leaving room for ultra specialization in combinations not thought of today. Robots beware: Humans will still be bosses of machines (TechRepublic)
Worthing MarketPlace Wednesday 8th June 2016 (UK)
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Worthing-Marketplace-flyer-712×1024.png” thumb_width=”120″ /]Fresh from last week’s National Telecare Awareness Day on 1 June, UK Telehealthcare is sponsoring a bonus MarketPlace today (8 June) in conjunction with the West Sussex County Council at the Charmandian in Worthing, West Sussex. 36 companies including Tynetec, CAIR, Doro, Tunstall and others we mention are listed for five hours of exhibition and activities starting at 10 am. UK Telehealthcare information and flyer at left above.
Falling Walls Lab NY–application deadline June 22
Falling Walls Lab New York, German Center for Research and Innovation, August 30, 6 PM
The New York City edition of the international Falling Walls Lab, which invites scientists and innovators to present research that answers the question, “Which are the next walls to fall?”, this year is hosted by GCRI.
Each year, the Falling Walls Lab Finale is held in Berlin, this year on November 8, and is closely connected to the annual and internationally renowned Falling Walls Conference the next day. The Conference hosts 20 top-class scientists from around the world to present their current breakthrough research.
The New York deadline is June 22. To submit an application, go to the Falling Walls website. Separately, a 3-minute video preview of the presentation must be sent to events@germaninnovation.org. Apart from their round-trip travel to the Falling Walls Lab New York, participants will not incur additional travel costs. According to the event listing on the website, the most intriguing presenter will qualify directly for the Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin. The Falling Walls Foundation will cover accommodation costs for November 8-9 in Berlin. All participants in the Finale will receive a ticket for the Falling Walls Conference.
The Falling Walls Lab is a non-profit series of scientific conferences, which aims to build and foster interdisciplinary connections between scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Contact the Falling Walls Foundation at labs@falling-walls.com. Also coming up: Falling Walls Tokyo 29 August, Falling Walls Lab UAlberta 29 September. Main website. Hat tip to GCRI (listing here)
Telecare Awareness Day (UK) – June 1st 2016
This Wednesday, June 1st, is National Telecare Awareness Day in the UK for 2016. This is promoted by the industry body [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/UKTelehealthcare-Awareness.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]UK Telehealthcare.
To mark the day, CAIR, the UK based telecare products supply company, is holding an event at their headquarters in West Yorkshire. According to information available from the Telecare Services Association, twelve of the region’s leading voices in Telecare will gather to “tackle some of the challenges facing the industry”.
Last year several activities took place to mark the day, then called National Telehealthcare Awareness Day, with events being held by CAIR, University of East Anglia’s Norwich Electronic Assistive Technology Centre (NEAT), Welbeing (an independent-living service provider) and many others.
A summary of last year’s events is available via the UK Telehealthcare website here.
Blueprint Health graduates the Winter 2016 class
Tomorrow afternoon (April 27) is Graduation Day–Demo Day–for ten startup companies which address problems across the healthcare spectrum. They are:
● Blue Mesa Health – Helps employers reduce health costs through a digital diabetes prevention program
● HealthKick – Provides employers with curated perks for branded health and wellness services
● NexHealth – Provides a mobile-first appointment booking and reminder platform for doctor’s offices
● PatientPrep – Increases physician productivity and patient satisfaction by collecting data prior to a visit
● Rappora – Streamlines the coordination, management and time tracking of home care employees (more…)
Two RSM events of interest on medicine’s future and Big Data/IoT (UK)
Make a place in your calendar for two Royal Society of Medicine full day events coming up in May and June. Both organized by the Telemedicine and eHealth Section. Hat tip to Charlotte Cordrey, Event Team Manager, RSM
The future of medicine – the role of doctors in 2025
Thursday 19 May 2016 (Chaired by our own Editor Charles Lowe)
Big data 2016 (Clouds and the Internet of Things)
Thursday 2 June 2016
Telehealth Quality Group first conference Manchester 21 June 2016
The Telehealth Quality Group kicks off its campaign to stimulate new thinking around telehealth and telecare with a UK event in Manchester on June 21st. The focus of the event is on ‘Integrated Care’ – the route to which has been exercising strategists, policy-makers, commissioners and those tasked with delivery for some time.
The programme includes the likes of Malcolm Fisk, Kevin Doughty and this editor as well as Dr Laura Ryan of NHS24 … bringing news of the experience in Scotland, and Professor Andrew Sixsmith … bringing practice examples and insights from Canada.
Participants will also learn more about the TQG’s International Code of Practice for Telehealth Services – for which apparently three services are now seeking certification.
Other treats at the Manchester event include sessions that:
• look back and learn lessons from the Whole System Demonstrators;
• consider some of the technological developments and market trends around telehealth and telecare;
• check out developments in Rochdale as they pursue integrated care in the context of Manchester’s new devolved powers;
• draw on the telehealth experience of a West Yorkshire GP; and
• make sure the position of carers and service users is not overlooked.
A potpourri, maybe…and hopefully of interest to readers. Details are on the TQG website here
Abstracts for Med-e-Tel now online
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Med-e-tel-logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Med-e-Tel Luxembourg, one of the longest continuously running health tech conferences in Europe (from 2004, certainly enough to qualify it as a Grizzled Pioneer), will be on this week from Wednesday to Friday, but if like this Editor you’ll be unfortunately far, far away, Prof. Maurice Mars, Richard E. Scott and Malina Jordanova of the organizing International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH), have published the speaker abstracts online and free (requiring only registration.) See them here.
The abstract researchers span the globe–Nigeria, Greece, Sweden, Czech Republic, Brazil, New Jersey (!)…plus several from UK (including Malcolm Fisk), Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, South Africa and Bulgaria. Orange Labs will present the data of their diabetic bike riders from the 2015 mHealth Grand Tour (MHT)–this was a high point of last November’s mHealth Summit/HIMSS Connected Health [TTA 13 Nov 15]. There’s also research on topics you don’t hear about in most conferences: smart cities, mHealth’s environmental impact, telenursing, adapting eHealth to serve those of differing abilities, even substituting smart technologies for physical restraints. So many unusual views are represented here. Also in this issue, Vol 4 (2016), is a wealth of research from Brazil.
More in the Med-e-Tel update press release.
Some New York-area events of interest April-May
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/iCAN-Global-EBF-logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Long-time Reader Howard Reis of telemedicine and teleradiology consultancy HEALTHePRACTICES has advised us of two free and related events in the Westchester (NY metro) area of interest to entrepreneurs. Both are 21 April at the BioInc Incubator at Westchester Medical College, Valhalla NY.
The first is the bi-monthly iCAN NY breakfast from 8:30 to 10:30 am with the overall topic of commercialization of technologies, with talks from Mr Reis on industry healthcare trends and Michael and Stanley Goldstein from law firm Becker & Poliakoff on corporate governance. Registration via email to Les Neumann, iCAN NY managing director, at les@icanny.net.
The second is a half day ‘Pitch to the Angels’ sponsored by Westchester Angels and Westfair Communications starting at 9:30am through lunch closing at 1:30pm for local entrepreneurs (Westchester and Fairfield counties). It is a two-part event open to startups, entrepreneurs, investors and spectators. You can sign up for the morning or the lunchtime session, or both. Three or four businesses will be pitching in the pm session. Information here. Registration here. Interested in pitching? Submit to be considered here but hurry–it closes 8 April. Contact is Danielle Brody at dbrody@westfairinc.com.
d.Health Summit on 4 May at the NY Academy of Sciences in NYC is focusing this year on a worthy topic, ‘Aging in Place.’ There’s a roster of speakers from the usual journalist, payer and academic suspects, perhaps too many for one day, for your $695 registration. Unfortunately your locally-based Editor, after several fruitless attempts to contact the organizers, cannot offer any further information beyond the website or an endorsement.
Having attended the much-touted MUSE-Klick Health NY evening soireé this past Wednesday, which attempted to be over the top (High Line District! Industrial Converted to Art Space!), it wound up being uninspiring (except for 18 year old Claire Wineland, a young CF patient), barely health-oriented and embarrassingly self-referential. Circulation’s non-emergency health transportation for the 3.6 million Americans who miss medical appointments weekly due to lack of transport, beside a good idea, also had a pretty cool Mini Clubman on display. I left at the break in search of the previous two hours+ spent (at the end of a busy day in a busy week). Caveat emptor increasingly applies to events, yes?
Keeping track of a multitude of Spring events–US, London, Scotland
It is less than eight weeks to ATA 2016 14-17 May and a reminder it’s time to register for this leading telemedicine and telehealth conference. Young professionals 35 and younger can save 37 percent on their registration, which they can promptly spend in Minneapolis. There are local delicacies like the Juicy Lucy (cheese-stuffed burger), which can be washed down with a drink at the Art Deco bar in the W Foshay. There’s always retail therapy at the Mall of America, which is a bit of a drive out of town. More local is walking off the calories in a visit to the Mill City Museum or Minnehaha Park. TTA is a media partner of #ATA2016. See sidebar for our link to information and registration.
On the European calendar, a reminder for Med-e-Tel Luxembourg on 6-8 April sponsored by ISfTeH (International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth). Online registration is still available through 1 April. Back in the US, at the same time is HX Refactored in Boston, a Health 2.0 conference on 5-6 April; this Editor attended when it was in Brooklyn. HealthImpact East in NYC, a tightly organized one day conference organized by Purpose Events, is on 17 May.
Last Wednesday in London, City University London opened their City TECS (Technology Enabled Care Studio) Smart Home Facility. According to the article, it’s one of the first ‘smart homes’ opened by a UK university, though this Editor must note that in the US, it was a phenomenon of the mid-2000s that popped up and endures today at universities like Florida, George Mason, Rochester, Iowa State and Washington State. It encompasses telehealth, telecare and complements the existing Clinical Skills Suite for healthcare education. A small disappointment is the apparent lack of diversity in the kit, as Tunstall and Philips are the only companies mentioned. News-Medical.net
A note to this Editor had details on an event a little outside our usual frame; the 2 June conference in Edinburgh organized by Scotland Policy Conferences, ‘Next steps for palliative and end of life care: access, delivery and integration’. “The recently published Strategic Framework for Action outlines standards and commitments for the palliative and end of life care people in Scotland can expect…including service improvement, early identification of needs and staff education.” Information and registration.
Add 4,500 miles and have breakfast in Dallas hosted by the always-interesting Hubert Zajicek at the Health Wildcatters seed accelerator. The monthly ‘Pulse’ event features education from a guest speaker, a local health startup’s pitch their company and networking. Next one up is 14 April. More information and subscription here.
UK Telehealthcare’s London MarketPlace
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/UKtelehealthcare.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]6 April, 10am – 3pm at London Fire Brigade HQ, 169 Union Street, London SE1 0LL
UK Telehealthcare is organizing its first MarketPlace for 2016 at the LFB to commemorate its 150 years of service to the community. About 30 exhibitors will be presenting the latest in assistive technologies for the home including telecare, sensor-based and safety/alert. Best of all, it is free to professionals in social care, healthcare and security. See PDF attached or contact Gerry Allmark.
The big show begins: HIMSS 2016
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/HIMSS-2016.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Now that Mobile World Congress, which increasingly features mobile healthcare tech like International CES, is wrapping, probably the world’s largest healthcare oriented conference, HIMSS, will be kicking off on Monday the 29th in Fabulous Las Vegas. ‘Connected health’ and security is a part of it, along with its traditional emphasis on HIT and traditional devices. If you are going, you’ve likely made your arrangements months ago. There’s a lot of guides out there on making the most of the conference, but this Editor recommends Roberta Mullins’ quick guide to HIMSS highlights in HIE Answers. For the fun parts of HIMSS and a link to the HIMSS16 mobile app, here’s Roberta again, plus HealthcareITNews’ roundup (though the chapter events are sold out).
We’ll be noting the news from our New York perch. If you have news, insights or comments you’d like to see here (objective and not promotional), please email this Editor. (These will be used at editorial discretion.) TTA has been for years a media partner of HIMSS Connected Health Conference/mHealth Summit (which, rumor has it, will happily be returning to December this year).
Upcoming will be the other US ‘big show’ in telehealth and telemedicine, ATA 2016, 14-17 May in Minneapolis, where we again are media partners. More on ATA in coming weeks!
Cybathlon: six ‘great races’ challenging assistive technologies
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/160215-bike-768×463.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]ETH Zurich – The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland–is challenging developers to a one-day Olympic-style competition using assistive technologies to navigate athletic tasks. The races, staged with ‘pilot’ athletes, test the advanced abilities of powered exoskeletons, powered arm prostheses, powered leg prostheses, brain controlled computer games, powered wheelchairs and muscle-stimulated electrical bikes (left, from last year’s competition rehearsal). The end result is to promote and showcase technologies which will be useful for the daily lives of persons with motor disabilities. The event will take place on 8 October at the Swiss Arena in Kloten, Zurich; ETH is also planning a symposium for researchers two days before the competition. ETF website, Medical News Today, GeekWire. Hat tip to Toni Bunting, TTA’s former Northern Ireland/TANN Ireland Editor.
European Alliance for Innovation Summit, Budapest, 14-16 June 2016
The European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) is holding its International Summit focused on eHealth (eHealth360°) from the 14th-16th June 2016 in Budapest, Hungary.
The summit is claimed to be a unique event bringing a 360 degree perspective on mobile and electronic health. It will gather experiences and innovative ideas from related projects and activities, to draw out the process of moving from innovative research to commercialization.
It aims to be a powerful and inspirational event that brings together industry representatives, researchers, vendors, mHealth and eHealth domain experts, clinicians, developers and others to plan, learn, network, collaborate, strategise and tap more effectively into the immense potential of the eHealth and mHealth domains. It will comprise (more…)
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