TANN: Ireland

Coding challenge Health Hack Dublin taking place in June

Toni Bunting — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Business and Leadership have a feature on Dublin Health Hack, the coding challenge to seeks out innovative and inspiring health solutions.

Taking place on 22 and 23 of June, Health Hack Dublin is aimed at producing high-quality software that has the potential to transform healthcare. Healthcare professionals such as consultants, GPs, nursing staff and health managers will be invited to collaborate with developers on ideas and challenges that can benefit from the creative application of technology.

Poots welcomes closer cooperation with Finland on Healthcare Innovation

Toni Bunting — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:46:50 +0000

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been agreed between Northern Ireland and the City of Oulu in Finland to underpin closer co-operation on new healthcare initiatives.

Health Minister, Edwin Poots said the effective use of new technological solutions would be a focal point for both parties to the agreement.

The Minister stated, “Both Northern Ireland and the City of Oulu have embraced the Connected Health Ecosystem model to help stimulate healthcare innovation. I believe that this agreement will help to foster collaboration between our respective ecosystems, and to nurture and promote their future development.”

Mobile and Online Technology: Bridging the Gap to Lasting Behavior Change

Toni Bunting — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:25:19 +0000

One we missed before from Dublin based health technology start-up GetHealth, one of the Lucky 13 in the StartUp Health/GE program…

GetHealth, have released a new whitepaper which examines the potential of using mobile and online technologies as part of a workplace wellness program in order to achieve lasting changes in health-related behavior. Recent research has shown that simply communicating unbiased information to employees, while important, is not sufficient to create the kind of changes in behavior that are needed. This white paper suggests mobile and online technology can be used as a part of a wellness program to help bridge this gap to lasting behavior change. It can do this by making the process of getting healthy simple, social and fun. The whitepaper can be downloaded for free here.

Thanks to Telecare Aware’s Donna Cusano for the heads up!

Ulster Scientists Develop Smartphone ‘Assistance Agent’ For Older People

Toni Bunting — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:31:01 +0000

A research team, from the University of Ulster’s Computer Science Research Institute, at Jordanstown, is currently working on a smartphone app (dubbed as Help-on-Demand (HoD) assistance agent), which will provide location-based, context-sensitive and personalised assistance, with the aim of allowing older people to carry out and solve everyday tasks and problems.

Dr Liming Chen who leads the research team explained, “The HoD assistance agent is able to provide context-aware personalised help-on-demand assistance services. Each user will have a specifically tailored user interface, which will accommodate health problems such as dyslexia and poor vision, and also location based context such as internet connectivity.

It is hoped that the smartphone ‘assistance agent’ will be ready for real world trial and adoption by the end of the year.

Development of the HoD assistance agent is part of The Situated Adaptive Guidance for the Mobile Elderly (MobileSage) research project (http://mobilesage.eu/) funded by the European Ambient Assisted Living Joint Program (AAL JP)

NI Task And Finish Group Recommendations

Toni Bunting — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:11:00 +0000

The NI Task and Finish Group was established under the remit of the Connected Health and Prosperity Board, to aid the exploitation of opportunities from Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland. The group’s final report is now available from the European Connected Health Alliance’s website.

Currently the HSC budget is not viewed as an annual investment in the Northern Ireland economy. The group’s key finding is that it is critical that the HSC be acknowledged as an economic contributor in the same way as many of NI’s other economic sectors (i.e. advanced materials, aerospace etc.)

Key Task And Finish Group Recommendations

1. DHSSPS and DETI to create a new overarching Health and Life Sciences Strategy for Northern Ireland…

2. Establish a HILS Hub (Health Innovation Life Sciences Hub) to co-ordinate and drive individual projects and programmes coming out of the overall agreed strategy…

3. Establishment of new Health Innovation Infrastructure of the following six key economic attractors in Northern Ireland for indigenous and FDI companies to complement new HILS Hub:

Dynamic Action Register Online (DARO)
International Health Analytics Centre (Int. HAC)
Smart Connected Residential Community (SCRC)
Connected Health Integration Platform (CHIP)
Clinical and Device Trials
Continued development and exploitation of hard IP such as new drugs and medical devices

Report launched on boosting the economy through health innovation

Toni Bunting — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:30:06 +0000

Health and Social Care is a significant driver for innovation and growth in Northern Ireland, a major new report has found. ‘The Economy and Jobs Initiative Task and Finish Group’ report was launched on Wednesday evening by Health Minister Edwin Poots and Economy Minister Arlene Foster.

The Economy and Jobs Initiative Task and Finish Group was established to identify opportunities to support economic development through the HSC sector in Northern Ireland. The Group was chaired by Brian O’Connor, Chair of the European Connected Health Alliance and has seven other members.

The Group held a series of meetings with representatives from the HSC including the five Trusts and the business and academic sectors. It also held a workshop with a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the emerging proposals.

The final report makes seven recommendations which include: creating a new overarching Health and Life Sciences Strategy to increase levels of innovation and collaboration with Health and Life Sciences private sector and academia; establish a Health Innovation Life Sciences (HILS) Hub to coordinate and drive individual projects and programmes; and establishing a resource dedicated to international collaboration, to build key relationships and identify new funding streams exploring a more novel approach to managing risk.

Big data could mean big health cost savings and better outcomes

Toni Bunting — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:18:10 +0000

Picture a scenario where, by collecting the right data and using today’s sophisticated analytics, our health system could predict when a patient with chronic conditions might get very ill and require hospitalisation, and intervene before that happens, thus saving the health system millions, and improving the outcomes for patients. A pipe dream? No, it is actually happening in the Basque country in Spain, where an e-health pilot is using today’s big-data technologies to do just that.

eHealth week offers opportunity to showcase NI, says Poots

Toni Bunting — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:18:14 +0000

We must seize the opportunities offered by eHealth Week to promote innovation, economic growth and employment in Northern Ireland. That was the key message today from Health Minister Edwin Poots ahead of a round of high-profile engagements in Belfast and Dublin to mark eHealth Week. Over 2,500 international delegates and 100 exhibitors, drawn mainly from the EU and North America, are expected at the international conference which opens today in Dublin.

Speaking today before he attended the High Level Conference in Dublin Castle, Minister Poots said: “The events this week will provide opportunities for the promotion of innovation in healthcare; for the promotion of economic growth and employment opportunities; for enhancing cooperation with the EU and the US on eHealth; and for the promotion of Northern Ireland internationally.”

The Minister has invited EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs Tonio Borg to travel to Northern Ireland to show him developments in innovation in Health, in particular in the context of the Northern Ireland’s Connected Health and Prosperity agenda. Later in the week, Mr Poots will join with Economy Minister Arlene Foster in Belfast to launch a report which identifies the opportunities for economic development within the Health and Social Care sector. He will give the keynote address to hundreds of delegates at the NI Connected Health Ecosystem International Event at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall.

The Minister added: “I believe that in Northern Ireland we now have the necessary elements in place to enable innovation to become fully embedded into healthcare service delivery. I believe that we can now begin to realise our Connected Health and Prosperity vision, and in so doing significantly enhance the quality of health and social care for all the people of Northern Ireland while at the same time boosting the local economy.”

Cork tech event to focus on robotics, cloud and big data

Toni Bunting — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:09:20 +0000

Not-for-profit tech industry group it@cork is hosting a technology summit in Cork this Wednesday to home in on future trends in areas such as cloud computing, robotics, big data and digital media.

Dubbed the European Technology Summit, the event will feature speakers from companies such as Google, IBM, Amazon and Trend Micro, plus speakers from Irish companies, such as the email marketing software provider Newsweaver.

Topics that will be up for discussion on the day are big data, social media in business, cloud and web security, as well as future trends in areas such as robotics.

HealthXL Accelerator

Toni Bunting — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:24:04 +0000

Today is your last chance to apply to the HealthXL Global Gathering Challenge for a fantastic opportunity to pitch at HealthXL Global Gathering 2013 in Dublin May 30th before 300 investors and influencers, including Darren Hite, John Nosta, Ashifi Gogo and Abir Sen. Spread the word!

Deadline Today at 11:59 pm CET/GMT+1

Apply here: HealthXL