A piece of news
Leading European regions, including Catalonia, will be cooperating over the next three years to accelerate health technology innovation.
Yesterday Europe’s leading health technology regions launched the HealthTIES consortium to strengthen their research potential through collaborative networks of universities, research centers, companies and public administrations. The consortium will be funded for three years by the Regions of Knowledge initiative of the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program (7FP). The members comprise Medical Delta (the Netherlands), Life Science Zurich (Switzerland), Oxford & Thames Valley (the UK), Biocat (Catalonia) and, as a mentoring region, Észak-Alföld (Hungary).
From science to the market
The 21st century has brought major health challenges: an ageing population and untenable public healthcare systems. These demand concerted effort and major advances in innovation.
The new consortium will endeavor to accelerate the health care innovation cycle. The clusters in the member regions are already combining clinical research with information technology and engineering, through work drawing on industry, public administrations and consolidated science parks. To determine how to speed up the conversion of ideas into a products (i.e. bringing science to the market), HealthTIES members will analyze their capacities, policies and R&D needs. The results of these analyses will then be addressed by the participating clusters.
Health-TIES will also stimulate collaborations in research, training and infrastructure. It will include an exchange program for researchers and students. This program will include entrepreneurial training through joint education programs.
Four main therapeutic areas
Technology is becoming increasingly important for addressing health challenges. HealthTIES will be focused on four therapeutic areas: cardiovascular diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and infectious diseases. The latest scientific and technological advances in the molecular study, imaging, design, development and delivery of drugs have opened up a world of new and interesting opportunities. The consortium will apply these technologies to the four health areas mentioned above.
HealthTIES will involve end users (physicians and patients) in the development of new technologies. The new practices generated from this work will be shared among members and with other European regions.
Health-TIES members
HealthTIES brings together five regions with a strong combined presence in medical technology R&D: