HealthTIES is an international medical technology consortium made up of four European regions that aimed to address the main health challenges facing Europe in the 21st century: ageing population and the sustainability of healthcare systems. The goal was to get scientists, doctors, engineers, industrial partners and service providers involved in the same project.
The consortium, which was operational through 2013, was funded through the Regions of Knowledge program under the European Commission 7th Framework Program.
Four of the main European regions in this arena participated in the project: Life Science Zurich Business Network (Switzerland), Medical Delta (Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom) and Biocat (Catalonia). Later on, they were joined by Észak-Alföld (Hungary), as a mentored region.
HealthTIES promoted innovation in health technology, transfer from concept to product (from science to market), collaborative research, training and infrastructures. Moreover, it also included joint educational programs that featured entrepreneurial training for its members. Within the consortium, Biocat was in charge of the methodology to assess medical technology in Europe as well as disseminating and raising awareness of the project.
Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and infections were the four main therapeutic areas HealthTIES focused on.
