The Pannon Business Network Association (PBN) (HU) organized the third study visit and workshop in the frame of the INTENCIVE project (http://www.interregeurope.eu/intencive/).

The INTENCIVE project addresses the societal challenge of ageing society combined with decreasing population in rural and other remote areas. There is a need for new user-friendly models, practices and tools for providing different types of high-quality health services accessible to all citizens which the project wants to promote. INTENCIVE focuses on Research and innovation in the Interreg Europe Programme just like the Medtech4 Europe project (M4E) of our agency.

The event was held on 25th of February and covered the following themes:

  • best of the good practices in e-health,
  • data analysis process on development of the alarm system for elderly,
  • building regional resilience – a shift from automotive industry toward health industry,
  • network of the European Digital Innovation Hubs in e-health.

Source: https://www.iem.de/en/produkt/econnect/

From the introduced good practices two are Hungarian success stories. It is worth mentioning that in every case we can speak about medical technology developments which are closely related to the M4E project and its objectives.

The first practice was the alarm system for elderly which was presented by the representative of the Pálos Károly Social Service Center and Child Welfare Service, Szombathely. They have a system with emergency call devices such as simple emergency watches or monitoring watches with base stations. These’re developed especially for medical purposes.

IEM eHealth Solutions was also presented. The company offers a modular system for elderly people which consists of hardware, software, data management, coaching and a service package. The company gathers people’s health conditions to the company’s server through patients’ devices which can communicate to each other via Bluetooth. If it’s required, they can provide their own developed tools. For example: “eConnect box”. Then they can share with a third party (e.g., hospital) or upload onto their own platform and send the health service out, if there is an emergency. They also have a clinical research department which offers professional assistance for the implementation of technical solutions, and ongoing support during clinical trials.

The next good practice was KÖSSZ which is a voluntary community service application. The app developed through the cooperation between PBN and Faircare in the frame of Ageing Well in the Digital World (AAL) Partnership. In Hungary, 50 hours of community work has to be accomplished by high school students which also means complicated paperwork. Thanks to this app this procedure is much easier and quicker. The students can register themselves in the app, then choose from the list of options.

Source: http://szombathely2030.hu/en/szombathely-2030-program/

Ms. Adrienn Bokányi, economic consular from the city of Szombathely highlighted the 100 Intelligent Cities Challenge and Szombathely2030 Programme with what they are able to influence the local policy. The aims among others of both programs are to stimulate healthcare. One side these focus on rehabilitation and on the other side try to attract healthcare companies as industrial restructuring with a strong research, development and innovation (RDI) and educational background.

Furthermore, Szombathely will cooperate with the University of Pécs (UP) for educational and RDI purposes likewise STRIA collaborates with UP in the M4E project.

The last presentation was about the network of the European Digital Innovation Hubs in e-health which concentrate on digital health and digital health technologies. The main goals are to support European relationships and facilitate technology transfer actions. This informal network was launched in October 2020 and already has 21 members across Europe and additional 2 companies would like to join.

The webinar was interesting and STRIA received valuable information which will be relevant for the implementation of the M4E project.

The Medtech4 Europe project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and Hungary within the Interreg Europe Programme.