Metabo Project
Consortium Partners
The METABO Consortium gathers an impressive amount of expertise and top level skills at a truly Pan-European level. It includes 22 Partners from 9 EU member states, including
- renowned academic institutions (UKUO, UPAT, AU, UK, PRM, UPM, UPVLC, ICCS-NTUA) which will lead the forward-thinking research goals of the Integrated Project,
- globally oriented ICT companies, several of which are SMEs (MEDTRONIC, IDS, MEGA, MICRODATA, MEDMARK, DD Synergy, SWORD, R&S, WM, SATE) which will provide the technological power to drive the complex implementation and integration tasks of the project
- healthcare organizations and hospitals (AUSLM, HCSC, UK),
- patient’s associations (ORT) and
- outstanding companies in high-tech sectors (FERRARI, in Italy) which will guarantee relentless spur to the conduction of validation and exploitation activity at the highest level of ambition.
| Participant role | Participant name | Short name | Logo | Category | Country | Web site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project coordinator | Medtronic Iberica SA | MEDTRONIC |  |
Medical technology provider | Spain | www.medtronic.com |
| Contractor | IDS Scheer | IDS |  |
BPM and ITC technology provider | Czech Republic | www.ids-scheer.cz |
| Contractor | University of KUOPIO (Biosignal Analysis and Medical Imaging Group, Department of Physics) | UKU |  |
Academic partner – biosignals | Finland | bsamig.uku.fi/ |
| Contractor | Mega Electronics Ltd. | MEGA |  |
Monitoring technology developer | Finland | www.megaemg.com |
| Contractor | Microdata Advanced Technology SA | MICRODATA |  |
IT provider and integrator | Greece | www.microdata.com.gr |
| Contractor | University of Patras | UoP |  |
Academic partner – data analysis and modelling | Greece | www.upatras.gr |
| Contractor | MEDMARK | MEDM | Medical technology provider | Slovakia | ||
| Contractor | FERRARI INNOVATION | FERRARI |  |
Car manufacturer and innovator | Italy | www.ferrariworld.com |
| Contractor | University of Augsburg | UA |  |
Academic partner – applied informatics | Germany | mm-werkstatt.informatik.uni-augsburg.de |
| Contractor | d.d. Synergy Hellas S.A. | ddS |  |
Integrated IT solutions provider | Greece | www.ddsynergy.gr |
| Contractor | ORT FRANCE | ORT |  |
Worldwide network for education and training | France | www.ortinnovation.com |
| Contractor | Charles University | UK |  |
Pilot partner – Medical Faculty & Faculty Hospital | Czech Republic | www.lf2.cuni.cz/ |
| Contractor | University of Parma | PRM | Academic partner – Medical Faculty | Italy | www.unipr.it/ | |
| Contractor | Clinic Hospital Biomedical Research Foundation Hospital Clínico San Carlos | HCSC | Academic and pilot partner – Hospital | Spain | ||
| Contractor | SWORD Technologies S.A. | SWORD |  |
IT provider and integrator | Luxembourg | www.sword-group.com |
| Contractor | R&S INFO | R&S |  |
IT developer and consultant | Italy | www.rsinfo.it |
| Contractor | WORLD MATCH | WM |  |
IT web application developer | Malta | www.wmsoft.eu |
| Contractor | Universitad Politecnica de Madrid | UPM |  |
Academic partner – biomedical sciences | Spain | www.lst.tfo.upm.es |
| Contractor | AUSL of Modena | AUSLM |  |
Public healthcare service provider | Italy | www.ausl.mo.it |
| Contractor | Universidad Politecnica de Valencia | UPVLC |  |
ICT applications research partner | Spain | www.upv.es |
| Contractor | National Technical University of Athens (Image, Video and Multimedia Systems Lab – ICCS/NTUA) | ICCS |  |
Academic partner – Multimedia Systems Lab | Greece | www.image.ece.ntua.gr |
| Contractor | S.A.T.E. Systems and Advanced Technologies Engineering S.r.l. | SATE |  |
RTD & systems engineering and simulation | Italy | www.sate-italy.com |
MEDTRONIC IBERICA SA (MEDTRONIC)
Country: Spain
Medtronic is the world’s leading medical technology company, providing lifelong solutions for people with chronic disease. With deep roots in the treatment of heart disease, Medtronic now provides a wide range of products and therapies that help physicians solve the most challenging, lifelimiting medical problems and restore health, extend life, and alleviate pain. Medtronic Ibérica S.A. operates in Spain distributing products, performing clinical research and running educational programs to medical professionals involved in the areas and therapies of our expertise. The workforce in Spain is now more than 170 employees.
Medtronic treasures expertise in implantable systems & clinical research along with a fluent relationship with key opinion leaders and experts in the metabolic disease and diabetes field. Medtronic is also the producer of devices for glycemic index and glucose measurement and infusion and in particular of the only FDA approved device so far for continuous glucose monitoring, Medtronic's MiniMed system and of the new device for Real Time glucose monitor and „intelligent“ insulin pump Guardian RT, also approved by FDA.
IDS Scheer (IDS)
Country: Czech Republic
IDS Scheer group offers complex strategic solutions, consultancy, and IT and hosting services for the improvement of company processes and support of information systems. IDS Scheer was established in 1984 by Prof. August-Wilhelm Scheer and currently encompasses round 4,000 customers in more than 50 countries of the world. IDS Scheer CR is a Czech cutting edge company active at the regional market since 1994 covering IT, process, solution and industry technologies and expertise in terms of complex solutions for business process improvement supported by the company own software products based on ARIS Platform. After integration in the IDS Scheer Group in 2002–2003, IDS Scheer ČR had established and applied a Quality Management System for Strategic consulting business process improvement and comprehensive solutions of supporting information systems according to ISO 9001:2000. Strengthening the sector of corporate IS and Strategic Asset Management complemented ideally the portfolio of services, products and competences applicable within all segments of the Czech and CEE market focusing on public sector areas and important vertical industries.
Since 2001 IDS Scheer CR has been participating in the European Commission projects focused on the development of information technologies within the 5th and 6th framework of Research & Technology Development (RTD) programmes with the nutrition, inclusion and health orientation. Thanks to the expertise and experience collected in the international consortia, we have created a potential for further extension of activities in work on European projects supported by a strong and leading global technological company profiled in the areas of information technology and business processes. In the technological area we provide state-of-the-art technology supporting projects along with analytic and implementation services. We focus on engineering, technological implementation and validation of projects in areas of knowledge management, repositories, web technologies, security, ontologies, and communication collaborating closely with Czech and foreign universities, research institutes, and companies. IDS Scheer ČR has got a strong know how in the areas of project management and coordination, quality management and evaluation, and dissemination and exploitation. List of activities related to European funded projects: technological and business partner in: DROMEAS, HEALTHYMARKET, DICTATE, CARDITIS, HEALTH PLUS, ORTHOSIM (eTEN), support of PHARMACOV (eTEN) Project Coordinator: DICTATE, HEALTH PLUS.
University of KUOPIO (UKU)
Country: Finland
The University of Kuopio has an international reputation in the fields of health, environment and well-being, with particular strengths in biotechnology, biosciences and molecular medicine. The University contains five faculties: Business and Information Technology, Medicine, Natural and Environmental Sciences, Pharmacy, and Social Sciences. The University boasts several world class research units, for example in the field of diabetes research. The degree programme in medicine was designated one of the high quality units of Finnish university education for the period 2004–2006. The University of Kuopio is also the most prolific postgraduate research training centre in Finland. Prof. Pasi Karjalainen (the participant) is the leader of Biosignal Analysis and Medical Imaging Group which is part of the Department of Physics, University of Kuopio.
The research group is located in Kuopio Science Park which is a focal point of innovative education, creative research and expertise projects managed by the University, University Hospital, Polytechnic, national research institutes, Technology Centre Teknia Ltd., and over 160 private companies. The research group of Prof. Karjalainen has participated in several national and international projects where the aim has been to develop signal analysis methods for evaluating mental and physical performance and wellbeing. The main focus in the methodological development has been, on the one hand, on the analysis of event-related potentials and, on the other hand, on time-varying analysis of no stationary bio-signals. Cardiovascular signals, especially HRV, have been of special interest. Another main topic of the group has been time-varying modelling of EEG and single trial analysis of evoked potentials. In addition to methodological development, the research group has also developed a versatile bio-signal analysis software which includes tools e.g. for EEG, eye blinks, and HRV. The HRV software has been distributed for free for researchers and clinicians all over the world for over five years now and it has currently over 1800 users.
MEGA ELECTRONICS (MEGA)
Country: Finland
Mega has long experience to develop and manufacture accurate ambulatory/laboratory monitoring technology for measuring bio-signal parameters such us EMG, EEG, ECG, acceleration, force, joint angle, and inclination. Mega has delivered monitoring technology since 1983 to more than 35 countries worldwide. www.megaemg.com, www.femiscan.com
24 years history to develop medical technology www.megaemg.com
MICRODATA (MICRODATA)
Country: Greece
Microdata was founded in 2002 by private investors with long experience in the Greek Market areas of Power, Telecommunications and IT Technology. Microdata’s scope is the supply of fully integrated high technology systems towards both the public and private sector. Microdata offers the following products and services:
Supply, Installation and Support of IT Equipment & Net Servers Microdata’s collaboration with the greatest hardware and software suppliers (HP, IBM, DELL, FUJITSU-SIEMENS, Microsoft Certified Partner, LINUX, CISCO, ALCATEL, HP, LOTUS NOTES), allows the company to supply high technology equipment and to materialize machine networks by certified information technology technicians. Moreover, Microdata’s specialized technical department undertakes responsibly the maintenance and the service of the computerized equipment, in order to assure its customers’ equipment unhindered operation. In addition, the technical support conducts either through individual maintenance contracts, either through direct calls to the help desk of Microdata (per call support).
Active Equipment of Voice & Image Data Strategically important collaborations of Microdata with firms such as «Alcatel (Golden Business Partner) Panasonic, Cisco, 3COM, Zyxel, Dlink, LevelOne etc, concerning private branch exchanges and active network equipment Hubs-Switches-routers-Gateways which assure to its customers technological and financial suitable solutions:
- Consulting Services to customers regarding both their needs estimation and the decision making about solution planning, which cover up the united voice and data networks.
- Connection and computerization Integrated solutions corresponding to enterprise level, and to core chosen solutions level.
- Planning, supply, installation and maintenance of voice, image, and data networks.
- Data network systems security services corresponding to all the structural elements needed.
Development and support of software applications Customized Solution Analysis and Development, which are being implement by our company’s Software expert team. In order to achieve that, they use contemporary development equipment (Microsoft Visual Studio) of open architecture in combination with relational data basis (SQL Server 2000, Oracle). Supply, installation and configuration of programs ERP/CRM, aiming to the integrated utilization of information and human resource in a contemporary business.
Fiber Optic Networks, Power Line Communication and Bandwidth Networks Microdata cooperates officially with PPC (Public Power Company) on the installation of PPC’s. Fiber Optic Network (Backbone). Microdata offers and implements development procedures of hubs capacity (Survey and Project management, construction — installation (landscaping activities, wire implementation, configuration of habitation telecommunication equipment areas), connections – measurements — certification and project delivery.
Microdata’s collaboration with the greatest hardware and software suppliers (HP, IBM, DELL, FUJITSU-SIEMENS, Microsoft Certified Partner, LINUX, CISCO, ALCATEL, HP, LOTUS NOTES), allows the company to supply high technology equipment and to materialize machine networks by certified information technology technicians. The company has produced a great number of diverse network communication products with the integration of multiple communication protocols and hardware devices. Strategically important collaborations of Microdata with firms such as «Alcatel (Golden Business Partner) Panasonic, Cisco, 3COM, Zyxel, Dlink, LevelOne etc, allowed Microdata participate in the implementation of mobile network integrated solutions and the development of the necessary middleware platforms. Microdata specializes in the area of application analysis and software development, having a qualified and expert development team that will be used to implement METABO software. The company participates in many commercial projects with the assignment of implementing ERP/CRM applications, content-based management systems and repositories, knowledge indexing and document management systems, knowledge management applications and utilities/tools to be used within the knowledge extraction platforms, process-based workflow systems and webintegrated dynamic applications. This expertise will be transferred to METABO knowledge base and knowledge extraction interfaces.
University of Patras (UOP)
Country: Greece
The department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Patras was founded in1967 and since 1995 it was expanded and starting offering curricula in Aerospace Engineering. It has 42 faculty members who supervise the research of about 100 post-graduate students and about 10 postdoctoral workers. Most of the research funding comes from the EEC via its competitive R&D programmes in close collaboration with numerous European industrial and academic research centers. The department operates its own computer centre with a large number of workstations and PC’s.
The division of Applied Mechanics & Biomechanics has a very active programme of research in the fields of Engineering and Advanced Materials, Computational Mechanics, Biomechanics, Structural Analysis, Wave Propagation and Non Destructive Evaluation. The research in Biomechanics is focused on Advanced Biomedical Materials, Prosthetics, Ultrasound Diagnosis, Computer-aided Design of Biomedical Instruments and Early Diagnosis Systems.
MEDMARK (MEDMARK)
Country: Slovakia
Medmark s.r.o. was established in April 2005 and the main field of our activity is IT focused on medical technologies. Our company acts on the market on the field of medical information technology. Our purpose is to deliver reliable and high quality products with belonging high quality services, to realize long-term partnership with the clients and suppliers and to maintain our competitiveness by continual development and following the requirements of the international market and the customers. We became renowned in the medical information field with complex hospital information system MedSolution developed by IBM and nationalized by our company. We are after the successful participation of some tenders, which besides implementation of MedSolution software include services connected with installation and operation of complex hospital information system. Our company achieves efficiency with experiences gained in medical field, our capable experts and effort for reformation.
Main activity:
- Developing the MedSolution information system, establishing the integrated system in the hospitals
- Realization of electronic medical record and the automatic patient registration
- Following high technologies (information technology, telecommunication, mobile technology)
- Expanding MedSolution to diagnostic areas (e.g. GLIMS labor system, PACS radiology system)
- Developing economic, controlling and management subsystems (SAP, KVIK, Eco-Med)
- Implementating and operating informatics systems beyond medical informatics (e.g. libraries, local governments) using modern, internet based technologies (e-business)
- Assuring outsourcing services
Related services
- Operating informatics systems from the hospital and remotely (ASP)
- Professional informatics consulting for the medical organizations
- Helping the management with professional counsel to improve the hospital's strategic position and cost effectiveness operation
MEDMARK is experienced in integrated ICT solutions for the healthcare system and in particular the MedSolution platform. MedSolution was originally developed by IBM, as an integrated Hospital Information System (HIS) based on IBM's 40 years of experience in hospital IT. e-MedSolution is an enhanced version of this system, using IBM WebSphere and JAVA technologies. e-MedSolution is an Electronic Patient Workfile System, or a system in which patient's historical and current data are organized according to the problem/symptom/illness/diagnosis structure. e-MedSolution is a web-based application, which means that in addition to users being able to access its services from the hospital's network (VPN/LAN), it is also available through the Internet with mobile devices (PDA, Tablet PC) and also with GPRS mobile Internet. In e-MedSolution, secure data access is ensured by 64-bit encryption common to banking card transactions, but it is also capable of using hardware keys.
FERRARI Innovation (FERRARI)
Country: Italy
Ferrari is a symbol of technical excellence thanks to its reputation as a pioneer in automotive engineering. Since its foundation in 1947, Ferrari has pursued a policy of growth and innovation from its original factory site in Maranello (Italy) and has recently been awarded the A.T. Kearney „Best Innovator 2005“ prize for “culture and organization of innovation”. Ferrari, with its 2800 employees, constantly pushes the envelope of performance, driving emotions, technology and design on its road cars and is the only car constructor to have competed in every single season of the Formula 1 World Championship since 1950. For many years it was also the only team to build every part of its own single-seaters, from the chassis to the engine, gearboxes and suspension. Ferrari currently builds over 4,500 cars a year with production split between the V8-engined cars (F430 and F430 Spider) and the V12-engined cars, the 599 GTB Fiorano 2-seater berlinetta and the flagship 2+2 612 Scaglietti.
The Prancing Horse now represents one of the symbols of Italian industry at its finest, thanks to the ongoing development which daily contributes to the enhancement of the driving experience. The most obvious results of this have been the adoption of the F1 gearbox for the first time on a road car in 1997 and the more recent use of the “manettino” switch on the F430, which allows to manually change the car configuration according to the driver’s needs.
Furthermore, Ferrari recently increased its innovation capacity by creating a specialist inter-professional working group, the Innovation Team, whose role is to investigate, assess and ease the transfer of Future and Emerging Technologies into next generations of Ferrari’s road cars. By taking part in METABO, Ferrari aims at developing and gathering new knowledge on the set of technologies and methodologies that foster a more pleasurable and safer driving experience to its clients, especially during physical, cognitive and emotive conditions that might lead to deterioration in performance (e.g. metabolic deficiencies).
Ferrari’s contribution to METABO can thus be summed up as follows:
- definition of a comprehensive demonstrative case-study, such as the driving experience, able to unify the environmental monitoring technologies and methodologies developed within METABO
- R&D capabilities for the development of a safer vehicle definition of controlled (simulated and on track) and real conditions for system’s validation
University of Augsburg (UAU)
Country: Germany
The Faculty of Applied Informatics at Augsburg University stands for the combination of core informatics with applied subjects: economical informatics, media informatics, geo informatics and environmental information under one roof. This broad network is a unique feature in Bavaria and in Germany. Within the Elite Network Bavaria (ENB), the Faculty of Applied Informatics is conducting as a lead manager the Elite Study Program Software Engineering in cooperation with TU Munich and LMU Munich Informatics. In addition, they are linked with the Elite Study Program Financial Management, Information and Information Technology and the Competence Centre for financial services (WiWi).
The working tasks assigned to Augsburg University will be conducted by the Chair for Multimedia Concepts and their Applications. The chair is part of the Faculty for Applied Computer Science and has a long-term experience in the design, the implementation and evaluation of multimodal user interfaces and intelligent interactive systems. The team is a member of the European Network of Excellence on Emotion Research Humaine and involved in the FP6 projects e-Circus (Education through Characters with emotional- Intelligence and Role-playing Capabilities that Understand Social interaction) and Callas (Conveying Affectiveness in Leading-Edge Living Adaptive Systems).
Synergy (DDS)
Country: Greece
d.d. Synergy Hellas S.A (www.ddsynergy.gr) was established in 1999 with the main activity of the company being the provision of integrated information technology solutions based on the SAP software. Since January 2001, Ideal Group and Vectis Capital participate in the share capital of d.d. Synergy Hellas. Ideal Group is a major IT Holding Company, listed in the Athens Stock Exchange Market and Vectis Capital is a venture capital firm with funds raised by ALPHA Bank, Leventis Group and the Martinos Group. In January 2001, d.d. Synergy Cyprus (www.ddsynergy.com.cy) was established in Limassol. The company is fully owned by d.d. Synergy Hellas.
Core competence of d.d. Synergy Hellas is the design, development and deployment of integrated IT solutions. These can be considered as the combination of hardware systems, software solutions, configuration services, and training and support services aiming to assure secure system environments for conducting business using cutting edge technologies. The substantial international and cross-industry experience of our Consultants has made d.d. Synergy Hellas one of the major SAP implementers in the south-eastern European region.
ORT (ORT)
Country: France
Member of World ORT (worldwide network for education and training acting in more than 100 countries/450 sites/more than 26 000 collaborators), ORT France is an NGO expert in innovative strategies involving ICT and is involved in research, consulting and technology services with more than 500 collaborators. ORT France has French Ministry and public bodies’ agreements and has set up close collaboration with IT and Telecom companies, with industrial leaders and health professionals from the whole Europe and outside EU (like the Harvard School of GVT and MIT Boston Media Lab)
ORT presence in e-health diseases and services: Diabetes case
ORT has a long-term partnership with AFD (The French Association for Diabetics, www.afd.asso.fr that represents 133 associations located in 21 regions). AFD co-operates with national bodies and administrations to provide the best follow-up to improve the quality of life for the diabetic patients. ORT supports AFD in several actions in e-healthcare operations and personalization of services: support to patients, education and resources for social workers, links with the medical staff and actions with R&D departments.
Charles University (UK)
Country: Czech Republic
Charles University in Prague (founded 1348) is traditionally a major centre of specialized education and scientific research in Central Europe. 2nd Medical Faculty has taken on both the 650-years long history of medical education and research in Prague and the 110-years old history of a specialized centre for paediatric medicine.
Together with the associated Faculty Hospital in Motol, is presently the most modern health centre and centre of health education in the Czech Republic. Founded originally as a paediatric branch of the Prague general hospital (and medical faculty) and still preserving its sound as the superspecialized paediatric centre serving the population of Czech Republic, it was complemented by a large complex of clinics for adult patients in the late 1990’s. Today, Motol is the most modern major hospital in the country with 2350 beds, 700 of them paediatric, and with 60000 yearly admissions. This large medical centre equipped with up-to-date medical technology is the home of a number of specialized teams, some of them unique in Central- European context (paediatric cardiology, paediatric stomatology etc.). Several programmes aimed at genetic and developmental aspects of health (diabetology, genetics of both rare and complex diseases etc.) have been started in the last years. Thanks to the history of Czechoslovakia and to the traditional broader collaboration of specialists in paediatric care in Central Europe, the faculty has numerous contacts to central and eastern Europe, maintained from the past and currently developed through a number of professional societies, Charles University nowadays returns into its role of a natural crossroad of European science and research.
The first chair in Medical Informatics in the Czech Republic was created at the 2nd Medical Faculty in 1991, and interactions of information technologies and medicine are one of the broader programmes of the faculty. More recent projects in this field include development of Computer- Aided Diagnose Support Tools, development of electronic health records for follow-up of patients with rare diseases, tools for surveillance in epidemiology etc.
The main field of interest in the health informatics research group is representation of knowledge, and ways to make represented knowledge available for interaction (with different bits of knowledge and with patientspecific data). In this field, the group has participated in the SMARTIE project of the FW5, and here also lies its currently most important project, the Czech Medigrid. Various modelling tasks (modelling physiological response to exercise, modelling of radiation therapy) are also addressed by the group. The group currently develops a system to evaluate measurements in molecular biology both on the routine level and for long-run monitoring of results; auxologists in Motol use a computer representation of the model of interdependence of measured anthropometric parameters for assessment of biological age.
University of Parma (PRM)
Country: Italy
The Università degli Studi di Parma will participate to the Project through its Department of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the Medical Faculty. This Department is one of the oldest in Italy. The medical school has a large number of students (approximately 1200). It has a leading position in medical training and a good reputation for research and teaching. The Department is organised in four operational Units (Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Endocrinology and Haematology) and has multidisciplinary competence and professional skill in the various disciplines above mentioned, including research personnel and teaching staff from the faculties of Medicine and Surgery and Biology. The department includes about 30 researchers from the school of Biomedical Science and Medicine, and about 50 fellows in Internal Medicine.
The Internal Medicine Unit Research is mainly focused on the following themes: cardiovascular risk factors, mechanisms and treatment of cardiovascular disease, with special interest on diabetes and on the relationship between Insulin Resistance and cardiovascular disease. This topic is under evaluation in a large population study, during a longitudinal follow-up. The Internal Medicine Unit has also extensive experience on nutrition and metabolic diseases and holds a diabetology unit for care and education of diabetic patients, with specific individual and group-based educational paths and a specific experience in cardiovascular complications.
Other aspects of the research include the inflammatory gene expression in white blood cells and protein expression profile, in cell culture studies in order to improve our knowledge on cellular effect of risk factors in high risk population.
The research ranges from cell culture studies to define human disease processes, patient investigation and clinical trial, thus facilitating the application of based research finding to in vivo disease models. The Internal Medicine Unit has a good infrastructure and facilities and strong collaborations for interdisciplinary research with groups focused on molecular biology and genetics.
Hospital Clínico San Carlos (HCSC)
Country: Spain
The “Hospital Clínico San Carlos” is a national and international reference health, educational and research centre located in Madrid (Spain). The hospital counts with more than 5.500 professionals, attends more than 500.000 patients, and includes 965 beds, 214 external consultancy premises, 30 operating rooms and last generation diagnostic equipment.
The specific area involved in the METABO project will be the Endocrinology Service that will be mainly responsible of carrying out the pilot 2 for patients with diabetes type II in a stable situation. The Endocrinology Service of the “Hospital Clínico San Carlos” has been a referent in the endocrinology field during the last 30 years. The Service is very much involved in educational activities, including residents training, doctorate studies and collaborations with other educational centers. Additionally, the Endocrinology Service has been developing an intense research activity since the 70s that has result in numerous publications and international collaborations with prestigious entities and Nobel Prize winners. The Endocrinology Service includes three different areas: endocrinology, diabetes and nutrition.
SWORD (SWORD)
Country: Luxembourg
SWORD Technologies S.A. (http://www.sword-technologies.com) is a Luxembourg- based IT company with major offices located in Brussels and in Luxembourg. The company was founded in 1999 and in 2006 it has reached the size of 250 employees and an annual turnover of € 28.7 million. The company belongs to the SWORD Group (http://www.swordgroup. com) of IT companies, which is listed in the Paris Stock Exchange and with major presence in France, U.K., Benelux, U.S.A and India. In late 2006 the Group employed 1,500 IT professionals, with an annual turnover of € 140 million.
The core business activities of SWORD Technologies are the following fields:
- System integration and tailored-made software development
- Enterprise Content Management and Document Management
- E-Government and E-commerce application development
- Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse applications
A notable project demonstrating the breadth and depth of the company’s expertise in delivering mission-critical pan-European applications is the European Commission Taxations and Customs Directorate DEMCO applications, which have been developed in the framework of a 5-year, € 20 million contract and are distributed and used in all 25 EU Member States.
All EU-funded R&D activities of the SWORD Group are managed by SWORD Technologies. The company is a partner in the following three IST projects that started in 2006: IST- 27510 “ASSIST ASsociation Studies assisted by Inference and Semantic Technologies”, IST- 27299 “RIGHT – Reducing diagnosis and treatment risks by leveraging knowledge and practices of Health Care Professionals” and IST-27195 “I-WAY – Intelligent co-operative systems in cars for road safety”. Furthermore, the company had been admitted as a partner in late 2005 in the IST-507863 project “PALLIANET – Decision Support and Knowledge driven Collaborative practices in Palliative Care”.
R&S INFO (R&S)
Country: Italy
R&S INFO is an IT Company based in Parma and Milano, Italy, offering integrated IT solutions and consulting services. Both an engineering and a management consulting company, R&S conceptualizes, develops and implements bottom-line solutions for business and IT transformation.
The main technological sectors of know-how and experience are:
- Medical and Healthcare IT-intensive Systems, such as telemedicine applications, particularly in the emergency/urgency sector and the sector of home-care;
- Web based applications for eHealth services oriented to citizens;
- Corporate Knowledge Management Systems, able to facilitate and enhance the transfer of knowledge from implicit to explicit form and vice-versa, in order to transform corporate knowledge into tangible business benefits;
- Electronic Performance Support Systems, aimed at conveying the paradigm of just-in-time, just-in-place learning, obtained through a strong integration of educational support tools with the computer equipment regularly employed by work performers;
- Business Process Re-engineering and Workflow Management System, providing companies the means to discover and sustain business best practices, particularly in large organisations; IDEF0 and UML methodologies are exploited in this area, ISO-9000 Quality Systems. Strongly linked to BPR services, the set up of ISO- 9000 compliant quality systems is normally obtained by customers as a side-product of BPR analysis and Workflow Management System set up.
Customers of R&S INFO are medium to large-sized industrial companies, universities, hospitals, local healthcare organizations, public administrations.
The Parma Branch has a long experience in IT applications for the management of metabolic diseases, for the assessment of nutritional habits and their relation with health conditions, in cooperation with the University of Parma (Departments of Human Nutrition and Clinic of Internal Medicine).
R&S is currently a Partner of the IST 2004–027126 Project HEALTH+ (Improving Knowledge and decision support for healthy lifestyle).
Worldmacth (WM)
Country: Malta
Worldmatch is an IT Company, active in Malta since 2003, specialised in the development of technological solutions for web based applications.
The main business Units are:
- e-business strategy, design and development: The task of e-business strategy, design and development includes, on the one hand, ebusiness consultancy (analysis of traditional sectors, strategy definition, and Web Business Plan) and on the other, the planning and creation of web sites and the development of application software for internet projects.
- e-marketing, or rather, tasks of strategic and operational marketing related to advertising communication;
- e-sourcing, or rather the applied and systematic planning and management of technological infrastructures for e-business.
- e-Health, health management information systems, applications for specific prevention campaigns adopted by the national Health System Worldmatch is currently Partner of the IST project HEALTH+, addressing the relation between overweight and other metabolic disorders, and nutrition.
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM)
Country: Spain
Life Supporting Technologies (LifeSTech) is a research, development and innovation group, part of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid-UPM (Technical University of Madrid). Its activities are devoted to the design, development and evaluation of ICT based services and applications, for the creation and promotion of new ideas, methods and technological solutions throughout the value chain of e-Health and e-Inclusion related organisations.
LifeSTech is one of the main Spanish research groups in the field of e- Health. It holds agreements with public and private partners in several R&D areas (Siemens Spain, Vodafone Spain, Vodafone Group, Medtronic Spain, Philips and Telefonica, among others). The main group skills include consultancy, design, development and evaluation of ICT applied to Health, Ambient Intelligence, Technological Architecture, Business Process Engineering, and System Development and Integration. The LST professionals are regarded as specialist in the international scene in the field of ICT applied to Health and Social sectors. Some of the PhD. Works have been awarded and recognised by relevant organisations. The Group is member of the National Technical Committee 139 for Health Informatics, within the Spanish Standards National Association (AENOR). Furthermore, its members are involved in expert teams working for different European institutions like the European Telecommunication Standards Institute in e- Health and e-Inclusion activities. LifeSTech is also an active member of National and European Excellence Networks on e-Accessibility. Their goal is to raise the profile of Design for All (DfA) and emphasize its importance in achieving greater accessibility to the Information Society for as many people as possible.
The group is also participating in the organisation of international conferences: e.g. the Vodafone Conference considered as an annual meeting where experts share their view on future strategies. The group has participated in several projects funded by the UE, national programmes and R&D agreements with companies in the areas of e-Health, e-Inclusion, Quality of Life and Education.
AUSL of Modena (AUSLM)
Country: Italy
AUSL of Modena (AUSLM) is the Health Care Organization responsible of the public service in the province of Modena in Italy. With a served population of 632.000, 5.200 employees, 520 General Practitioners spread in the territory; it is one of the largest in Italy, covering a wide territory with 47 Municipalities.
AUSLM includes also 8 hospitals with a total of 1900 beds. AUSLM is a public funded organization, structured as a “private” enterprise, under the supervision of the Local Government of Regione Emilia-Romagna.
In the same geographical areas covered by AUSLM, several private organizations are also active: small hospitals, ambulatory and care centers, laboratories of analysis.
Due to the wide territory to administer, AULSM has great experience in projects for distribution of health related information: the network infrastructure is a WAN connecting the 9 hospital of the province of Modena as well as several clinical ambulatory in the province territory. Moreover an enterprise PACS with more than 600.000 diagnostic images per year has been installed in 2005 and a centralized laboratory is currently serving more than 9.000.000 tests per year. The participation of the AUSLM in the project will be through its Geriatric, Metabolic, Endocrinology and Medicine Integrated Department which deals with all the high prevalence diseases such as diabetes and obesity. The department is also active in the field of the experimental clinical research regarding metabolic hepatic and biliary diseases, and basic research related to lipidic metabolism. For this specific activity the department can use a dedicated lab.
The other unit that will be involved is the Clinical Engineering Department which is in charge of managing all the technological issues of AUSLM concerning health care equipment and medical device software. In details:
- The technical, economical and functional assessment of the technology
- The management of the clinical network
- Equipment testing and maintenancee
- Safety and security management
Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (UPVLC)
Country: Spain
The Institute of applications of advanced information and communication technologies (ITACA) is an R&D organisation belonging to the Polytechnic University of Valencia. ITACA has as mission to be a centre of excellence in the research and development of the ICT, with the purpose of innovating and transferring its products and services to the society.
Technologies for Health and Well-Being (TSB) is the area of ITACA, dedicated to the application of Information and Communications Technologies in the fields of Health and Social Services. TSB develops its research by means of its 3 primary lines of action (e-Health, e-Inclusion and Quality of Life) applying to each of these areas, distinctive technologies in which the group maintains the greatest experience (Information Systems Platforms, Wireless and Mobile Communication, Knowledge Management and Ambient Intelligence Technologies).
ITACA has a wide experience in European Project cooperation due to the work developed by its different divisions for many years. The expertise includes also project management, of national and EU project. Some of them are: BABEL, ATTRACT, HIPERCOSME, HIPERTTN, HIPERCIR, HIPERPLAST, HIPERWATER, VASSES, ASTEX, ▪OBANET, ▪HEALTHY-MARKET (IST-2001–33204), ACTIVE HEALTH (IST- 2001–37857), HEALTH-MATE (IST-2000–26154), CONFIDENT (IST- 2000–27600), ▪IDEAS in e-Health (IST 2001– 34614), ▪BABEL (TE2002), TEN-CARE (TEN-TELECOM), ▪ATTRACT (HC4002) (▪ coordinated by ITACA). ITACA-TSB is currently participating in 6 VI Framework Program projects related to e-Health: PIPS (IST-507816), MY HEART (IST-507017), SENSATION (IST-507019), ASK-IT (IST-511298), CAREPATHS (IST- 507231) and PERSONA (IST-045459), and 1 SSA: @HEALTH.
National Technical University of Athens (ICCS-NTUA)
Country: Greece
The Image, Video and Intelligent Multimedia Systems Lab (IVML, www.image.ntua.gr) of ICCS-NTUA (Institute of Communication and Computer Systems of the National Technical University of Athens) was established in 1988. Twenty graduate students have obtained their PhD working in IVML, while ten are pursuing their PhD in it. The members of the Lab are active members of the research community having published more that 100 journal articles and 200 international conference contributions. The most important areas of R&D activities performed or supported by IVML include: Knowledge Based Adaptive Image and Video processing and analysis; Artificial neural network, fuzzy and neurofuzzy technologies; Content-based semantic retrieval of multimedia information; The MPEG-7, MPEG-21 standards and Semantic Web technologies; Intelligent Human Computer Interaction and Intelligent agents; Face, Emotion and Biometric Analysis and Recognition; MPEG-4 and Natural – Synthetic Hybrid Coding; Augmented Reality; and Applications in Cultural Heritage, Surveillance, Communications, Medicine.
IVML has been involved in seventy R&D projects (thirteen of them in progress), thirty of them funded by the European Commission and the rest by Greek organizations.
Systems and Advanced Technologies Engineering (SATE)
Country: Italy
SATE s.r.l. (http://www.sate-italy.com) is a private R&D and engineering company, specialised in systems engineering and simulation.
SATE’s core activity is Systems Engineering, i.e. multidisciplinary study, design and simulation in a variety of fields centred on mechanical systems of innovative character, among which energy conversion and fluids handling systems, surface and underwater marine vehicles and systems, land vehicles, space systems.
SATE’s core business is at present based on simulation services, but its strategy and actual turnover encompasses also engineering software products and design and manufacturing in partnership with other companies of special electronic units embedding SATE proprietary software models, specifically for diagnostics applications (SEW-AID).
SATE is part of the Third parties products and services of The Mathworks (producer of MATLAB/SIMULINK) having produced and licensed ten different applications of this environment for advanced dynamic simulators as engineering tools. These include compressors (COMPSYS and ACUSYS) and gas turbines (TGSIM) simulators, vehicle dynamics (DRIVE), tyre-soil interaction (CARPET), suspension testing (BENCH), thermal exchange in the engine box (THERBOX), pneumatic systems (PNEUMA). These products have been licensed to renowned companies such as Ferrari/FIAT Group, Nuovo Pignone/GE Group, SIAD Macchine Impianti/Praxair Group. COMPSYS entitled SATE to be awarded, in 2006, the 2nd ex-aequo prize at the 1st edition of the “Bepi Colombo Prize”, an international award reserved to Small and Medium Enterprises distinguished in innovation and technology transfer activities.
As part of their activities SATE also provides training courses to companies licensees of their software.
SATE previous R&D funded EC projects, related to modelling & diagnostics 1998–2001 – DIAMOND (Distributed Multi-Agent Architecture for Monitoring and Diagnosis. Contract n. ESPRIT – 28735). 2002–2005 – MAGIC (Multi-Agents-Based Diagnostic Data Acquisition And Management In Complex Systems. Contract: IST-2000–30009). Other EC projects to which SATE participated were related to underwater technologies.