Radboudumc, Sint Maartenskliniek, University of Twente, Roessingh Research & Development and the Roessingh Rehabilitation Center have set up a partnership of experts in the field for disorders of movement and posture.
ICMS, a large partnership between experts from Radboudumc, Sint Maartenskliniek, University of Twente, Roessingh Research & Development and the Roessingh Rehabilitation Center was launched on 30 September with the signing of the collaboration agreement. Their goal is to conduct pioneering research together to optimize the care for patients with postural and movement disorders.
ICMS (Interdisciplinary Consortium for Clinical Movement Sciences & Technology) focuses on the entire width of the posture and mobility spectrum: from fundamental and other research to applications in healthcare and calculations of the health economic implications at the macro level. Over the next ten years, the healthcare and knowledge institutes Radboudumc, Sint Maartenskliniek, University of Twente and Roessingh Research & Development will be conducting joint research and sharing expertise and infrastructure. “By choosing cooperation over competition, we have a larger budget and we can achieve more,” says Theo Mulder, project leader at ICMS.
For the patient
By working together, these five partners from the eastern part of the Netherlands will not only focus on learning more about disorders of the musculoskeletal system, but will also be able to find cures or slow down the progression of these diseases. This will significantly increase the quality of healthcare both at home and in hospital for people with posture and mobility disorders, while keeping the costs manageable and affordable. In ten years’ time the percentage of spinal cord injured patients who are completely dependent on the use of a wheelchair needs to go down by 80%.
Advantage for researchers
ICMS expects to see a trend develop whereby grants are increasingly awarded to interdisciplinary coalitions of researchers in combination with involvement from the private sector. For researchers, working for an organisation with such huge aspirations and a formidable budget is an exciting challenge. A collaboration between top researchers in the field of postural and movement disorders as well as technology is truly one of a kind.
Ambition
“By combining unique medical and technological expertise in the field of rehabilitation, rheumatology and orthopaedics, the ICMS has become a Top European Centre and our ambitions go even further than that!” says Professor Nico Verdonschot, member of the executive committee of ICMS.
As a top European centre for scientific research, business activity and healthcare innovation, ICMS has strong ambitions. “Within 5 years, early detection of osteoarthritis will be possible which can then be treated using smart sensors, biomarkers and motion analysis, but we will also be able to treat damaged cartilage in patients through injections directly into the diseased joint,” explains Theo Mulder. “In addition, in ten years’ time, we want motor rehabilitation in the home using virtual reality and remote sensing to be commonplace.”
