On 2 November, the Technical Medical Centre (University of Twente) organised the TechMed Event. The TechMed Event kicked off the MedTech Twente Week organised in cooperation with partners of MedTech Cluster Twente (2-4 November). This year's TechMed Event focused on the latest medical technological developments. About 550 medical professionals, MedTech companies, researchers, innovators, and students came together for a day of inspiration and networking.
Remke Burie, managing director of the TechMed Centre, opened the TechMed Event by inviting six speakers in the field of movement disorders for a short pitch on stage after his welcome speech. The speakers talked about their dreams of fighting movement disorders.
This was followed by a symbolic opening by Remke Burie, Maroeska Rovers and Jouke Tamsma, MT members of the TechMed Centre. In front of the grand staircase in the TechMed Centre, large wooden letters that spelt 'TOGETHER' were inscribed by them with their name and dream to improve healthcare in the coming year. Remke Burie: "With this act, we wanted to highlight the importance of working 'together'. Everyone may add their name and dream on this board. The best way to create impact in healthcare is to collaborate together."
CROSS-BORDER COLLABORATION
Medical technology is changing faster than ever. It makes future care more accessible, affordable and better, but also requires collaboration and knowledge sharing. This is how we work on the healthcare of the future. This also requires cross-border cooperation between the Netherlands and Germany. In his keynote lecture at the end of the day, Prof Dr Alex Friedrich, Chief Medical Officer & Chief Executive Officer at the University Medical Centre in Münster, gave his vision for the future of this cooperation. Friedrich emphasized we should use the strength of both our healthcare systems within our European region.
Furthermore, there were several parallel sessions throughout the day on topics including the workforce crisis in healthcare, personalised medicine, TechMed studies and the new healthcare agreement. During the special session on personalised medicine, several examples were given of how technology can make healthcare more personalised. For example, medical technology can be optimised and personalised for women's health, in patients with kidney disease and chronic diseases such as diabetes.
The Niers Fund eHealth Voucher was also awarded to bachelor student Eva Schockemöhle. The University Fund Twente makes this voucher available annually to a bachelor, master or PhD student or young alumnus with an innovative idea for a solution in the field of eHealth.
TECHMED MAGAZINE
During the TechMed event, the new TechMed Magazine was also launched. This magazine is full of examples of regional, national and international MedTech innovations. Like the TechMed event, the magazine pays plenty of attention to the healthcare of the future. What should healthcare look like? And how do we ensure together that healthcare is also ready for that future? How do we provide enough healthcare staff? The TechMed Magazine can be read online.
MEDTECH TWENTE WEEK
This year's TechMed Event was part of the first edition of the MedTech Twente week. The success of the existing Techmed Event was expanded into a broad multi-day programme for different target groups from the MedTech ecosystem. By bringing together these stakeholders such as researchers, entrepreneurs, doctors, investors and other experts, we can speed up the process of making MedTech innovations.
