Newsletter no 3, January 2008: World-class visionaries to TTeC 2008

Can the public health service learn anything from visionary thinkers in other fields? The telemedicine conference in Tromsø this summer is attracting leaders and researchers from large companies and institutions such as Microsoft, Harvard, WHO and IBM. As a result, this year's Tromsø Telemedicine Conference is the most important yet, says Siri Bjørvig at the Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine.

The Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory (TTL) is becoming the major new forum for telemedicine development. In combination with this year's theme, "Innovation in eHealth", the new centre is attracting decision-makers and researchers from all over the world.

Bill Crounse, Director of World Wide Web Health, Microsoft – The world's largest software company is committed to the public health service

Microsoft is in the process of investing substantial resources in the health sector, thus sending a signal that cannot be ignored. Bill Crounse is the leader of this initiative, a former doctor and one of the world's foremost visionaries in the use of ICT in the public health service:

"Electronic health libraries are the future.  The old-fashioned, paper-based files are on the way out. Microsoft has recently acquired a large solution for patient data. We have strong confidence that the Internet revolution is now coming to the health sector."

Among other topics, Crounse will talk about access to one's own patient record, booking of appointments, and possibilities for communicating with health staff over the Internet. Have you heard about the Microsoft Health Vault? You will, during the next few years – when Microsoft's health initiative is fully under way.

Prof. Clayton M. Christensen, Harvard Business School – New technologies turn the world upside down

Professor Clayton M. Christensen has become a world-famous business guru after writing the book The Innovator’s Dilemma in 1997, in which he explored the reasons for the rapid transition of well-managed companies from success to failure.

His theories about "disruptive innovation" are respected as an important contribution to the understanding of what takes place when a start-up company makes a rapid rise from scratch and takes over market-leading positions ahead of the established giants.

Under the title "How to Meet the Growing Crises in Health Care Through the Use of Disruptive Innovation", Christensen is coming to Tromsø to talk about how these theories will influence the public health service as we know it today.

Anna Kirah, Future Navigator – The human and the technology

The design anthropologist and "innovation evangelist" Anna Kirah researches and teaches about the interaction between humans and technology. She has long experience from large companies such as Boeing and Microsoft, and in 2004 she received the MSN Contributor of the Year award after her intensive involvement in the development of MSN Messenger. She has also worked with the new innovation school 180 degree academy in Denmark.

Design anthropologists are among the people who know most about how the communication forms of tomorrow will look. Kirah has clear convictions about how culture influences the technology which is used, how it is used, and why it is used in this way.

She is coming to Tromsø to tell us how Microsoft is working to gather information about how we as humans react in the encounter with new technology – and how they use this information in their innovation processes.

Dr. Richard Bakalar, IBM – New solutions for large volumes of data in the public health service

Dr. Richard Bakalar is a doctor and worked with telemedicine at an early stage in the US Navy. He has also worked with telemedicine in NASA and NATO. He is now working for IBM as Chief Medical Officer, Innovation Team, IBM Corporation, Healthcare and Life Science Industry.

Bakalar brings fresh insights into grid solutions for large volumes of data in the health sector, the use of open standards in the development of new technology and the combination of medical sensors and small portable units.

Dr. Najeeb M. A. Al-Shorbaji, WHO – technology for health and development

Al-Shorbaji is one of the people with the longest experience in telemedicine and eHealth in WHO. He has worked in the World Health Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in WHO since 1988.

Al-Shorbaji is one of the pioneers in the development and implementation of telemedicine in this area. Among other things, he has helped a number of countries to develop systems for telemedicine, electronic patient records, health libraries and decision support for health professionals.

Deadline for paper submissions

We would like to remind you of the extended deadline for all submissions, which is set to 31 January 2008. Please note that research articles approved by the TTeC 2008 scientific committee will be published as a supplement to the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare after the conference. Further information is available on the conference website: www.telemed.no/ttec2008

Register for TTeC 2008

Register now to hear these visionaries in Tromsø in June – and have your say in the development of future health care. Please follow this link to register or double-click on the image to the right.

If you have any queries about general information, practical details or other issues, please contact Vibeke Hemmingsen at email vibekeh@telemed.no.

Best regards

The Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine

Steinar Pedersen
Conference Chair

Professor Artur Serrano
Chair of the Scientific Committee

Siri Bjørvig
Chair of the Programme Committee

Innovation Norway is supporting partner of TTeC 2008

Innovation Norway offers products and services intended to help boost innovation in business and industry nationwide, foster regional development and promote Norwegian industry and Norway as a tourist destination.

With offices in all counties and in more than thirty countries worldwide, we are easy to get in touch with. Our staff’s knowledge of local and international conditions will help turn customers’ ideas into business successes.

---