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| | | | | | | | The IST 2003 Conference, Milan 2-4 October 2003 |  | | | |
| | IST Event 2003 | |
The IST 2003 Conference, Milan 2-4 October 2003
16 October 2003
“How can Europe trigger and seize the opportunities ahead?" was the appropriate title of the opening session at the recent IST 2003 Conference in Milan, organised by the EC’s Information Society Technology Directorate. Indeed, seizing the opportunities offered by the technological advances of digital communications, and the leading role in communications technologies Europe has been able to hold, and transforming these to further realization of Europe’s technological leadership in the world were the basic goals of the participants. The European Space Agency was able to contribute to this renowned forum with a presentation of its activities in the eHealth sector as leader of the Telemedicine Alliance.
The conference covered a wide range of ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) topics, such as broadband access, wireless technologies in motion, information grids, micro- and nano-technologies in ICT, networking SMEs (Small & Medium size Enterprises), linking technology, mobility at work, and, most important, for ESA and potentially for every citizen of the EU, the subject of eHealth.
eHealth at IST Event
The eHealth session covered new emerging research areas (supported in EC’s 6th Framework Programme), as well as achievements and issues pertaining to successful deployment. The aim of the session was to give the audience a wide overview of the different aspects falling under the eHealth umbrella and to discuss both the current state-of-the-art as well as the vision for the future. The emerging areas that were discussed included biomedical clothing and health Grid applications. The integration of technologies for beneficial eHealth applications was presented in the areas of tele-medicine, health information networks and smart cards.
TM-Alliance at IST Event
In the eHealth session, dedicated to ICT and health, Dr. Didier Schmitt, head of ESA Life Sciences, and project leader for the EC funded project - the Telemedicine Alliance – presented a talk on “Realising e-Health for eEurope 2005 and beyond - The TM Alliance perspective”. In his presentation he outlined the achievements of ESA in the area of Telemedicine, and especially the work of the Telemedicine Alliance. This group is a unique consortium comprising three prestigious agencies, ESA (project leader), WHO (World Health Organisation) and ITU (International Telecommunications Union) and sponsored by the eHealth division of the EC’s Information Society Technology Directorate. He outlined the mandate of this consortium, which is to formulate an overlying policy for the application of eHealth in support of, primarily, the European citizen by the year 2010. He also discussed the future work of this group, which is concerned with facilitating interoperability (and standardization) between regions, EU states, and beyond. It was clear to all present that without interoperability and standardization across national borders and regions, much technological development will come to nought, indeed, investment will be limited and Europe will lose the race at the forefront of technology, with dire implications for the economy and quality of life of all its citizens!
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