Last week Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre from Brussels hosted a meeting for health executives from Romania, including governmental bodies, industry and users.
The event gathered 25 Romanian policy makers, prominent speakers, media and other members of the Romanian community based in Brussels who discusses about the role technology has played in the local society and especially in the field of health, as well as to demonstrate the importance of the involvement of private sector when it comes to investing in innovation.
The expectations for participants were focused on understanding the level of eHealth solutions in EU, how they can be applied in Romania and share ideas for a strategy in eHealth.
John Vassallo, Microsoft VP, EU Affairs/Ilias Iakovidis – European Commission, Acting Head of Unit, ICT for Health at the DG Information Society and Media /Octavian Purcarea Microsoft Health Industry addressing the audience
Agenda included distinguished speakers who engaged the audience in a strategic debate around role of technology but mostly system interconnection, interoperability and standards. Role of governments, European institutions, local administration and also non-governmental organization involvement and cooperation among stakeholders was the topic who determined the intervention of almost all participants in the debate. Another important topic was related to financing opportunities, how the EU funds can be accessed, cohesion policies and regional policies.
On behalf of Microsoft, John Vassallo, EU Affairs, presented what Microsoft is and does in EU. “Microsoft contributes to building the “union” , the “U” in EU, we do things together growing the market related to IT, to use the software for improving health.
Ilias Iakovidis – European Commission, Acting Head of Unit, ICT for Health at the DG Information Society and Media shared the key lessons learned in the past years with implementing projects such Electronic Prescribing, Electronic Health Record and Patient Insurance Card in other countries. Successful case studies but also blocking factors were described. Mr. Iakovidis emphasized the role of research and innovation and kept the dialogue at the very practical level. Health solutions are very complex, nobody can solve alone and we need to learn from each others. The main advice that he gave can be summarized:
Another important topic was related to financing opportunities, how the EU funds can be accessed, cohesion policies and regional policies.
Mrs Ana Raducu – Program Manager EU Policies - presented Cohesion policy supporting investments in the health sector in Romania. There are at least 19 Priority themes which could be linked directly to health sector (infrastructure, support to SMEs, IT, human resources, R&D, policy and program design, etc).
The opportunity for funding of eHealth in CEE is very high:
How Microsoft can help partners to increase the absorption of funds, to identify the opportunities for financing the ideas was another topic on the agenda presented by Juan Bossicard (APCO) and Oana Pinu (Schuman Consulting).
Juan presented the EUGA programme (the Europe Union Grant Advisor Programme). The EU Grants Advisor (EUGA) is an initiative developed by Microsoft, in partnership with HP, Intel and the European Software Association, as well as other local public and private institutions to increase the awareness and understanding of the funding opportunities available, as well as allow SMEs, start-ups and LRGs to take advantage of a facilitated application process should they wish to apply for funding for which they are eligible. Microsoft has recently aligned EUGA with its highly successful BizSpark program designed to support Europe’s entrepreneurial community.
It offers free orientation on funding opportunities in EU and consulting services for submitting proposals.
EBC visit and demos on eHealth services developed for Microsoft Surface generated interest and excitement among participants.
Participants expressed their satisfaction about the discussions and sent us messages on possible follow-up:
Prof George Mihalas, , Vice President IMIA, European Federation for Medical Informatics, expressed his willingness to lead the initiative toward:
- Creating a eHealth Association in Romania – invite doctors associations, patients associations, researchers, technology partners;
- Applying for EU funds for Associations;
- Setting a Microsoft innovation Center on eHealth in Romania where Microsoft partners can be involved in order to test and develop new solutions, develop training and education activities for IT developers, health professionals and patients.
Dr Octavian Purcarea
Global Industry Manager
WW Health
Microsoft