DAY 1|Tuesday 21 of March 2023
“Pandemic Management and Preparedness – Telemedicine and the Role of Innovative Technologies in Securing a Safer Future”
09:00 – 11:00 am CET
European Parliament, 60 Rue Wiertz, Room 6Q1 and Online
Moderated by Prof. Nicolas Pallikarakis and Prof. Ratko Magjarevic
09:00-09:10 Welcome and Introduction
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Greece)
Dr. Leandro Pecchia, President of the European Alliance for Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (EAMBES)
09:10 -10:00 Innovation and technology as getaways for a safer and healthier future
The impact of COVID -19 and lessons learned
- Monitoring and mitigating shortages of critical medical devices in the context of a public health emergency
Klaus Kruttwig, Medicines and Medical Devices Shortages Specialist, European Medicines Agency
- The implications of COVID on different sectors and the challenges for patients and practitioners
James Kennedy, Public Affairs Director, European Society of Cardiology (TBC)
Prof. Giuseppe Limongelli, Cardiologist, Luigi Vanvitelli University Hospital, Naples
- Connecting society and the role of widespread cooperation in pandemic management
Dr. Lutz Peschke, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Design, Bilkent University, Ankara
- Best practices of the pandemic – Telemedicine – An innovative tool for pandemic response and the opportunities it brings for insular and remote areas
Prof. Eleni Kaldoudi, President Elect, EAMBES
Dr. Sofia Bacharakis, Child Psychiatrist, Medical Association of Cyclades
Prof. Georgios Tsakos, Chair of the Platform for Better Oral Health in Europe
10:00-10:40 Ensuring European and global preparedness for future crises
- The role of innovative technologies in pandemic management
Dr. Leandro Pecchia, President of EAMBES
- The impact of COVID-19 on the MedTech sector – research, innovation and implementation
Alexander Olbrechts, Director of Digital Health, MedTech Europe
- Impact on security of supply – the need for European strategic autonomy in medical devices
Mario Gabrielli-Cossellu, Legal and Policy Officer, DG SANTE, European Commission
- Global pandemic management
Dr. Adriana Velazquez, Senior Adviser on medical devices, World Health Organisation
Dr. Madison Moon, Healthcare Epidemiologist, World Health Organisation
10:40-10:55 Audience Q&A
10:55-11:00 Concluding Remarks
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Greece)
“Future-proofing health professionals’ skills for the digital transition”
15:00 – 17:00 am CET
Hosted by MEP Stelios Kympouropoulos (EPP, Greece) and MEP Dennis Radtke (EPP, Germany)
European Parliament, 60 Rue Wiertz, Room 6Q1 and Online
Moderated by Ms Aikaterini Papakostopoulou
15:00-15:15 Welcome and Introduction
Setting the scene on the key challenges for health care professionals
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Greece)
Dennis Radtke, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Germany)
- Working conditions and healthcare workers’ well-being
- Labour shortages, and need for further investments in EU Member States’ healthcare systems
- Skills gap and equipping health workers with the rights skills for the green and digital transition
- European Parliament’s actions in this area
15:15-15.30 The view from the ground – Public sector’s perspective
- Use (and barriers) of skills intelligence in health workforce policymaking
- Greek Government’s relevant initiatives in equipping healthworkers with the right skills
Spiros Protopsaltis, Governor and Chair of the Board of Directors, Greek Public Employment Service (DYPA), First Vice-Chair, PES Network – European Network of Public Employment Services
15.30-15.50 The multi-stakeholder perspective: EU projects on upskilling and reskilling healthcare professionals
Joint presentation of BeWell and EUVECA projects
Zoi Mylona, BeWell project manager, Programme Manager-European Health Management Association (EHMA)
Henriette Hansen, EUVECA project manager, EU project Manager-South Denmark European Office
15:50-16:10 Showcases of advanced training and use of innovative technologies
- Biomedical Technology use training
Prof. Nicolas Pallikarakis, Emeritus Professor of the University of Patras,
President of the Board of INBIT – Institute of Biomedical Technology Patras Science Park
16:10-16:30 Showcases of advanced training and use of innovative technologies
- VR training
Manolis Babatsikos, 3D VR Medical Specialist, Founder/CEO at 3DMEDWORLD
16:30-16:50 Audience Q&A
16.50-17.00 Concluding Remarks
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Greece)
DAY 2|Wednesday 22 of March 2023
“Showcases of the digital technologies in the health sector: how can technology help detect or tackle a disease?”
09:00 – 13:00 am CET
Hosted by MEP Stelios Kympouropoulos (EPP, Greece) and MEP Maria da Graça CARVALHO (EPP, Portugal)
European Parliament, 60 Rue Wiertz, Room 6Q1 and Online
Moderated by Ms Elizabeth Kuiper
09:00-09:10 Welcome and Introduction
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Greece)
Maria da Graça Carvalho, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Portugal)
09:10-9:20 Setting the scene for research and innovation in the health sector
Carmen Laplaza Santos, Head of Unit, Health Innovations and Ecosystems, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission
09:15-10:35 PART I Assistive technologies and vision
- The use of AI to help detect blindness in children (30 minutes)
DIVE Medical team, Huawei
Dr Cao Hui, Head of Strategy& Policy, Huawei Public Affairs and Communications Office
Victoria Pueyo, PhD in Medicine, Paediatric Ophthalmologist, Chief Scientist and co-founder of DIVE and
Marta Ortín, PhD in Systems Engineering and Computer Science, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of DIVE
- AI assistive technology to guide blind and visually impaired people (20 minutes)
Maël Fabien, biped.ai CEO
Audience Q&A and interaction (30 minutes)
10:35-12:00 PART II Showcases of innovative technologies and medical applications
- AI in healthcare: from research to clinical impact (30 minutes)
Prof. Maarten De Vos, Departments of Engineering and Medicine at KU Leuven
Konstantinos Kontras, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Engineering at KU Leuven
- Holomedicine: technological applications that blend augmented, mixed and virtual reality allowing better practice and delivery of medicine (30 minutes)
- Introduction to holographic technology and its application in dental care; Dr Dirk Neefs, Dentist in Ddcare and Bdent TedX Speaker, Belgium
- Improving patient outcomes: The use of holographic technology in the clinical setting
Prof. Dr. Dirk Weyhe, Director of University Hospital for Visceral Surgery at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg; PIUS-Hospital, Oldenburg
Audience Q&A and interaction (30 minutes)
DAY 3|Thursday 23 of March 2023
“Better Decision-Making for better outcomes: Harnessing the Power of RWE”
09:00 – 11:00 am CET
Hosted by MEP Stelios Kympouropoulos (EPP, Greece)
European Parliament, 60 Rue Wiertz, Room 6Q1 and Online
Moderated by Ms Sue Saville
09:00-09:05 Welcome and Introduction
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Greece)
Tomislav Sokol, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Croatia)
09:10 -09:40 PART Ι
- Presentation 1: Rare diseases
Dr. Alexander Natz, Secretary General, EUCOPE
- Discussion 1: Striking the right balance between scientific rigour and practicality to improve access for rare disease patients
Dr. Alexander Natz, Director General, EUCOPE
Dr. Tanja Stamm, Head of the Institute for Outcomes Research, Deputy Head of the Center for Medical Data Science at the Medical University of Vienna & H2O Co-Lead and founding member of H2O Austria
Dr. Ravi Jandhyala, Visiting Senior Lecturer, Centre for Pharmaceutical Medicine Research, King’s Colle
09:45-10:15 PART II
- Presentation 2: Influenza
Dr. Daniel Furtner, Medical Director Vaccines and Biosecurity, CSL Seqirus
- Discussion 2: Role of RWD in policy and regulatory decision-making for vaccines
Dr. Daniel Furtner, Mge London
09:40-09:45 Audience Q&A
edical Director Vaccines and Biosecurity, CSL Seqirus
Prof. Caterina Rizzo, Full Professor of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Pisa
Christina Kyriakopoulou, Scientific Office, DG RTD, European Commission
10:15-10:20 Audience Q&A
10:20-10:50 PART III
- Presentation 3: Cancer
Antonella Cardone, CEO of Cancer Patients Europe
- Discussion 3: Role of EU legislation in improving better access and use of RWD for cancer patients
Antonella Cardone, CEO of Cancer Patients European Parliament
Fulvia Raffaelli, Head of Unit, Digital Health (SANTE.C.1), European Commission
Prof. Panagiotis Bamidis, Professor of Medical Physics, Informatics and Medical Education and Director of the Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation in the School of Medicine at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10:50-10:55 Audience Q&A
10:55-11:00 Concluding Remarks
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Greece)