Interface between technology and medicine: Dresden entrusted with setting up a center
10.09.2019 13:21
Representatives of the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation (EKFS), the TU Dresden and the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital Dresden signed the contract for the Else Kröner-Fresenius Center for Digital Health on September 4th in the presence of the two State Ministers for Science and Economic Affairs Dresden. Starting in September 2019, the foundation wants to support the development of innovative training and organizational structures, interdisciplinary collaboration and the expansion of additional research resources with a total of 40 million euros for ten years. In March of this year, Dresden won its concept in a Germany-wide EKFS competition. The aim of the center is to exploit the potential of digitalization in medicine and thus for better patient care.
The center is a joint initiative of Dresden University Medicine with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and the Faculty of Computer Science at TU Dresden as well as non-university partners. Its founding presents an opportunity to create a new interdisciplinarity between high technology and medicine on the Dresden campus. The common vision of the new center is to use the possibilities of new communication technologies, robotics, sensors, new materials and artificial intelligence for the benefit of patients, to design them according to European standards and to make them a positive experience. A “Living Lab” is intended to provide the practical framework for patient-oriented research. This should significantly shorten the time until innovations are introduced into everyday care. An eHealth campus will be created for the center directly on the grounds of the Dresden University Hospital, where for the first time doctors and engineers will learn, teach and research together in a direct practical context.
“The prospects for innovative training and organizational structures, proven interdisciplinary collaboration and top performance in research were reasons for the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation to choose the Technical University of Dresden,” explains Dr. Dieter Schenk, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation. “In interaction, these culminate in better patient care, which was an express aim of the call for proposals.” “The application from Dresden addresses one of the major future fields of medicine and, of the final selection applications, best met the goals of the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation “, emphasizes Prof. Dr. Michael Madeja, scientific director of the EKFS. “This is where we see the greatest potential for building a reform model for university medicine and an internationally important research center.”