THIS MONTH
Launch of new joined-up knowledge transfer
 |
The Health Technologies Knowledge Transfer Network (Health Tech KTN), launched on 2 February 2006, is a new UK Department of Trade and Industry initiative designed to drive forward innovation in the UK. Sue Dunkerton, Director of the new KTN, said, “We are now seeing government agencies working closely together and a more joined-up approach by all to help deliver new health-care products and services.”
The UK health technology market is worth £5 billion, it exports £3 billion and experiences growth rates of 7–12%, she said. It supplies the world’s largest health-care provider: the National Health Service. The Health Technologies KTN is to focus on technology exploitation and innovation, and providing the tools to do this. This will involve actively bringing together academia, companies, regional development agencies, NHS Innovation Hubs and Trusts, Medilinks, research councils and others in the product development community. This collaborative network is essential for the future, she stressed. Next-generation devices require the convergence of technologies from a number of single disciplines. With this KTN the industry can look forward to direct support including tools to speed up the innovation process, identification of major technology platforms, information on markets and technologies and access to funding. www.healthtechktn.com
The event was held in conjunction with the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), the industry trade association. Health Tech KTN is an outcome of the Healthcare Industries Taskforce (HITF). John Wilkinson, Director General, ABHI, opened the day with a progress report on the HITF agenda, first announced in November 2004. A series of speakers then provided indepth reviews covering areas such as the new arena of Health Technology Cooperatives, UK clinical research collaboration and NHS Innovation Hubs projects. The whole health-care and manufacturing sector has been galvanised by HITF. There is a high level of engagement, a lot of activity and a platform for dialogue with government and the UK looks set to make a step change in health-care product delivery in the coming years. For more information, contact the ABHI, www.abhi.uk.org
Pen injectors dominate
Successfully meeting the increasing trend of self-administration of drugs for chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis and arthritis depends on providing delivery technologies that are patient-friendly and improve compliance. Pen injectors, which are already the leading delivery method in Europe, will continue to grow in use and those that employ disposable drug cartridges and memory displays will be particularly successful, according to Greystone Associates. www.greystoneassociates.org
Asian appeal
China and India are the most favoured destinations in Asia for outsourcing the production of medical devices. This is in part due to the increasing awareness by both countries of the need to conform to international manufacturing standards. China has great investment appeal, says Frost & Sullivan, but India has greater availability of skilled labour. Also, English is the preferred business language in Asia and much of the workforce in India is fluent in English. To address the issue of intellectual property (IP) protection, many contract research organisations in Asia are starting to introduce IP standards to increase confidence levels and to promote greater interest in outsourcing research and development. www.medicaldevices.frost.com
Voice is the future
The use of voice/speech recognition in health care is to expand. The new surge in the adoption of speech-processing technology is attributed to current accuracy levels of 96–98%, which are likely to reach 100% in the near future, says a report by Frost & Sullivan. Applications include transcription, patient monitoring, interactive response systems and telemedicine. www.healthcare.frost.com
