Our health care is facing enormous challenges, and innovation will be crucial to ensure that it remains of top quality and yet affordable. To fuel this kind of innovation, photonics is gaining importance as a promising field of research, with huge potential in health related applications. We can support this by bringing researchers, health care actors and regional representatives together to discover opportunities for European collaborations and to explore the potential of photonics in health.
- International | Health | Research and Innovation
- Code: 09PL241572
- Jacques Delors building, Atrium 5
Speakers
Heidi Ottevaere
Erik Korsten
Moderator
Practical information
- When
-
Wed 09/10/2024, 16:30 - 18:00 CET
- Where
- Jacques Delors building, Atrium 5
- Type of partnership
- Regional partnership
- Format
- Participary Labs/Hackathon
- Theme
-
Smart and sustainable growth for regions
- Language
- English
Partners
Reporting
Session summary
Photonics is rapidly advancing and holds immense potential in transforming healthcare through early diagnostics, improved medical imaging, and less invasive treatment options. However, fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration, securing investment, and addressing regulatory challenges will be crucial to bringing these innovations to market, especially in the specific situation of the EU market with its multitude of regulatory frameworks across member states. Continued support from public funding programmes and the development of a more streamlined regulatory framework across Europe are, therefore, key to driving the adoption of photonics in healthcare.
Several public funding opportunities were outlined during the event, including EU for Health, IHI JU, EIT, European Research Council, Photonics PPP and Horizon Europe programmes. Additionally, the Draghi report highlighted the need for a new EU semiconductor strategy to better support photonics-related health innovations.
Interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial: Bridging the gap between engineers, tech experts, and healthcare professionals remains a challenge. It was suggested that future events should foster collaboration by involving both technologists and doctors. From a funding perspective, photonics startups face difficulties in securing investment due to the risk-averse nature of many investors, who want to see IP protection and clinical trial results before committing. Non-diluted funding (grants and public funding) is essential in bridging this gap. On the entrepreneurial side, regulatory standardization across the EU is critical to ensure photonics startups can succeed in Europe before turning to the US market.
