BRUSSELS – 14 November 2019
COCIR was proud to celebrate its 60 years of bringing the benefits of innovation in medical technology to society and patients. To celebrate this landmark, more than 100 healthcare stakeholders from the European institutions, along with medical technology industry leaders gathered for a Gala event and Conference in the Autoworld Museum in Brussels.
Opening the Gala evening event, COCIR President Jan Kimpen said “Over the last 60 years, COCIR members have made an immeasurable contribution to advancing health and care in Europe; healthcare is now increasingly reliant of ICT. Now, as we enter the new, data-driven healthcare revolution, COCIR members are ideally positioned to help society reap the maximum benefit of this advance. COCIR members are ready to drive the shift to data-driven, value-based, sustainable healthcare. We are ready to look forward to a further 60 years at the forefront of healthcare.”
Other speakers at the Gala event included Manuel Mateo Goyet, Member of the Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and Andrzej Rys, Director Health Systems, Medical Products & Innovation at DG Santé.
“There are two things national governments can do to advance healthcare: finance and regulation. Both should be used as an enabler to create the right ecosystem that will lead to innovation and better health outcomes”, Tuula Helander, Senior Advisor and member of the Cabinet and Strategy Group of the Permanent Secretary in the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, stated in her keynote speech opening the second day. The speech was followed up with four panel sessions
Session 1 on Research and Innovation and Value in Health highlighted the necessity of collaboration between all actors in the healthcare community to drive research & innovation and ultimately generate the best value for the patient and citizen.
Session 2 on Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence touched upon the challenges in realising the digital transformation of health and care and how concerted actions should contribute to scale the deployment of digital health solutions so that technological developments will lead to better health outcomes available to all citizens across all EU Member States.
Session 3 on Laws, Regulations and Standards shared their views linked to the challenges of the Medical Device Regulation implementation by May 2020. It was stressed there is a need to support smart development and effective implementation of EU regulation to ensure timely access to innovative medical technologies and the competitiveness of the medical device industry in Europe.
Session 4 on the Circular Economy and Global Sustainability emphasised how the move from Linear to Circular Economy is more pressing than ever, and how technological advances, upgrades, refurbishment and re-use can all achieve the objectives of the sustainability challenge and of driving integrated care. This should be further supported through innovative financing models and smart procurement.
In her closing remarks Nicole Denjoy, COCIR Secretary General, expressed appreciation to all the participants for the engaging discussions. “We are very proud of the contributions COCIR and its members have made to society and the patients in these first 60 years and we will continue to play our leading role in the future in advancing healthcare in cooperation with our respected partners and stakeholders from across the healthcare sector and the policy level”.
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About COCIR
COCIR is the European Trade Association representing the medical imaging, radiotherapy, health ICT and electromedical industries. Founded in 1959, COCIR is a non-profit association headquartered in Brussels (Belgium) with a China Desk based in Beijing since 2007. COCIR is unique as it brings together the healthcare, IT and telecommunications industries.
www.cocir.org
For more information, contact:
Nicole Denjoy
COCIR Secretary General
Tel: +32 (0)2 706 8961
denjoy@cocir.org
Colin Mackay
COCIR Communications Senior Advisor
Tel: +32 (0) 473 43 07 52
press@cocir.org