Casas

32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 31 - September 4, 2010

The Biomedical Engineer as a driver for Health Technology Innovation
Javier Colas Fustero1; Alejandra Guillen Arredondo2
1,2

Service Solutions Department, Innovation Area, European projects Management Medtronic Iberica, Madrid Spain
The term biomedical engineering is considered,also by different authorities to be the same umbrella that covers the above areas among others. In any case exists a great overlap between these two definitions and there is no consistent distinction between academic departments bearing one or the other designation [2]. II. INTRODUCTION

Abstract— Health Technology has played a mayor role on most of the fundamental advances in medicine, in thelast 30 years. Right now, beginning the XXI Century, it is well accepted that the most important revolution expected in Health Care is the empowerment of the individuals on their own health management. Innovation in health care technologies will continue being paramount, not only in the advances of medicine and in the self health management of patients but also in allowing the sustainability of thepublic health care system. As the technology on health care becomes more important, the role of the biomedical engineer will turn to be more crucial for the society. The paper targets the development of new curricula for the Biomedical Engineers, the needs of evolving on his academic content and a comprehensive definition of the different fields in which the contribution of the Biomedical Engineeris becoming fundamental to drive the innovation that the Health Care Technology Industry must provide to continue improving human health through cross-disciplinary activities that integrate the engineering sciences with the biomedical sciences and clinical practice. Keywords—Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering, Health Care Innovation I. DEFINITIONS

The development of the health sector andthe continuous growth of the necessary investments to sustain the advances in Medicine that the society expects, is putting pressure on the Industry and on the Technology Management to increase the efficiency of the processes while improving the quality of the services and facilitating the access of the population. In this situation the role of the Biomedical Engineer becomes fundamental toposition the innovation in Health Care Technologies as part of the solution for the sustainability of the Health Care Systems. This paper addresses the needs of complementing the education of the Biomedical Engineers on the different areas that must help them to better understand not, only the potential needs on the clinical area, but also how to apply these technologies to increase the efficiency of theprocesses and how to integrate and interoperate the different systems to facilitate the information management across the different processes. III. FIELDS AND FRONTIERS

What is Health Technology? Today is well accepted that the term Health Technology covers, not only the equipment and devices, but also the organization systems, their processes, the Information Systems and the differentservices that support the provision of Health services. Biomedical Engineering or Bioengineering ?. There are multiple institutions that are trying to clarify the fields represented by the two definitions. The term bioengineering is utilized as a ‘broad umbrella’ to cover biological engineering, biomedical engineering, clinical engineering, and biochemical engineering [1]. A more restrictiveinterpretation leaves bioengineering only as basic-research-oriented activity related to biotechnology and genetic engineering.

The biomedical engineer will be a key element fundamentally in four different sectors: The research institutions, the health care technology industry, the health care administration and the health care provision institutions (hospitals, primary care centers, etc.). In each one...