On 17th and 18th November, European engineers and doctors met together with health technology companies at the Universitat Politècnica de València within the framework of the WiBEC project (Wireless Body Environment Communications) funded by the European Community within the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. WIBEC is an Innovative Training Network for 16 young researchers, who will be trained for a period of three years in a jointly with universities, healthcare technology companies and medical centers of Europe. WIBEC’s main goal is to provide high quality and innovative doctoral training to develop wireless technologies for new implantable devices that it is expected to contribute to improving the quality and effectiveness of healthcare. Among these types of devices, cardiovascular implants and ingestible endoscopic capsules for the study of gastrointestinal pathology are considered. In the project participate, together with the UPV (as the only Spanish university), the Technical University of Dresden, Germany and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. In the business sector, the project accounts with the participation of Liva Nova group in France, Ovesco in Germany, and Valotec in France. The medical sector is present through the participation of the University and Polytechnic Hospital La Fe in Valencia (Spain) and the University Hospital of Oslo (Norway), which is the project coordinator.
These European grants seek to ensure the optimal development and dynamic use of Europe’s intellectual capital in order to generate new skills and innovation. In addition, this initiative seeks to promote the mobility of researchers at all levels, not only between countries, but also between the public and private sectors, as it is an element that strongly stimulates learning and the development of new skills, as well as a key factor for cooperation between the academic world, research centers and industry in different countries.
Professor Narcis Cardona together with Dr. Vicente Pons lead this project on the part of the UPV and the Hospital La Fe, respectively, and have the support of Prof. Valery Naranjo and Dr. Matteo Frasson. During their visit, the researchers of the project (about 30 people from different European cities) discussed the different research lines proposed and the plan to train such new researchers over the next three years. In addition, the group visited the Hospital la Fe facilities in order to get a first-hand view of the spaces where part of their research work will be developed in the next three years.