The 8th international R+D+I ICT Health and Social Seminars will present the latest breakthroughs in digital therapies in Vic

The eighth R+D+I ICT Health and Social Seminars  will take place on 27 and 28 September in the El Sucre building in Vic, at an event which the organisers anticipate 400 registered professionals attending - a figure consolidating the seminars as one of the events with the most international impact in the city and in the Osona region. The seminars are structured around two framework conferences, three round table discussions, several short presentations and exhibitions by professionals and personalities. They will focus on digital therapies and aim to raise the profile of the key agents in the ICT sector applied to the fields of Health and Social Welfare.

The R+D+I ICT Health and Social Seminars are now a major platform for the transfer of knowledge, which helps to align the world of research, business and care. The objective is convergence on solutions with higher added value, which foster social and healthcare integration centred on the individual and the community. The deadline for the Call of Participations, which included 167 communications last year, has been extended until 19 July.

Digital therapies in neurosciences and the humanisation of organisations

The first day, on Thursday, 27 September, will feature Dr Mateo Valero, director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, as one of the main speakers in the programme (9:30 am). Two round tables are also scheduled. The first (at 11 am) will focus on the use of digital therapies in neuroscience, and how the techniques and methodologies which they use enable patients' emotions, body sensations and discomfort to be relieved quickly and effectively, based on scientific breakthroughs such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence. The speakers taking part will include Dr Luz Rello, founder and CEO of Change Dyslexia, Systems Scientist; Dr Maite Garolera, of the Terrassa Health Consortium; Dr Antonio Marqués, the Vice-Rector of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, and Ariadna Torres, a psychologist who is an expert in virtual reality and a member of the Psychiatry, Mental Health and Addiction Group at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). The discussion will be chaired by Dr Miquel Casas.

The second round table (12:30 pm) will focus on the humanisation of organisations through technologies. It will feature speakers including Daniel Moreno Daniel Moreno, from Global Innovation Forum; Adolf Díaz, the coordinator of Catalan Red Cross; Sol Muñoz, director of IDIC-COIB, and Jaume Pérez Payarols, director of innovation of the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, and will be chaired by Dr Jordi Varela.

Assessment of technological experiences and presentation of projects

The second day will start with another framework conference, with Dr Samuel Sànchez, of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). The third round table, chaired by Dr Toni Dedéu, will invite the speakers to consider the evaluation of technological experiences to ensure that the technologies that appear on the market are validated by experts and accrediting institutions and are clinically effective. The participants include Mar Entrambasaguas, director of strategic business development at Tunsal Televida; César Velasco, director of innovation and data at the Vall d'Hebron Campus; Miquel Gallofré, director of the Master Plan for Cerebral Palsy at the Ministry of Health of the Government of Catalonia, and David Reifs, Head of Technological Innovation at Seidor.

The programme will be completed by various complementary activities, including two communication capsule sessions for presenting projects, exhibitions and demonstrations at the Speaker's Corner, a work session of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, and the awards ceremony for the best projects presented. Parallel events will also take place, including a round table discussion on the book Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari, and a hackathon on Health and Social ICTs.

The programme is aimed at professionals and researchers in various disciplines (health, social, technology, business, etc.) involving the ICT, Health and Social areas, entrepreneurs and companies in the same sectors, CEOs and specialists in healthcare institutions and university and higher secondary education students, and students on training cycles. The seminars are organised jointly by the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia through the ICT Health Chair and the Social Services Chair, the ITC Social Health Foundation, the Hospital Consortium of Vic, the Catalan Health Institute, the Santa Creu de Vic Hospital Foundation, the EBA Vic, the EBA Centelles and the Althaia Foundation. The strategic partners are City Council of Vic, the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, Barcelona Provincial Council, Acció, the Innovation FORUM, COPLEFC, M4SOCIAL and the Catalan Third Social Sector Organisations Committee.