Successful outcome of the 3rd Donostialdea IHO-Biodonostia Conference on Innovation

The event included a keynote speech by Jose Mª Villate from Innobasque and the presentation of four Bottom-Up Project success stories.

The 3^rd Donostialdea IHO-Biodonostia Conference on Innovation, intended to demonstrate the work carried out in the field of healthcare innovation thanks to the calls for Bottom-Up Projects, took place on 9th November.

The conference was introduced by Dr. Jose Manuel Ladrón de Guevara, Manager of Donostialdea IHO, who left the floor for his keynote speech to Mr. Jose Mª Villate, Deputy Director to the Presidency at Innobasque-Basque Innovation Agency. During his speech, Villate looked at how innovation has evolved in the Basque Country in the last 30 years, pointing out the country’s major commitments in the framework of the “Smart Specialisation Strategy”, part of the Euskadi 2020 Science and Technology Plan, which focusses on the effort to join positions of world leadership in the priority areas identified as strategic: advanced manufacturing, energy and biosciences/health.

Next, Dr. Julio Arrizabalaga, Scientific Director at the Biodonostia HRI, explained the general lines of the Calls for Operating Contracts (Bottom-Up Projects), which have the philosophy to generate knowledge and promote innovation in healthcare organisations.

Arantza Abad, Manager of the Institute, then presented the four success stories associated to the same number of projects developed thanks to the Call for Operating Projects in 2017. Jon Zabaleta, Doctor in Medicine, Specialist in Thoracic Surgery at the Donostialdea IHO spoke about 3D technology for improving the preparatory study and surgical planning of patients with centrally located endobronchial tumours. After him, Ramón Lerchundi, Deputy Director of Information Systems at the Donostialdea IHO, together with Dr. Miguel Goena, presented the case of integrating domestic glycaemic controls to the clinical background of Donostialdea IHO patients. For his part, Dr. Jesús Manuel Blanco, Deputy Doctor of Oncology at the Donostialdea IHO, summarised the project for medication reconciliation at the Donostialdea IHO oncology service. Lastly, Dr. Carolina Güell, a MIR-trained Specialist Doctor in Family and Community Medicine, presented the proposal of a protocol and tool for integral assessment of the fragile patient in primary care.

The conference was brought to an end after the round table at which the participants asked the speakers numerous questions about the projects presented.