Based at the Hospital Gil Casares, a non-profit research center will seek to generate new expertise, and co-create new paths of R+D+i and technological exchange in the field of ICTs in the healthcare sector. It is called the eHealth Joint Knowledge Centre (eJKC), founded by the Xunta de Galicia, the Fundación Ramón Domínguez, the organization Gradiant and the company Everis.
The objective of these new headquarters – located in the Galician town of Santiago de Compostela – is to promote new lines of research and development into eHealth tools that contribute to different critical areas of healthcare such as oncology, emergencies, active ageing and resource management.
In fact, the eJKC swill seek to predict the technological needs of the healthcare system of the future and come up with designs to meet them in the present. In the area of active ageing, for example, it will study technologies that generate greater physical independence in elderly people; it will also set up initiatives that facilitate the work of oncologists such as intelligent decision making systems that support the choice of personalized treatments.
In addition, with the aim of connecting emergency services and achieving exact identification of patients during critical moments – via biometrics or digital fingerprints – the unit will undertake the creation of a single information network. This initiative will facilitate access to people’s electronic health record at the place where it is needed, indicating whether they have any pathologies or are allergic to any medication, among other information. Also, during patient transfers the information gathered will be sent to the designated hospital so that the doctors can meet the patient with all their clinical documentation at hand.
The installation of this research center will require an investment of two million euros of which thirty percent will be provided by the Xunta through the Axencia Galega de Innovación (GAIN). It will also create fifteen new jobs for engineers and technicians specialized in informatics, telecommunications and healthcare.
