A Transnational Initiative

Sensors are used in diagnostics, in prevention and in the monitoring of therapies. They are an important tool for a wide range of medical application areas like cardiovascular, neurological or nephrological diseases.

In the prevention of diseases, body functions can be monitored online in or on the mobile person e.g. with smart clothes, wearable sensors or even implants.

For the diagnostics of diseases sensors have been developed, e.g. blood sugar sensors. However a long-term stable and implantable blood sugar sensor is still an unfulfilled desire. The future challenges for research and development here are more intelligent sensors and sensors that can stay in the body for a longer term.

E-health can shorten hospital stays since the success of the therapy can be monitored telemetrically from the mobile patient.

The development and improvement of these systems depends on the degree of interdisciplinary cooperation between engineers, physicians and natural scientists from research institutes, entrepreneurs, companies and hospitals. Together they can break new grounds, develop new ideas and built a joint brain pool to overcome the gap between mere research and functional products.

The aim of the ELAt initiative “Sensors in fundamental Medical Application Areas” is to form a technology triangle in the ELAt area. The initiative thrives to bring the experts from top research institutes, hospitals and companies in this region together to work on the integration of sensors in medical application areas.

About ELAt:

“Innovation is the driving force of economic development and regions are the basis for excellence“

ELAt is the Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle; a stimulus for and an example of the improvement of the knowledge economy in Europe via cross border and interregional cooperation. The partners in the ELAt project are three cities (Eindhoven, Leuven and Aachen), two regional public authorities and one university.

Transnational cooperation between Eindhoven, Leuven and Aachen means a larger economic base, a larger knowledge base, a larger urban scale and a larger urban diversity. The Triangle has the potential to become a Top Technology region, also because of the presence of five top universities and the institutions and business activities that go with them. More information can be found on www.elat.org.