Widespread adoption of cloud computing is essential for improving productivity levels in the European economy; but the spread of cloud could slow in light of recent revelations about PRISM and other surveillance programmes. These surveillance revelations have also led to calls for national or regional cloud computing initiatives. This challenge must be addressed and also turned into a Europe-wide opportunity: for companies operating in Europe to offer the trusted cloud services that more and more users are demanding globally.
The more accurately we can diagnose a disease, the greater the chance that the patient will survive. That is why many researchers are working to improve the quality of the diagnostic process. Researchers at the Nano-Science Center, University of Copenhagen have discovered a method that will make the process faster, cheaper and more accurate. This is possible, because they are combining advanced tools used in physics for research in biology at nanoscale, two scientific disciplines usually very distant from each other.
Europe's Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) are delivering exciting results that will help to improve Europeans' quality of life and contribute to Europe's competitiveness - this is the key message from a series of events taking place in the European Parliament in Brussels this week. The events are timely, as the European Parliament will soon debate the European Commission’s proposals on JTIs under Horizon 2020.
The new website for information standards has been developed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) working in partnership with NHS England, the Department of Health and other commissioning partners. The site is aimed at information standards professionals across health and social care.
A doctor from the UK has shown how an innovative music video can help increase awareness of how to treat asthma. Dr Tapas Mukherjee, from Glenfield Hospital in the UK, produced and starred in a music video to draw attention to new guidelines showing a better way of managing asthma. A study presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress in Barcelona today, has demonstrated the success of this video and suggests that social media can be used to successfully improve medical practice.
A highly customisable robot companion designed by EU-funded researchers to offer support to older people is currently being presented across Europe and could find its way into people's homes within two or three years, potentially greatly enhancing quality of life for older citizens and people with memory or mobility problems.
From eHealth to mHealth: Society becomes the driver of its health activities
The further use of wireless internet and gadgets that receive and transmit data (tablet computers, smartphones and laptops) have constituted a new trend in eHealth, providing for more on-the-spot services. Mobile health (known as mHealth) is a developing trend in the eHealth field that encompasses and exploits much broader use of mobile telecommunications and multimedia technologies as they are integrated within increasingly mobile and wireless healthcare delivery systems.