A research scientist working at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a user-friendly smart phone application that allows consumers to take an electrocardiogram (ECG) in the comfort of their own homes. The pocket-size device communicates with your mobile phone. Irregularities in the heartbeat can be seen with the application which helps to prevent heart and stress-related disorders.

Vodafone Foundation has announced the launch of the first Mobile for Good Europe Awards to search for iOS and Android apps designed to improve people's lives and deliver substantial public benefit. Creators of the winning apps, in categories including accessibility, mobilising public services, health and education, will receive a shared prize fund of € 200,000 to be used for the development of their innovations.

HIMSS Analytics Europe, subsidiary of HIMSS Europe, awarded yesterday four new hospitals in Europe with Stage 6 Award during the forth edition of eHealth Week, that is taking place in Dublin from the 13th to 15th of May.

A declaration by the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU committing Member States to developing eHealth ecosystems that could contribute to the reform of health systems has been welcomed by European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes and Health Commissioner Tonio Borg. The Irish Presidency presented the Declaration at the Ministerial eHealth High Level Conference in Dublin on May 13th.

Researchers at the University of Leeds are using the feet of tree frogs as a model for a tiny robot designed to crawl inside patients' bodies during keyhole surgery. The tiny device is one of a growing stable of bio-inspired robots being built in the University's School of Mechanical Engineering and featured on the BBC's The One Show.

The European Commission's Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) have agreed on a roadmap to strengthen transatlantic cooperation in eHealth and Health information technologies (IT). This builds on a Memorandum of Understanding on this topic, signed in 2010 under the auspices of the Transatlantic Economic Council.

Experts from across Northern Ireland gathered this week to mark the success of the Telemonitoring NI service. The service, which is being provided by the TF3 Consortium in conjunction with the five health and social care trusts, is designed to transform patient care across Northern Ireland by enabling better control over their health and improving care outcomes, and has benefitted 1,500 patients to date.