IFMBE working group for European activitiesIFMBE presently consists of more than 40 affiliated members , i.e. national BME societies, with IEEE-EMBS as the only transnational society. The national BME societies represent countries from all over the world. 24 of the IFMBE affiliated societies (i.e. more than 50%) are from European countries. Within the IFMBE two Divisions (for clinical engineering and health care technology assessment), three working groups (in cellular engineering, Asian-Pacific activities and European activities) and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering are active. Neither the divisions nor the working groups are autonomous or independent organisations; their status is defined in the constitution and bye-laws. Article 11 of the constitution regulates the procedure of establishment of working groups: 'The Administrative Council shall have the power to establish or terminate Working Groups on specific topics, and give them such powers under the Council as they see fit, provided that these powers do not contravene the provisions of the Constitution or the Bye-Laws'. Article 5 of the bye-laws further describes this: 'The Federation may establish Working Groups to deal with specific and well defined fields of particular interest to the Federation. Administratively these Groups will be sub-groups of the Administrative Council who will define the remit and financial conditions under which they will operate'. WG for European ActivitiesThe Working Group for European Activities (WGEA) was established in the middle 1980s as a sub-group with special concern for the BME situation in Europe. Its main goals are:
These goals reflect the IFMBE principle that support to a BME society should not be related to political or economical conditions in that country. Actually, at the time Europe had been divided into two regions which had been controlled by different political regimes. The WGEA provided help for information exchange and co-operation within Europe. During the last decade the political situation in Europe has changed significantly. There is no longer a politically enforced separation. The actual situation has not changed. The political separation of Europe has been replaced by an economic separation. The BME situation, however, can be described as changing rapidly. New national BME societies have been established, e.g. in Estonia and Croatia, or establishment is under preparation, other BME societies have been divided, e.g. the former Czechoslovakian society, and BME societies have been dissolved, e.g. in the former German Democratic Republic. These processes will continue and provide a strong challenge for the WGEA. Another challenge has been the establishment of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine (ESEM) in early 1990s. In the past, the activities of ESEM and those of the IFMBE in Europe have not been well co-ordinated. ESEM has now applied for membership of IFMBE as a transnational organisation. This application was put to the vote by the General Assembly delegates some months ago. Hopefully this affiliation will render possible a more effective co-operation and contribute to the development of BME in Europe. Furthermore, the situation in Europe is characterised by the existence of many national and international societies with strong relations to biomedical engineering, e.g. medical physics, medical informatics, but also by the intensive activities of societies established in fields that are within the scope of biomedical engineering, e.g. clinical engineering. It might be desirable to aim for a better and more efficient co-operation with some of those groups in order not to waste resources. Information networkMost of these problems seem to be European, and it is therefore appropriate that their solution should be managed by the WGEA rather than by IFMBE. During the last three years, the WGEA has established a WWW information network. This network represents the relevant information that has been supplied by all European BME societies with IFMBE affiliation (e.g. activities, president, secretary, conferences). Furthermore, each society has been requested to define five BME centres and ten BME experts in order to facilitate direct contacts, visits and co-operation. This network is up-dated at least every year. The WGEA offers support to all groups in those European countries without established BME societies if there is interest and the required potential for such an establishment. In many countries, although the interest and potential exists, the difficulties for initiating and organising the process of self organisation are tremendous if knowledge and experience are not available. Hence, potential organisers are requested to contact members of the WGEA. National BME societies, as self organised bodies, can become effective by stimulating and controlling programs in research, education, medical device regulation and both national and international co-operation. EMBEC '99A milestone in the activities of the WGEA will be the first joint conference of all European IFMBE members in 1999 in Vienna, the EMBEC'99, the title of which is Advancement of medicine and health care through technology - the challenge to biomedical engineering in Europe. EMBEC'99 will bring together for the first time scientists, researchers and engineers working in biomedical engineering, clinical engineering and related fields from the whole of Europe. Topics of European interest to be discussed at EMBEC'99 will be in the areas of education, postgraduate education, certification, standards in clinical engineering, and medical device regulation. Additionally, EMBEC'99 will be the platform for presenting current work in science and research, e.g. advanced technologies, intelligent instrumentation, telemedicine, cellular and molecular engineering. Of course, it will also be the European meeting point for people with interest in international co-operation. Members of the WGEA for the period 1994 - 1997 are: Chairman: Helmut Hutten (Graz, Austria) Prof. Dr. H. Hutten | ||