From the Editor

Part 3

Do we need a European MBE structure?

The Ad-Hoc Committee on European Affairs was established after the 1st European MBE Conference in Vienna November 1999 (see editorial in January newsletter). After several rounds of virtual meetings using email the committee had a face-to-face meeting in London, March 4-5, 2000. Those present were: Hiie Hinrikus, Helmut Hutten, Dov Jaron, Marijke Lensing-Kooiman, Joachim Nagel, Maciej Nalecz, Nicolas Pallikarakis, Nandor Richter, Niilo Saranummi, Slavik Tabakov, Heikki Teriö and Åke Öberg.   

The task of the committee is based on the fact that today the MBE community in Europe is not very well organised. We have national MBE societies in most European countries. We have a number of trans-European societies in various sub-fields of MBE. We have a large number of universities giving MBE education and degrees. We have a lot of industries comprising large-, medium- and small-sized enterprises. Is this the way things should be in Europe or can (or indeed should) anything be done to change it? And if so, for what purpose?   

Therefore the questions that the committee is addressing are:

  • What is the European MBE community?
  • Should this community work together under a common heading?
  • What are the purposes (goals) towards establishing such a structure?
  • What benefits would this structure give to the individuals and the European MBE community?
  • Does this structure need a legally established organisation?

Below is a progress report based on work up to end of March:

Definition of MBE

Before we can identify the European MBE community we must have a definition of what medical and biological engineering comprises. The answer is given in the IFMBE strategic plan, where the following rather broad definition of medical and biological engineering is presented:

Medical and Biological Engineering integrates physical, mathematical and life sciences and engineering principles for the study of biology, medicine and health systems and for the application of technology to improving health and quality of life. It creates knowledge from the molecular to organ systems levels, develops materials, devices, systems, information approaches, technology management, and methods for assessment and evaluation of technology, for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, for health care delivery and for patient care and rehabilitation.

Action Lines

With the Bologna declaration (www.europedu.org/gb/vert/bologne.html) European academic programs will be required to be accredited in the near future. This also applies to MBE programs. A surprisingly large number of European networks exist in the area of inter-university-based academic MBE education and enabling the mobility of students. Examples of these projects include: TEMPERE, EMERALD, MELETI and BalMEP. Given the need to move towards accredited programs, IFMBE could facilitate this process. We therefore decided to determine whether universities would be interested in participating and are also looking into the possibility of setting up a web-service linked to the IFMBE homepage. It would contain links to the European biomedical engineering departments and existing networks of education that offer possibilities for future students. The intention is that this site will be the European portal to access information on accredited MBE education. We agreed also to produce a 'white paper' on this that will be discussed in the various meetings in conjunction with the Chicago conference in July.

The current EU Framework Programme for R&D (in short FP), running from 1999 - 2003, does not have a specific MBE program; instead threads of MBE can be found in many programs. For the next (sixth) FP we should make an effort to introduce an EU-funded MBE program. The first step in this was taken in late March when our current and next president, Jean-Pierre Morucci and Dov Jaron, met with some EU Commission representatives in Brussels.

The directives and guidelines dealing with medical devices affect clinical engineers and clinical engineering departments. Therefore there is a need for the clinical engineering interests to be brought together and to form a body that can conduct a dialogue with the EU Commission.

We also need to capitalise on the ICSU membership in Europe. The National Science Academies have set up a European organisation, Euro-CASE (www.euro-case.org). This is one way to influence the European Commission. The question that was raised was how well is the MBE community represented in the respective National Science Academies.

We need to work actively to engage additional individuals to share this work. In that context I invite everyone interested to contact me or any of the committee members.

In all these action points, the committee needs to work together with the European IFMBE member societies. Therefore a special meeting is planned to take place in conjunction with the Chicago conference in July. This meeting will discuss the progress made. Its results will be used to (re-)focus the work if that is the conclusion of the meeting.

Finally, we want to emphasise that this is a report of 'work in progress'. We, the committee members, see this as a process that has been initiated. The end point and outcome of this process depends on whether IFMBE is able to facilitate a meaningful and goal-seeking dialogue within the European MBE community. Therefore, please come to the meeting in Chicago (details of time and meeting room to be announced later) and share your views with us.

Niilo Saranummi
Email: niilo.saranummi@vtt.fi