Meeting Report
5th European Conference on Engineering and Medicine, Barcelona
May 29 - June 2, 1999
The
5th Conference of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine (ESEM) took
place in Barcelona from Monday 31 May to Wednesday 2 June 1999, encompassing
European Union Day on Sunday 30 May. During the conference, approximately 250
papers covering all areas of medical technology and surgical techniques were
presented either orally or by poster.
The European Union Day, which attracted 80 delegates, reflected the link that has always existed between the ESEM and the medical engineering programmes of the European Union. The opening lectures by the EC officers Dr Peter Kind, Dr Viviane Thévenin, Dr Thomas Sommer and Dr Olivier Ledour clearly highlighted the changes that are being implemented in the transition between the Fourth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (RTD) and the recently started Fifth Framework Programme. Among other things, it should be kept in mind that the Fifth Framework Programme is mainly problem driven, and projects that are submitted for financial support should clearly address a social problem in the European Community. Sixteen running EC projects were then presented by the project leaders or their representatives. They covered the three main topics of the conference, these being mobility, communication and body maintenance. Depending on the progress of the projects, preliminary or nearly final results were presented. The general discussion at the end of the day was highly appreciated by the audience, and detailed questions regarding the opportunities in the Fifth Framework Programme were asked and answered. Also, the EC officers appreciated the opportunity offered to them within the ESEM conference to speak to the representatives of the projects in an informal way.
The three days of the conference were devoted to three main biological functions of the body, thus highlighting the medical approach to medical technology that is typical for the ESEM. Day one was devoted to mobility, disorders related to this and new developments in its treatment. Biomaterials, computer-aided surgery, rehabilitation devices and advances in medical imaging of the hard tissues were discussed. Day two covered the communicative functions of the body, and featured presentations on brain imaging, ophtalmology, neuroendoscopy and telemedicine. Finally, day three dealt with the maintenance of the body, and topics such as cardiac surgery, digestive surgery, artificial kidneys and biosensors were discussed. Telesurgery and robot-assisted surgery showed their high potential in the hands of experienced surgeons.
Each day started with state-of-the-art lectures by internationally renowned speakers, both medical doctors and biomedical engineers. These lectures presented a broad overview of the recent developments and perspectives for the future in these specific domains, and were very well received by the audience. Round-table discussions were scheduled at the end of the morning sessions, and covered topics such as the future of the European biomedical industry, the Fifth Framework Programme of the EU, and health technology development under economical constraints. Each afternoon, three parallel sessions with high-quality free papers and several workshops took place. The papers presented focused on the medical applications of technological developments, and showed that medical treatment is indeed progressing significantly due to applications of biomedical technology.
The Fifth European Conference on Engineering and Medicine has clearly shown the orientation of the ESEM towards papers and projects showing the medical applications of biomedical technology developed within Europe. During the conference, the decision was taken to organise the Sixth European Conference on Engineering and Medicine in Belfast in the year 2001 with Prof. Norman Black, newly elected President of the ESEM, holding the conference chair.
Jos Vander Sloten
ESEM Secretary-General
Email:jos.vandersloten@mech.kuleuven.ac.be