A new laboratory environment for e-health and care is being formed through a collaboration project between Sweden and Finland.
The collaboration between Umeå University and the County Council of Västerbotten was initiated in order to establish a center for competence to support the development of new innovations within e-health and the spread of knowledge about existing solutions. The project is called the Nordic Telemedicine Center, NTC.
“Here in Umeå we are developing a laboratory environment where technical solutions for the smart homes of the future will be developed and demonstrated. By combining data collected through sensors and evidence-based knowledge a person may in the future have the possibility of self-diagnosis and self-care by using applications built with new methods from the field of artificiell intelligence, in collaboration with professionals at a distance,” says Helena Lindgren, a researcher at the Institutionen for Computer Technology at Umeå university.
The laboratory environment will be a part of a physical node in Umeå and be able to connect with a demonstration environment at the university hospital to get the clinical perspective on e-health and remote care. Results and prototypes developed in the lab will be available for all collaborators in Sweden and Finland, like for example ongoing research at Umeå university within self-training programs for enuresis, diagnostic tools for dementia, a virtual physiotherapist in a training program for elderly and software agents with other areas of knowledge acting as coaches and using methods from the area of artificiell intelligence.
The aim is to form a long-term sustainable and cross-border center for excellence within e-health, telemedicine, practical work procedures, the formation of care environments and digital innovation for remote care.
The center will have two physical nodes, one in each country, as well as a common node. The virtual node consists of a database and a digital portal for the interaction between Umeå, Vasa and Seinäjoki. It will used for meetings, workshops, virtual study visits and online practice.
The participants are the County council of Västerbotten, Umeå university, Vasa university and Southern Österbotten’s healthtech development center, EPTEK.
