The event was hosted by Uwe Borchers from the Center for Innovation in the Healthcare Industry East Westphalia-Lippe (ZIG OWL), who encouraged interesting questions between the presentations.
The event began with a keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Volker Lohweg (inIT, TH OWL). He emphasized the central role of technology development, digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) in overcoming current challenges in healthcare. Lohweg emphasized: "It is crucial to talk more intensively about how technology development, digitalization and AI can address the problems and challenges in healthcare." He also gave a brief insight into future-oriented research projects and degree courses in the field of smart health at the TH OWL.
Markus Rempe, CEO of Lippe Bildung eG, focused on the regional promotion of education and the challenges associated with the shortage of skilled workers in the healthcare sector. He announced the future project "Center Health" in the district of Lippe and underlined the importance of networks in the technological field. Rempe stated: "The challenge in future will be to establish networks in the technological field. We should also make more intensive progress together in the context of skilled workers."
Prof. Dr. Christoph Redecker from Klinikum Lippe presented a guest contribution on the Parkinson's Network OstwestfalenLippe+ (PNOWL+), an interdisciplinary network that was successfully established within a year. Redecker explained: "Our aim is to offer Parkinson's patients in Ostwestfalen-Lippe interdisciplinary care, improve their quality of life and give them access to various treatment options."
Prof. Dr. Anja Kröger-Brinkmann from TH OWL inspired the participants with a presentation on 3D bioplotting and its potential in medicine. In addition to the production of implants, she emphasized the future vision of organ generation using 3D printing. Kröger-Brinkmann said: "We are not just talking about a revolution in medicine, but rather a transformation that will fundamentally change the way we see and implement medical solutions."
The co-statement by Prof. Dr. Axel Schneider from Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (HSBI) was dedicated to technology development in Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the application of AI in the healthcare sector. He emphasized the importance of networks in OWL, highlighted the new movement laboratory in Bielefeld and emphasized the interdisciplinary cooperation between TH OWL and HSBI.
Anton Pfeifer initially focused on the Parkinson's app in his joint presentation with Christoph-Alexander Holst (both inIT, TH OWL). He explained: "Our idea is to use smartphones to give people with Parkinson's a kind of data record, i.e. we track their movement behavior and navigation. The whole thing is not intended to be a finished system, but rather to evolve over time in collaboration between patients, clinics, doctors and therapists."
In the second part of the lecture, Christoph-Alexander Holst gave an informative presentation on large language models and their possible applications. He critically discussed the factual correctness of language models in the medical field and emphasized the challenges of using them in different contexts. Holst said: "We want to act as an interface between data collection and the application of language models in order to process existing information and then pass it on to the outside world in an adapted form."
The participants used the breaks to gain exciting insights into individual research projects at the table top exhibition. From 3D bioplotting to testing the Parkinson's app on XXL smartphones, almost every area of interest was covered. There was also a lively exchange of ideas in a relaxed atmosphere.
The initiators agree: the Solutions23 event was a complete success and a successful start to the event series.
The "Digital Care and Medical Technologies" events are a joint initiative of inIT - Institute for Industrial Information Technology at Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, T Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe,Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, CareTech OWL and ISyM - Institute for System Dynamics and Mechatronics. On December 4, 2023, the partner event on "Human Mechatronics - Body-related Medical and Health Technologies" will take place in Bielefeld.