The Third MIHealth Management & Clinical Innovation Forum in Barcelona

The Third MIHealth Management & Clinical Innovation Forum began on May, 21st at the Palace of Congresses in Barcelona. At this two-day event, clinical professionals, health managers and companies from the national and international sectors reflected on how to improve healthcare systems and the health of patients in the immediate future.

The task of inaugurating the Forum fell to Josep María Piqué, the Director General of the Clinic Hospital in Barcelona and the President of the MIHealth Forum, María Iglesias, Head of Unit for Innovation in Health and Consumers of the European Commission and Joaquim Casanovas, Director of Barcelona’s Sanitary District of the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) on behalf of the Catalan Health Minister, Boi Ruiz.

The Forum was split into three major thematic areas: Knowledge, with the title “making it happen”; Technology with “technologies which change your life”; and Organisation with “innovating through barriers”.

Among the sessions in the Knowledge section was a lecture entitled “The building blocks of successful innovation” in which different practical experiences were analysed from the viewpoint of business.

In the topic of Technology, we highlight the lecture “Meeting needs in clinical practice”, which reviewed the various stages, from the search and the development phase to implementation. The session showed how the needs in clinical practice are being identified and how new technologies are developed to address them.

In the area of Organisation, the lecture “Patient participation and virtual health practice” focused on the need to involve patients in caring for their own health so that healthcare systems may be improved.

In addition, those attending the Forum could participate in meetings and networking sessions. These include the meeting of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, which had the title of “Scaling up for healthy growth”, and a session organised by Accenture entitled “Disruptive companies and technologies that can change healthcare.