Not only does digitalization impact work and personal life, but it also has an impact on and transforms the entire healthcare industry. More cooperation between citizens, doctors, and researchers will be necessary in the future for medical technology to advance sustainably and maintain health. The KIT Center of Health Technologies (KITHealthTech) has now been formed at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to accelerate this transformation process (KIT). Its goal is to create technology and digital medical product solutions from the viewpoint of society. Work will be done with a focus on society’s needs and advantages.
The point of care will progressively move from general practitioners and hospitals to patients at home thanks to e-health, telemedicine, and wearables. Infrastructures and new, digital, and creative technologies will be needed for this. The brand-new KIT Center for Health Technologies integrates the work of more than 150 scientists from a large range of disciplines, including medical engineering, additive manufacture, robotics, life sciences, and data sciences. Their goal is to accelerate research in this area.
“The wide range of expertise and numerous activities at KIT are the basis for coordinated health technologies research,” says Professor Oliver Kraft, KIT’s Vice President Research. “In particular, we plan to combine fundamental research in various areas with applications in health technologies. In this way, we address the needs of an aging society and additionally offer modern and new research-based study programs.”
“To develop successful digital and technological solutions for future global challenges in the healthcare sector, we will need comprehensive technological and social competencies. We cooperate closely with hospital networks, health insurance companies, and licensing authorities,” says Professor Andrea Robitzki, the Division Head responsible for the KIT Center of Health Technologies. “It is our vision that citizens in the region of Karlsruhe directly interact with physicians, hospitals, and other players in the healthcare sector. In this way, we want to create a unique ecosystem.”
