“Mirandola’s biomedical? World excellence of Europe”
The ideas and wishes of the promoters and organizers of Veronafiere, Confindustria Dispositivi Medici, Confimi Industria Sanità and distrettobiomedicale.it
On 9 June, on the sidelines of the press conference presenting “Innovabiomed”, the network place for biomedical innovation that will take place at the Palaexpo Congress Center in Verona on 2 and 3 July, representatives of the major players involved in the organization of the event spoke.
It is therefore worth delving into the ideas and considerations of the most important “insiders”, words that anticipate with great ability to understand the future the news related directly or indirectly to the development of the biomedical district of Mirandola and, in general, to the health sector in the context of the COVID19 pandemic that has affected the planet…
In Verona on July 2-3 there is the biomedical of “Innovabiomed”
Maurizio Danese, President of Veronafiere
“From June 15, the Italian trade fair system can start again, in presence and safety, and ”Innovabiomed” in July will be the third exhibition in order of time that will mark the definitive resumption of our calendar, after more than a year of stop imposed by the pandemic. COVID has made us all even more aware that talking about health means referring first and foremost to the progress of research. For this reason, the format and themes of ”Innovabiomed” are as topical as ever in this scenario. The biomedical sector is one in which Italian companies are at the top. In particular, development and production of biomedical devices are an excellence that has in Mirandola the most important district in Europe and the second in the world. With ‘Innovabiomed’, we wanted to bring together the competences of Veronafiere, with distrettobiomedicale.it, a high-profile scientific committee with doctors, researchers and scholars of international level and primary partners from the territory and nationally. All this to create a moment of confrontation for the companies of the supply chain and its actors. With 123 years of activity as event organizers, we are well aware of the value and the need to take new roads to confirm ourselves as a promotional tool for the business of companies, always competitive. This is a challenge that we, as Veronafiere, have accepted, in the awareness of being able to make our contribution as always with professionalism and commitment”.
“Innovabiomed”: 20 happenings, 100 speakers, lots of networking
Giovanni Mantovani, General Manager of Veronafiere
“COVID has taught us that in the future we will have to put the health industry increasingly at the center of our development. Investments in research, but also in infrastructures, will be fundamental to guarantee the production and supply of essential medical instruments and drugs. With ‘Innovabiomed’ we want to play our part, in this particular ‘historical’ moment, in the growth of such a strategic supply chain. The format of the event is ‘confexpo’, an increasingly popular model that represents the evolution taking place in the international exhibition system, combining the exhibition with an increasingly strong component linked to high-profile content. The results obtained in the first edition of 2018 have made us understand the enormous potential yet to be developed in this sector and the value of ‘Innovabiomed’. Key word of the two-day event in July will be multidisciplinarity, since the event aims to connect innovation in different scientific areas: from physics to mechanics, from biology to material science, from engineering to computer science. Innovabiomed’ wants to represent a synthesis tool, as underlined by the payoff ‘Network place for biomedical innovation’. And we hope that it can give its concrete contribution towards new goals, more and more ambitious because it is with talent that you win games, but it is with teamwork and intelligence that you win championships”.
Il programma completo di “Innovabiomed” 2021
Alberto Nicolini, co-organizer of “Innovabiomed”
“The health emergency related to COVID19 has highlighted how much the medical device and biomedical sector in general is not only strategic for the country, but important for the life of each of us. The companies that are daily engaged in this field contribute with their work, together with doctors and researchers, to improve the quality of life of citizens. Now we must look to the future with optimism, supporting those who are committed to innovation and knowing that this can only be achieved through a great teamwork that sees all parties involved, small and large companies, the world of research and institutions, side by side with a single goal. The biomedical sector is a sector that can enhance many talents and that offers important professional prospects to those who know how to seize the opportunities. For this reason, at the basis of ‘Innovabiomed’, there is a multidisciplinary vision that aims to relate all the different areas that contribute to innovation: from biology to chemistry, from electronics to computer science, from materials engineering to the mechanical sector. We need courage and we need optimism, we need to look to the future without fear but with awareness, the awareness that networking in Europe is the most important weapon to ‘restart’ and that ‘Innovabiomed’ is a place where restart finds lifeblood”.
Emilia-Romagna runs between Facebook and Stanford University
Massimiliano Boggetti, President of Confindustria Medical Devices
“Medical device companies have been able to cope with the pandemic by making an enormous effort to try to provide production capacity, but also research and development of new technologies. In a very short time we have supported companies in other sectors in the reconversion phase, but also put new devices on the market for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of COVID19. I am thinking, for example, of the variety of new tests, but also of the saturimeters that have now become commonly used, pulmonary ventilators or disposable protective devices. The world of medical devices is a universe where wonder and science give life to innovation, which is the basis of 1.5 million technologies for the health and well-being of people. In Italy, the medical device sector has 4,323 companies, employing 94,153 people, in addition to 329 innovative start-ups and SMEs, particularly active in the fields of biotechnology, 3D printing, robotics, advanced materials, ICT, photonics and nanotechnology. Due to its characteristics, the world of medical devices is therefore a privileged field for the development and application of countless sciences and technologies, so much so that it counts important rates of investment and innovation. Overall, in 2019 in Italy, investments in research and development amounted to 934.5 million euros. This last figure, unfortunately, highlights a low attractiveness of Italy as a country in which to carry out clinical trials despite the strong scientific and clinical competitiveness of our NHS. We are living in an extraordinarily unique moment for our sector: 20 billion euros of investments of the PNRR and new regulations that imply a lot of investments in clinical trials, which if put in system with the strengthening of the production of our companies could generate the restart of our country after the COVID, while improving the health of Italians. From this point of view, it would also be important to encourage early clinical studies in order to obtain preliminary information on an innovative medical technology during the development process, especially in a sector like ours that is characterized by continuous technological evolution and innovation. There is increasing talk of Early Feasibility Studies (EFS) and the benefits are clear, encouraging innovation and simplifying the process required to ensure quality, safe and effective technologies are brought to market. This is a central theme of great interest for our sector that we will have the pleasure of exploring in depth at ‘Innovabiomed’ on July 2. The event will be an opportunity to discuss the opportunities that the studies could offer our companies and the National Health Service”.
Veneto candidate to host EU “anticoronavirus” authority
Massimo Pulin, President of Confimi Industria Sanità
“Contrary to what one might have thought in the midst of the COVID emergency, small and medium-sized companies operating in the health and healthcare sector, like other sectors, have experienced the pandemic at two speeds: there are in fact those who have suffered a setback, a strong slowdown because they operate in the field of ortho-prosthetic devices, personal services, physio-kinesiotherapy centers, outpatient clinics, suppliers of devices for operating rooms, not included by necessity and contingency among those considered “life-saving” and those who have actively collaborated to overcome the emergency by providing constant assistance to patients and health facilities, even going to support the SSN where the gaps have been exacerbated by the health emergency itself. ‘Innovabiomed’ is the first appointment to return to teamwork, more networking. In fact, relationships are not only important for a matter of business opportunities, but they are the tool that binds business and research with a double thread. Synergies with universities, with incubators, with financiers. There where constant technological, product or process innovation is the basis of the quality work that has always distinguished our SMEs. This is why Confimi Industria Sanità has chosen to be there and to do so as a partner, so that we can see for ourselves the added value of a network that is not just made up of numbers”.
Bologna will give new life to electrical and electronic waste
Carlo A. Adami, President of the Scientific Committee “Innovabiomed”.
“‘Innovabiomed’, finally, sees the light after the avoidable postponements caused by the tragedy that affected everyone worldwide. The technology, very advanced at the health level, has been faced with unexpected scenarios and ‘Innovabiomed’ will be the place where we will present a preview of the solutions that make us proud to be Italian. In recent months there has been an uncontrolled proliferation of initiatives and events dedicated to the world of medical devices, I would like to emphasize that ‘Innovabiomed’ remains unique in its kind: there is a very precise strand in the network place that is related to biomedical innovation. All the people who, with their activities, give life to the realization of the final product will be present and, above all, we have identified round tables with precise compositions and purposes so that they are functional to the innovative process. Each participation has its own value and credibility, we are sure that ‘Innovabiomed’ will be a milestone, not only for technological development, but also for the welfare of our society”.
Video, the presentation of the “Innovative Start Up/PMI Award”
Giampaolo Tortora, “Innovabiomed” Scientific Committee
“The due attention to COVID19 in fact has unfortunately shifted the spotlight from high-impact diseases such as cancer. In a health care that has had to channel forces and go to war with the virus, we have seen enormous delays for cancer patients, both in the start of treatment and in diagnosis, two important but different issues. For the first aspect, the numbers are very significant: throughout Italy we have had more than 400 thousand fewer oncologic surgeries, 64% delay in scheduled oncologic surgeries, almost 50% of therapy treatments delayed or shifted. We had 20 percent of cancer patients who did not go for scheduled treatments and major delays in continuity of care for those who had already been diagnosed with cancer. An equally serious problem, when you think about the great advances that early detection has brought in the ability to deal with cancers in the best way possible, is that in 2020 there were 2 million fewer screening tests done than in 2019, we’re talking about standard checks, from mammograms to pap smears, and so on, with delays in diagnosis of many weeks on average, sometimes months. Some decisions related to the post COVID restart are of a political-organizational nature, and it is also places like ‘Innovabiomed’ that turn the spotlight on fundamental issues, such as the urgency of increasing the healthcare workforce, restarting a massive campaign of screening preventions in all regions, and refounding territorial medicine because even that has been reduced to the minimum of effectiveness. Innovation can and must flank and develop measures of a political and organizational nature and at the same time strengthen technical developments, particularly those of diagnostic systems and remote monitoring, such as telemedicine, which at ‘Innovabiomed’ is promoted with specific forums on new technologies and instrumentation. I hope that the general and strategic management of hospitals and research centers will also participate in ‘Innovabiomed’ because it is a place where you can compare innovations and the possibility of implementing them in their health facilities. This will also be ‘Innovabiomed’: a proposal of biomedical and scientific innovation, but also a moment of sharing with health administrators and with those responsible for the management of hospital facilities”.
24 Regions to Europe: “Involve us in the Recovery Plan…”
Gino Gerosa, “Innovabiomed” Scientific Committee
“The pandemic period has been the source of many problems that have inevitably affected even the specialist surgeries. We had to deal with urgent and emergency interventions, so all the elective surgery was substantially reduced and penalized and now needs to be recovered. Today, innovation in surgery is even more important, and what is being done with regard to micro-invasive cardiac surgery is certainly fundamental. The ability to correct structural cardiac alterations without the need to use extracorporeal circulation has taken on a decisive role, using everything that technology can make available to us in this field. Another sector in great evolution is related to the replacement therapy of organs and tissues, the development of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering is opening scenarios of absolute importance. Innovabiomed’ can be a point of reference for the development of innovative technologies and is certainly a place where it will be possible to see what new technologies make available”.