Technical University of Denmark signs partnership to bring digital and technological expertise closer to patients
Today, a letter of intent was signed by the President of DTU and the Chief Executive of Rigshospitalet on behalf of the Capital Region of Denmark. The object of the letter of intent is to ensure closer collaboration and to establish a strategic partnership within the university hospital framework to strengthen the development and utilization of technological health solutions for the patients of the future.
“We want much greater integration of healthcare professionalism and technological and digital competences so we can learn from each other and benefit even faster from the many new opportunities and solutions in relation to the increasing need for individualized diagnostics and targeted treatment currently being developed. The employees and managers of the future need to understand and navigate both technology and healthcare at the same level,” says Rasmus Møgelvang, Chief Executive, Rigshospitalet.
The coming partnership is envisaged under the ‘university hospital’ concept covering education, innovation, research, and treatment. This is expected to include that DTU students and staff with technological competences will be involved in both treatment and development work at the hospitals—close to the patients—to a greater extent than at present.
“We already have many examples of collaborations between engineers, doctors, nurses, and other professional groups, but we want to create a fertile ground for more new ideas and solutions. And we believe this is best done in a structure where it’s the norm rather than the exception for staff and students to move effortlessly across institutions in an overall legal entity,” says Anders Bjarklev, President of DTU.
The Capital Region of Denmark has asked Rigshospitalet to expand and intensify its strategic collaboration with DTU on behalf of the Region. DTU and Rigshospitalet have therefore initiated a process aimed at drawing up the framework for and entering into a strategic partnership during 2023 that builds on and elevates the current collaboration, which is based on many strong individual projects.
Examples of current joint initiatives and collaboration projects between DTU and hospitals in the Capital Region of Denmark:
Education: BSc programme in Medicine and Technology
A study programme with a broad academic range, where the students learn to develop advanced technological equipment and methods for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The study programme is offered in a collaboration between DTU, the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, and Rigshospitalet.
Shared positions combining research and treatment
An example of this is engineer and researcher Abigail Kressner, who works as Assistant Professor at both DTU Health Tech and Rigshospitalet’s Copenhagen Hearing and Balance Centre—both places with focus on improving and developing new technologies and methods for treating hearing loss.
Development and innovation: The WARD alarm system
The intelligent alarm system WARD measures blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and other vital parameters for patients who need monitoring, for example after an operation. The system has been developed in collaboration between researchers at Bispebjerg Hospital, Rigshospitalet, and DTU and is based on artificial intelligence and an algorithm that can sort data so that staff are only alerted when necessary.