The XIII RDI TIC Salut Social Conference concludes with successful participation in Vic

Last April 25 in Vic, the XIII RDI TIC Salut Social Conference gathered a total of 466 attendees combining the face-to-face format (215) and online (251). Throughout the day, the Paranimf of the Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya (UVic-UCC) has been the meeting point of the Catalan ecosystem dedicated to technological innovation in social services and health to bring together and share experiences and learnings.

The day had 4 debates to address the needs of citizens and how to solve them efficiently with the help of technology. In this sense, Joan Guanyabens, director of the TIC Salut Social Foundation, has remarked that the process is not simple because technology keeps growing and moving forward at great speed” and added that these days “serve to learn about experiences and projects carried out and to keep moving forward”.

Building inclusion with artificial intelligence: debureaucratization and humanization in care for the person

The starting shot in charge with Ramon López de Mántaras, member of the Catalan Studies Institute, founder and former director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, has laid the foundations. Under the title Artificial Intelligence: Myths and Realities, he put on the table the leitmotif of the day: “AI is neither artificial, nor is it intelligence”.

Jesús Delgado, Sílvia Madrid and Montse Solé during the debate on social needs of citizens.

In this sense, during the afternoon 10 projects related to this technology applied to social services and health were presented. Useful to verify another idea of the debate: the de-bureaucratizing function of technology. In this sense, as the general director of Personal Autonomy and Disability of the Department of Social Rights, Marta Segura, has pointed out, “we must take advantage of technological changes to improve the lives of the people we have to take care of, that of caregivers and professionals”.

Relive the postponed day by clicking on this link.

The Catalan innovation ecosystem

Through the TIC Social Health Chair, the TIC Salut Social Foundation and the University of Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya (UVic-UCC) promote the RDI TIC Salut Social Conference on an annual basis. They do this with the active collaboration of entities from central Catalonia such as Osona Social Action, Osonament, Fundació Sant Tomàs, Osona Salut Mental, the Consorci Hospitalari de Vic-Fundació Hospital de la Santa Creu de Vic, Fundació Althaia, the Catalan Institute of Health, EAP Centelles and EAP Vic.

This year the companies iN2, Doole Health, Evidenze, NTT Data, Seidor, Minsait and Chiesi have joined as sponsors. A participation that illustrates the commitment of the industrial fabric in a triple confluence with the care and academic world to promote the improvement of the health and well-being of citizens. This is a challenge that, according to Jordi Amblàs, director of Integrated Care at the Department of Health, and co-coordinator of the Integrated Social and Health Agency “gives us the opportunity to shape the future of care for people, and although it may seem contradictory, to personalize and humanize this care from a more comprehensive and integrated perspective”. And with this look, he unravels the four challenges on which to focus: 1) telemedicine, digital health and the internet of things; 2) interoperability and data standards; 3) cyber security and data privacy; and 4) predictive analysis and personalized attention thanks to artificial intelligence and Machine Learning.