Event to explore future of assistive technologies
Meet the Buyers conference brings together telehealth and telecare procurers and suppliers
Wheelchair basketball Paralympic athlete, Clare Strange, will be among the speakers supporting the implementation of assistive technologies at this year’s annual Telecare Meet the Buyers Event .
The conference, to be held in Buckinghamshire on 14 September, will explore the theme of Liberating the Individual to Live Independently and will bring together telecare and telehealth procurers and service and technology providers for partnering, networking and potential deal-making.
It is aimed at anyone interested in the use of technology to promote the health, wellbeing and independence of individuals, both in the UK and internationally and participants will include businesses, technology procurers and suppliers, service providers and users, local government, healthcare professionals, academia, industry associations and third sector organisations.
The event is organised by the South East Health Technologies Alliance in conjunction with its Aylesbury Vale International Centre of Excellence in Telecare (ICE-T) showcase site where partners include Aylesbury Vale District Council, Stoke Mandeville National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC), and Bucks New University.
The showcase site is one of three ICE-T sites that provide facilities for research, simulating real-life environments reflecting specific themes. They demonstrate the use of technology in the delivery of care, establish external contacts to act as test sites, and provide initial routes to market for technologies and services developed by ICE-T projects.
This year delegates will hear from experts talking about the commercial, academic and clinical issues involved in the delivery of products and services to aid assisted living.
Dr David Parry, chief executive of SEHTA, said: “Meet the Buyers has become an important forum for buyers of telecare and telehealth systems and services to learn more about the innovative technologies that are available or in development. It also represents a window of opportunity for businesses selling such technologies to learn about the needs of buyers in the private and public health service and potentially secure new contracts.”
The event will have three streams: a conference, including keynote speakers from the worlds of sport, business, healthcare and academia; an exhibition, with stands from leading telehealth service and technology providers; and partnering, where buyers and sellers can meet and potentially make deals.
Other speakers will include Dr Parry; Mike Biddle, innovation platform leader for assisted living at the Technology Strategy Board and chairman of the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Forum; Alison Graham, a consultant physician at the NSIC; Hossein Sharifi, managing director of Care Harmony Solutions; Adam Willison, joint commissioning manager at Buckinghamshire Council; and Crystal Oldman, dean of enterprise and business management at Bucks New University.