Introduction
The healthcare sector has been considered a major cost factor in the economy. The health care sector is influenced and structured in equal parts by life science matters and IT. At the same time, it is one of the infrastructural and services domains that have a rationalisation requirement backlog.
e-Health has a far-reaching potential, ranging from the rationalisation of the administrative work to target-group oriented health risk prevention through electronic prescription, discharge letter and patient record transactions.
While the growth of industries such as telecommunications and information technology has slowed significantly over the past years, medical technology remains strong and continues growing. The creation of a roadmap on emerging technology areas and identification of target clinical areas can guide inventors/SMEs in their investments and increase their direct investments within Europe.
Health is one of the Commissions prioritised areas. Many European countries have established, or are about to establish, national programmes on e-Health. Today the e-Health industry is mainly made up of SMEs, but there is a need for transnational cooperation for future business development.
The SINCERE project aims to promote SMEs by helping them with knowledge, networking and sharing knowledge with other players, and with future roadmaps, innovation strategies and by bringing them closer to researchers in the field.  |