Today, the ” PERTE Vanguard Health in Castilla y León” conference took place. Colegio Fonseca hosted a hundred representatives from companies, institutions and the general public to learn about the characteristics of this project whose main objective is to position Spain as a leading country in the innovation and development of advanced therapies for the cure of diseases such as diabetes or ALS.

The conference was organised by the Institute for Business Competitiveness of Castilla y León (ICE), the ITCL Technology Centre, the AIR Institute and the CARTIF Technology Centre within the framework of the Centr@tec Programme.

During the event, several presentations on the strategic approach of the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) were delivered by the Carlos III Institute of Health, the Centre for Industrial Technological Development and the Ministry of Health of the Regional Government of Castilla y León. In addition, two round tables were held with the participation of the Regional Ministry of Health, the Biomedical Research Institute of Salamanca, the BIOTECYL Cluster, AMADIX, Immunostep Biotech and the Institute of Biology and Molecular Genetics, AMETIC, the SIVI Cluster, ARTELNICS and the AIR Institute and CARTIF technology centres.

During the conference, the director of the AIR Institute, Juan Manuel Corchado, told the attendees about some of the projects that the institute is developing in the field of healthcare. One of those projects involves research into the use of smart textiles in dolls for therapy, companionship and care for people, another project uses an Artificial Intelligence-based conversational care platform, eXplicable, in the care for dependent people, including the elderly and people with disabilities or chronic illnesses.

Finally, he spoke about the capabilities offered by the Castilla y León Network of Technology Centres, which cover the entire value chain of the healthcare system, from primary care and remote care to decision support and healthcare robotics. Through the Network of Centres they join forces and establish synergies that can provide very useful and cutting-edge tools to make this sector more competitive.

It has been a very fruitful conference that has allowed us to explore the opportunities available to the region’s scientific and business network.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.