Resource Management in Hospitals: Still a Largely Untapped Potential

9 – 11 April 2011, Berlin, Germany.
For years hospitals have been forced by cost-saving pressures to improve their internal processes to ensure they remain competitive. Not all options have been exploited yet. Multidimensional resource management can not only improve efficiency, but can also benefit the patient. At conhIT 2013 providers and users will be discussing the IT demands on modern hospital resource management as well as the obstacles that still stand in the way of solutions for the entire hospital sector.

A glance at the operating schedules is the easiest way to find out what modern hospital resource management can achieve. “A lot has been accomplished in recent years,” says Angelika Händel of Universitätsklinikum Erlangen. “In many hospitals nowadays, the employees involved can find out at any time about the operating schedule, operation details and when to bring in the next patient.” Even ordering operating materials and work schedules are unimaginable without using IT.

The fact that operating theatres are at the forefront of IT-assisted resource management hardly comes as a surprise: “An empty operating theatre costs several thousand euros every hour. At a time when economically speaking many hospitals are barely viable that is something they do not want to afford,” says Dr. Christoph Seidel, CIO, Klinikum Braunschweig. Together with Angelika Händel, a board member of Deutscher Verband Medizinischer Dokumentare (DVMD), Seidel, who is also director of the Competence Center for the Electronic Signature in Healthcare (CCESigG), will be chairing a Congress session on resource management at conhIT 2013.

Multidimensional resource management maximises benefits
Proper planning of resources has the potential to improve efficiency outside of the operating theatre as well. To date, however, hardly any steps have been taken in this direction. “Generally speaking, one can say that IT-assisted resource management works well in cases in which a hospital information system’s task is to assign a job, for example an X-ray examination.” Extra medical information is then provided for this job and combined with an order for transporting a patient. In many hospitals that is an efficient and automated process.

However, when the necessity arises to organise complex, IT-assisted planning processes many hospitals quickly reach their limits. “As soon as several planning factors have to be considered at the same time, which may also involve different departments, things become difficult. Most IT systems are incapable of handling such a multi-layered approach,” says Händel.

There are many examples that bear this out. At the top of the wishlist of many CIOs is a hospital-wide appointments management system. That would require drawing on data from completely different systems, inconceivable in a normal work situation, especially if the relevant systems are not from the same company. “HL7 represents an excellent communication standard for the hospital sector. What we do not have are cross-sectoral standards for resource management,” says Seidel.

Efficiency is in the patient’s interest too
The industry is aware of these deficits, as Andreas Kassner of the German Association of Healthcare IT Vendors (bvitg) points out: “The complex nature of day-to-day work in hospitals means that in many cases human beings still act as an interface. That is why there is definitely a need for standardisation. Hospitals should enter into a dialogue with manufacturers and offer concrete suggestions for improvements.”

What is clear is that efficient hospital resource management not only saves money but eases nerves as well. “Good resource planning should mean that patients do not have to wait all day for an operation or to stand around for ever in the emergency waiting room,” says Händel. A hospital might not be a car factory. “But with the help of IT and within certain limits it should be feasible to organise what would otherwise be impossible.”

More on this subject at conhIT 2013
On Thursday, 10 April 2013 at conhIT, experts taking part in the Congress Session no. 7 (Resource management) will be holding several lectures on their latest experiences of how hospitals work in practice. Resident practitioners and patients can also benefit from instruments that optimise day-to-day processes, for example online appointments systems. Also on 10 April 2013, the conhIT Forum “Focus on online services – from doctors for patients” will also be examining this topic. Anyone wishing to find out more ahead of conhIT about the products and services relevant to this subject can find the exhibitors in question in the conhIT Virtual Market Place and can already book an appointment at the Industrial Fair.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.conhit.de

About conhIT – Connecting Healthcare IT
conhIT targets decision-makers in IT departments, management, in the medical profession, nursing, doctors, doctors’ networks and medical care centres who need to find out about the latest developments in IT and healthcare, meet members of the industry and make use of opportunities for high-level advanced training. As an integrated event, over a period of three days conhIT combines an Industrial Fair, a Congress and Networking Events which are of particular interest to this sector. Launched in 2008 by the German Association of Healthcare IT Vendors (bvitg) as the meeting place for the healthcare IT industry and organised by Messe Berlin, this event recently recorded 270 exhibitors and 5,300 visitors and has now become Europe’s leading event for the healthcare IT sector.

conhIT 2013 is organised in cooperation with the following industry associations: the German Association of Healthcare IT Vendors (bvitg), the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS), the German Association of Medical Computer Scientists (BVMI). The National Association of Hospital IT Managers (KH-IT) and the Working Group of Directors of Medical Computing Centres at German University Clinics (ALKRZ) have provided contributions to the subject matter.

Source: conhIT Pressemitteilungen

Speech recognition booms as EHR adoption grows

The market for speech recognition software has been growing tremendously over the past few years, partly because of the spread of electronic health records, KLAS Research analyst Ben Brown told InformationWeek Healthcare.

Brown also noted that some physicians don’t want to document in EHRs by pointing and clicking or typing, so they use speech recognition or some combination of methods. Brown made this observation during a discussion of his report on how healthcare providers perceive the leading speech recognition solutions. In the past, these solutions have cut time and costs for transcription and imaging documentation. Now, the report noted, “the hottest steam” in the market is around EMRs/EHRs.

KLAS’ survey measured the popularity of applications in three categories: speech EMR, front-end speech imaging and back-end speech. Front-end refers to applications that require clinicians to edit the transcribed text after they dictate, while back-end applications are those in which transcriptions or editors fix the text generated by speech recognition.

In the speech EMR category, Nuance Dragon Medical, the only reviewed product, received a relatively high rating. Nuance has the most live clients at this point, with Dolbey a distant second and M*Modal third. “The ability to improve documentation efficiency across thousands of hospitals appears real,” the report said.

Nuance has the broadest technology portfolio of any of the speech recognition vendors, but Dolbey’s front/back-end solution is gaining market share. M*Modal, formerly known as Medquist, is also gaining momentum on the back of the speech engine Medquist garnered when it acquired M*Modal and took its name.

In the area of front-end speech imaging, used for imaging documentation, Afga and Dolbey are improving their performance while Nuance and M*Modal struggle, the report said. It attributes Nuance’s problem to “delayed implementations and poor training.” M*Modal lags because it is using an older SpeechQ engine created by Philips and later acquired by Nuance.

However, M*Modal is picking up momentum in back-end speech with its Fluency for Transcription product, which uses the M*Modal speech engine. The leader in that category is Nuance, followed by Dolbey, M*Modal and 3M.

Overall, Brown said, speech recognition has improved incrementally in recent years. But the real determinant of accuracy is the proper training of applications to recognize users’ voices. “Most people who have the right training and applications tend to see better results,” he noted.

While the survey didn’t ask about natural language processing or computer-assisted coding, the speech recognition vendors are among the leaders in those categories. Nuance recently announced that at the IHE North America Connectathon 2013 event in Chicago, it successfully completed testing for extracting discrete data from paper records and automatically populating appropriate fields in medical documents, using its clinical language understanding solution. And M*Modal has just reached an agreement with 3M to turn transcribed text into structured documentation for purposes of computer-assisted coding (CAC), clinical documentation improvement (CDI), quality metrics and analytics.
[Read more...]

By Ken Terry, InformationWeek Healthcare
News > Speech Recognition Booms as EHR Adoption Grows, 27/02/2013

MSc in Global eHealth: Under Development

06/02/2013 - A new online programme in Global eHealth is currently being developed under the auspices of the Centre for Population Health Sciences (CPHS) and the Global Health Academy. This modular and interdisciplinary programme will allow students to acquire in depth knowledge of eHealth from an international perspective and with reference to issues for global development. Foundational courses will cover key concepts and methods in health informatics, global health challenges, eHealth policies and international health systems. These will be complemented by a programme of interdisciplinary options covering digital health innovations with reference to effectiveness, sociological and cultural aspects of implementation, ethical and governance issues and business processes. While evidence-based eHealth will be a pervasive theme through the programme, completion of the module in Research Methods for eHealth will be a core requirement for progression to the MSc project. The course is expected to appeal to clinicians, eHealth implementation personnel, allied health practitioners, NGOs, eHealth policymakers, innovators and technologists, and academic researchers. All modules will be credit bearing and may be used towards a certificate, diploma or masters qualification, depending on the duration of study (one, two or three years).

The announce reads,”We have set up a short survey and would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in online postgraduate study in Global eHealth. Your feedback will help shape the content and structure of this new programme, and there is an opportunity to leave your contact details so we can keep you up to date on any developments.”

For further information, please visit:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DQQH92L

About the Centre for Population Health Sciences
The Centre for Population Health Sciences (CPHS) draws on a long history of public health and general practice at the University of Edinburgh. The Centre brings together researchers with expertise in epidemiology, statistics and modelling, sociology, social policy, psychology, economics, geography, health promotion, nursing and medicine. Thus CPHS research projects can take advantage of a multi-disciplinary approach when needed, which is often the case in population health research. The mission of CPHS encompasses four inter-linked activities.

Source: ehealthserver.com

Telehealth to Reach 1.8 Million Patients by 2017

Monday, 28 January 2013 - In 2012 there was estimated to be 308,000 patients remotely monitored by their healthcare provider for congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, hypertension and mental health conditions worldwide. The majority of these were post-acute patients who have been hospitalised and discharged. As healthcare providers seek to reduce readmission rates and track disease progression, telehealth is projected to reach 1.8 million patients worldwide by 2017, according to The World Market for Telehealth – An Analysis of Demand Dynamics – 2012, a new report from InMedica, part of IHS (NYSE: IHS).

In addition to post-acute patients, telehealth is also used to monitor ambulatory patients – those who have been diagnosed with a disease at an ambulatory care facility but have not been hospitalised. However, telehealth has a much larger penetration in post-acute care as compared to ambulatory care patients as the majority of patients are only considered for home monitoring following hospital discharge to prevent readmission. In the U.S., for example, 140,000 post-acute patients were estimated to have been monitored by telehealth in 2012, as compared to 80,000 ambulatory patients.

“A major challenge for telehealth, is for it to reach the wider population of ambulatory care patients. However, the clinical and economic outcomes for telehealth are more established for post-acute care patients. Indeed, even for post-acute care patients, telehealth is usually prescribed only in the most severe cases, and where patients have been hospitalised more than once in a year,” commented Theo Ahadome, senior analyst at InMedica.

CHF currently accounts for the majority of telehealth patients; in addition to being one of the largest cost-burdens for hospitalisation, the clinical outcomes of telehealth for CHF patients are most established. The number of telehealth patients with COPD is also projected to grow strongly as telehealth focus continues to expand to respiratory diseases. The successful results of the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) program in the U.K. are serving as strong evidence-base for the benefits of telehealth for COPD patients. However, by 2017, Diabetes is forecast to account for the second largest share of telehealth patients, overtaking COPD. Home monitoring of glucose levels for diabetes patients is more established through personal glucose monitors. There is an increasing drive to integrate these monitors with telehealth systems, allowing care givers access to patient glucose data.

Over the next five years, InMedica identifies four main drivers of telehealth demand:

• Federal-driven demand: Readmission penalties introduced by the U.S. Centre for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are driving providers to adopt telehealth as a means of reducing readmission penalties. Faced with increasing healthcare expenditure, other governments, including the U.K., France and China are also promoting telehealth as a long-term cost-saving measure.
• Provider-driven demand: Healthcare providers want to use telehealth to increase ties to patients and improve quality of care. In many cases this is being done irrespective of the lack of a clear financial return on investment.
• Payer-driven demand: Telehealth is also being increasingly used by insurance providers to increase their competitiveness and reduce in-patient pay-outs, by working directly with telehealth suppliers to monitor their patient base.
• Patient-driven demand: There is currently very little demand from patients actively seeking out and requesting telehealth services from their payer or provider. Patient-driven demand is mostly limited to rural/non-metropolitan areas where there is a poor availability of clinics and physicians. As fitness awareness increases and consumers adopt personal devices to track their fitness, they will also increasingly seek professional devices to remotely track disease state.

About IHS
IHS (NYSE: IHS) is the leading source of information, insight and analytics in critical areas that shape today’s business landscape. Businesses and governments in more than 165 countries around the globe rely on the comprehensive content, expert independent analysis and flexible delivery methods of IHS to make high-impact decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. IHS has been in business since 1959 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, IHS is committed to long-term, sustainable growth and employs more than 6,000 people in 31 countries around the world.

About InMedica
InMedica is the medical technology research division of IMS Research, the leading provider of market research and consultancy to the global electronics industry. InMedica publish high quality, in-depth market research on key medical markets including Medical Imaging (such as ultrasound and x-ray equipment), Clinical Care Devices (such as patient monitors and infusion pumps), Consumer Medical Devices (such as blood-pressure monitors and heart-rate monitors), Healthcare IT (such as PACS and EMR) and Telehealth. We offer our clients global coverage of the medical electronics industry, as well as dedicated reports on high growth regions, such as China, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

About IMS Research
IMS Research, recently acquired by IHS (NYSE: IHS), is a leading supplier of market research and consultancy to over 2500 clients worldwide, including most of the world’s largest technology companies. Established in the UK in 1989, IMS Research now has dedicated analyst teams focused on the factory automation, automotive, communications, computer, consumer, display, financial & ID, LED & lighting, medical, power & energy, solar PV, smart grid and security markets. Currently publishing over 350 different syndicated report titles each year, these in-depth publications are used by major electronics and industrial companies to assess market trends, solve marketing problems, and improve the efficiency of their businesses.

Surgeons May Use Hand Gestures to Manipulate MRI Images in OR

“Doctors may soon be using a system in the operating room that recognizes hand gestures as commands to tell a computer to browse and display medical images of the patient during a surgery.

Surgeons routinely need to review medical images and records during surgery, but stepping away from the operating table and touching a keyboard and mouse can delay the procedure and increase the risk of spreading infection-causing bacteria, said Juan Pablo Wachs, an assistant professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University.

“One of the most ubiquitous pieces of equipment in U.S. surgical units is the computer workstation, which allows access to medical images before and during surgery,” he said. “However, computers and their peripherals are difficult to sterilize, and keyboards and mice have been found to be a source of contamination. Also, when nurses or assistants operate the keyboard for the surgeon, the process of conveying information accurately has proven cumbersome and inefficient since spoken dialogue can be time-consuming and leads to frustration and delays in the surgery.”

Researchers are creating a system that uses depth-sensing cameras and specialized algorithms to recognize hand gestures as commands to manipulate MRI images on a large display. Recent research to develop the algorithms has been led by doctoral student Mithun George Jacob”… Read more

Source: ehealthserver.com
Read the full article

MEDXPO 2013 – International Medical Exhibition and Congress

7 – 9 March 2012, London, UK.
MEDXPO 2013 is the international medical and hospital equipment exhibition and congress comprised of plenary, conference, workshop and round table sessions that serve and connect the broad disciplines of the healthcare spectrum.

MEDXPO 2013 is the ideal opportunity to showcase your innovative products and services and offers a platform to exchange views on the current global challenges in the converging world of healthcare.

The UK medical industry is renowned for its creativity, exceptional research base and outstanding talent, with a history of discovery and a reputation for turning innovative ideas into trusted healthcare solutions.

It’s fitting then, that MEDXPO 2013 should be hosted in the UK.

Taking place at London’s Alexandra Palace the event will provide a focus of collaboration for medical and healthcare professionals, specialists and academia.

MEDXPO 2013 offers a dynamic meeting place that will attract all of those across the medical and healthcare industries, academia, the NHS and Government who are invested in maintaining and growing R&D in the life sciences industry, and delivering benefits for patients in the UK and around the world.

Notable specialists and globally recognised speakers will address a programme of conferences and workshops, providing an opportunity for open discussion and debate about advances in healthcare, medicine and surgical procedures.

The programme of speakers and workshops offers a platform to exchange views on the very latest global challenges in a converging world.

For healthcare industry suppliers, MEDXPO 2013 provides the ultimate in showcase exhibition space for the best of their products and services, positioning themselves at the forefront of their field. Exhibitors are also invited to sponsor MEDXPO 2013 through a number of promotional packages.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.medxpo.co.uk

Windows 8 Physician Rounds app video

Learn how healthcare apps could look in the near future with this demonstration app called Rounds, allowing doctors and nurses to use tablets to connect with each other and access medical records from wherever they’re working.

Rounds application is an example of how Windows 8 can combine the functionality of a full PC within the interface of a tablet. It could help multidisciplinary teams improve the quality, safety, speed and outcomes of care. Rounds incorporates the touch-screen capabilities of Windows 8 tablets such as Microsoft Surface to allow doctors to locate patients and initiate instant-messaging sessions with nurses.

About Microsoft in Health
Microsoft is committed to improving health around the world through software innovation. For over 16 years, Microsoft has been providing a broad portfolio of technologies and collaborating with partners worldwide to deliver solutions that address the challenges of healthcare providers, public health and social services, payers, life sciences organizations, and consumers. Today, Microsoft invests in technology innovation and works with health organizations, communities and over 20,000 partners around the world to make a real impact on the quality of healthcare.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

http://www.ehealthserver.com/microsoft

The Third Annual Health 2.0 Europe Conference in Berlin

6 – 7 November 2012, Berlin, Germany.
Healthcare is changing profoundly due to new web and mobile applications. The conference Health 2.0 Europe addresses recent developments in this emerging field. The 2012 edition features exciting live technology demos and panels dedicated to answering the most urgent questions in health care.

The Health 2.0 Europe conference promotes a new ecosystem for health innovation, and gathers together over 300 health entrepreneurs, IT solution providers, health professionals, patient organizations, health authorities, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, telecom groups, VCs and financiers, policy makers, and many more.

A few examples from the 50+ LIVE technology demos presented at the conference

• iDoc24 cell phone-based dermatology consultation service
• Isabel symptom checker empowering patients to search the right information and ask the right questions
• Drugee platform collecting adverse drug reactions from patients and health professionals
• Thryve mobile food coach, which listens to your body and helps you figure out what you should eat more of, and what you should avoid
• Medting web-based platform for clinical case collaboration allowing doctors to request second opinions from other doctors around the world

The Health 2.0 Europe 2012 Agenda topics include

• Patient communities and physician networks
• Health 2.0: transforming hospitals and physicians’ practices
• Financing Health 2.0
• Compliance, Chronic Care and Population Health Management
• Health promotion and Wellness 2.0
• Sexual health, mental health, addictions, and other “unmentionables”

Inspirational speakers Tim KELSEY, the Executive Director of Transparency and Open Data for the UK Government, and Peter LEVIN, the Senior Advisor to the Secretary and CTO at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, will be among the 75 speakers carefully selected from over 25 different countries.

A special session on Health 2.0 for Pharma, moderated by Alexander SCHACHINGER of Healthcare 42 in Germany, will discuss how to best collaborate with doctors and about engaging patients. The session will also address questions on how to make the most of data, how to unleash clinical development, and how to avoid the numerous potential pitfalls.

To encourage their participation, Health 2.0 Europe is extending free registration for patient organization representatives.

Promoting ideation and innovation from all angles, Health 2.0 Europe 2012 also features a two-day “Code-A-Thon” on November 3 – 4 that brings together developers, designers, healthcare professionals and patients to create new and exciting applications for improved health and wellness. Registration to this event is free and 9,000 € in cash prizes will be distributed to the winners.

Register today for best way to get up to speed with the latest developments in Health 2.0.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.health2con.com/events/conferences/europe-fall-2012/

About Health 2.0 Europe
Health 2.0 Europe is the premier conference exploring how web, mobile and social technologies are transforming health care systems in Europe. As an organization, Health 2.0 has introduced over 500 technology companies to the world stage, hosted more than 9,000 attendees at conferences and code-a-thons, awarded over $1,400,000 in prizes through developer challenge programs and inspired the formation of 46 new city chapters around the globe. Health 2.0 isn’t a company, it’s a movement.

HL7 Standards soon to be free of charge

Health Level Seven® International (HL7®), the global leader in developing interoperability standards for healthcare IT, announced its decision to make much of its intellectual property (IP), including standards, freely available under licensing terms. The landmark decision represents HL7′s commitment to the betterment of healthcare worldwide by ensuring that all stakeholders have equal access to its HIT standards. The new policy is expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2013.

“HL7′s vision is to make its collaborative, consensus-driven standards the best and most widely used in healthcare,” said Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, CEO of HL7. “By eliminating this barrier to implementation, we can come closer to realizing our goal, in which healthcare IT can reduce costs and improve the quality of care. Coupled with increasing government demand for standards that do not require a licensing fee, our decision to move toward free standards is perfectly aligned. To this end, we have already received enthusiastic support for this decision from key healthcare stakeholders.”

“This announcement is the most significant standards development in the past decade, said John Halamka, MD, MS, Chief Information Officer of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “It ensures that every stakeholder will have ready access to the content standards they need for Meaningful Use. Enormous thanks to everyone who worked on this effort.”

The volunteer-created standards and other select pieces of intellectual property will be made available to the international healthcare community after a period of careful analysis and planning by HL7, expected to take several months. In the interim, the traditional IP/membership model which includes access to, and the right to use HL7 standards, will continue to be in effect. Following completion of the analysis, HL7 expects to transition directly to a model in which use of HL7 standards and select IP is independent of HL7 membership. HL7 will continue to consult with its members to make their investment more valuable, and will seek their input to make this transition seamless and reflective of member needs.

“The IP from HL7 is crucial to achieving interoperability among healthcare providers,” said Christopher G. Chute, MD, DrPH, Chair, ISO TC215 on Health Informatics. “It enables efficient and effective care across multidisciplinary teams that increasingly are the norm for healthcare. HL7′s decision to make these resources effectively a public good is hugely welcome and will accelerate their value to society and patients everywhere. HL7 now more than ever deserves support and membership from the broader health community to ensure these resource remain state-of-the-art and freely available.”

More information on HL7 membership and standards is available at www.hl7.org.

About Health Level Seven (HL7) International
Founded in 1987, Health Level Seven International is the global authority for healthcare Information interoperability and standards with affiliates established in more than 30 countries. HL7 is a nonprofit, ANSI-accredited standards development organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services. HL7′s more than 2,300 members represent approximately 500 corporate members, which include more than 90 percent of the information systems vendors serving healthcare. HL7 collaborates with other standards developers and provider, payer, philanthropic and government agencies at the highest levels to ensure the development of comprehensive and reliable standards and successful interoperability efforts.

Europäische Unternehmen investieren trotz Krise stärker in Forschung und Entwicklung

Dienstag, den 28. August 2012 - Führende Unternehmen in der EU gehen davon aus, dass ihre Investitionen in Forschung und Entwicklung (FuE) im Zeitraum 2012-2014 jährlich um durchschnittlich 4 % steigen werden. So das Ergebnis einer Umfrage, die die Kommission bei einigen der am stärksten in FuE investierenden europäischen Unternehmen durchgeführt hat. Die Zahlen zeigen, welche Bedeutung die betreffenden Unternehmen – trotz der aktuellen wirtschaftlichen Probleme – Forschung und Entwicklung als zentralem Faktor für ihr künftiges Wachstum und ihren Erfolg beimessen. Spitzenreiter ist die Branche der Software- und Computerdienstleistungen, die mit einem Anstieg der FuE-Investitionen um durchschnittlich 11 % pro Jahr rechnet. Unternehmensinterne Forschung und Entwicklung wird von den befragten Unternehmen als wichtigster Innovationstreiber gesehen, gefolgt von Marktforschung und damit verbundenen Tätigkeiten zur Einführung neuer Produkte.
“Dieser positive Trend bei den FuE-Investitionen der Unternehmen ist von entscheidender Bedeutung für Europas Wettbewerbsfähigkeit”, so Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, EU‑Kommissarin für Forschung, Innovation und Wissenschaft. “Diese Unternehmen sind die wichtigsten Triebkräfte der Entwicklung hin zu einer stärker wissensbasierten und intelligenteren europäischen Wirtschaft. Unser künftiges Programm für Forschung und Innovation “Horizont 2000″ wird innovativen Unternehmen weiteren Auftrieb geben.”

Was den Einfluss der Politikmaßnahmen und externer Faktoren auf ihre Innovationstätigkeit anbelangt, verwiesen die befragten Unternehmen auf die starke positive Wirkung von steuerlichen Anreizen, staatlichen Finanzhilfen, EU-Fördermitteln und öffentlich-privaten Partnerschaften auf nationaler wie auch auf EU-Ebene. Negativ auf ihre Innovationstätigkeit ausgewirkt haben sich nach Angaben zahlreicher Unternehmen der für den Schutz der Rechte des geistigen Eigentums erforderliche Zeitaufwand und die damit verbundenen Kosten. Dies bestätigt, wie wichtig mit Blick auf die Förderung der Innovationstätigkeit der Unternehmen eine effiziente Regelung der Rechte des geistigen Eigentums ist.

Von den befragten Unternehmen wurden auch Angaben dazu erbeten, welche Bedeutung die verschiedenen Wege des Wissensaustauschs für sie haben. Kooperationsvereinbarungen mit anderen Unternehmen stehen hier an erster Stelle. Von Unternehmen, die in Branchen mit hoher FuE-Intensität tätig sind, wurden an zweiter Stelle Einlizensierung/Auslizensierung und danach Vereinbarungen mit Hochschulen und anderen öffentlichen Forschungseinrichtungen genannt. Für Unternehmen in Branchen mit mittlerer oder geringer FuE-Intensität sind Kooperationsvereinbarungen mit Hochschulen und anderen öffentlichen Forschungseinrichtungen wichtiger als Lizenzvergaben. Generell zeigen die Ergebnisse, welch große Bedeutung viele Unternehmen diesen verschiedenen Wegen des Wissensaustauschs beimessen, was als Indiz dafür gewertet werden könnte, dass offene Innovation (“open innovation”) eine immer größere Rolle spielt.

Die EU-Erhebung über FuE-Investitionstrends in der Wirtschaft (“EU Survey on R&D Investment Business Trends”) wurde von der Gemeinsamen Forschungsstelle (JRC) der Europäischen Kommission (Institut für technologische Zukunftsforschung, IPTS) und der Generaldirektion Forschung und Innovation durchgeführt.

Die Ergebnisse der Erhebung basieren auf den Antworten von 187 überwiegend großen Unternehmen (von 1 000 Unternehmen mit Sitz in der EU, die im EU-Anzeiger für FuE-Investitionen der Industrie 2011 erfasst sind) (IP/11/1205 und MEMO/11/705). Die Befragung fand zwischen dem 16. Januar und dem 28. April 2012 statt.

Diese 187 Unternehmen stehen zusammengenommen für FuE-Investitionen in Höhe von fast 45 Mrd. EUR, was rund 40 % der gesamten FuE-Investitionen der 1 000 im EU‑Anzeiger erfassten Unternehmen und damit einem erheblichen Anteil an den FuE‑Investitionen der europäischen Unternehmen entspricht. Mit durchschnittlich 4 % ist der Anstieg etwas geringer ausgefallen als in der vorangegangenen Erhebung erwartet (5 %), was auf die Verschlechterung der wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen zurückzuführen ist.

Noch vor Ende 2012 wird die Europäische Kommission ihren nächsten EU-Anzeiger für FuE-Investitionen der Industrie veröffentlichen, der eine Rangfolge der weltweit größten in FuE investierenden Unternehmen enthält.

Die Erhebung kann auf folgender Website eingesehen werden: http://iri.jrc.es/reports.htm

Quelle: http://europa.eu