Five-Minute Interview
Published: September 1, 2009
Find more content on:
The MDT Five-Minute Interview
Medical Device Technology’s (MDT) series of interviews offers personal perspectives on the diverse and dynamic medical device technology industry. Here, we talk to Alain Anfosso.
Originally Published MDT September 2009
THE INTERVIEW
 |
Q If I wasn’t talking to you right now, what would you be doing?
A I am a project manager and an information and communication technologies (ICT) engineer working on innovation: 70% of my work is dedicated to project management and 30% is devoted to the search for business contracts (research and development projects and industrial collaboration).
Q How did you get into the medical device industry?
A CSTB is a research centre dedicated to the building industry and working in particular on improving the well being of people in the built environment. We started working on the Gerhome project as an illustration of what can be provided by an intelligent building after the European heat wave disaster in summer 2003, which killed large numbers of vulnerable people, particularly the elderly. The Gerhome project uses intelligent technologies to enhance the independence, comfort, security, monitoring and assistance of the elderly at home. In addition, my wife is a doctor and therefore I have close contact with the health arena.
Q What is the best thing about your work?
A I enjoy making the link between technology capabilities and useful, efficient and sustainable societal needs, that is, showing the capabilities of ICT to non-ICT professionals and determining whether those capabilities can match some of their needs.
Q What do you think is the most important medical device invention ever?
A From my perspective, a great achievement is the prevention of frailty in elderly people living alone and giving them the possibility of ending their lives smoothly at home in a secure environment in which they have confidence, surrounded by informal/formal carers who will watch out for progression of frailty. This is far from industrial reality, but it is more a marketing issue than a technical problem. Increasingly, companies and real estate developers are interested in the solution and the related business. The Gerhome project employs sensors for real-time monitoring. Most of the “intelligence” is not in the sensors, but in the software interpretation (analysis) of events sent by sensors.
Q What should people give attention to?
A In terms of the Gerhome project, people should not focus too much on what appears as intrusive, but rather think of the benefits it delivers to ageing people. It is important to stay aware of the capability of detection and be confident in how and by whom the information will be used.
Q What is the most exciting development on the horizon?
A Integration of the concept into public housing and health policy and providing a solution tailored to the autonomy capabilities of people within the constraints of private or public (national health insurance) financing. The prevention of chronic disease, for example, bad life style, which can lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease, isolation and depression, is also a challenge. The concept means you can be more attentive to end user behaviour and provide feedback or coaching for those who have a lack of education in healthy eating or activity levels, for example.
Q What do you want from your suppliers?
A For them to contribute in the development of the concept in a collaborative way rather than impose a standard or a product. This is the only way to develop tailored, efficient and sustainable services. To develop efficient services, we need open architecture and transparency of products and solutions to contribute to the global knowledge on what’s going on in the home and to thereby provide a service adapted to the end-user whatever the context of his/her life.
Alain Anfosso is Engineer in Innovation and Services and Gerhome Project Manager, Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) 290, Route des Lucioles, F-06904 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France, tel. +33 4 93 95 67 16, e-mail: alain.anfosso@cstb.fr, http://gerhome.cstb.fr/en
(2 votes)
Daily Buzz
Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise | Subscribe | Sitemap
© 2012 UBM Canon