Innovation Ecosystems in Digital Surgery

Please note change to start time. We will now start at 11:30.

You are cordially invited to the annual UCD/IBM Technology Colloquium. This event seeks to ignite the national Digital Surgery ecosystem in Ireland, and will focus on emerging research, clinical and commercialisation opportunities in this exciting new era. The colloquium is organised in partnership with IBM Research - Ireland, UCD Research, the UCD Institute for Discovery, and UCD Centre for Precision Surgery and is open to all.

To date, enhancements in surgery have focused on iterative improvements in surgical tools and improved procedural technique. Digital surgery represents a real step change into the 21st century to advance our frontiers by drawing together advances in computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud networks and smart instruments with surgical expertise during operations. It unlocks unique capabilities through the integration of real time surgical data with new technologies and is already beginning to deliver real impact in the way surgeries are performed to cure diseases, delivering enhanced healthcare value and outcomes.

This online event takes place between 11:30AM - 3PM on the 10th June, 2021 and will be delivered across two sessions, with the first focused on emerging surgical technologies, and the second on advancing the national ecosystem so that Ireland can be positioned as a leader in this exciting new era. The aim is to identify areas of tangible strength and synergy in Ireland that can be accelerated through co-operation and co-ordination.

Speakers and panelists will be drawn from a range of Irish and International experts representing perspectives from Academia, Industry, Healthcare and Government.

Session 1 (starts at 11:30AM)

Welcome: Prof Orla Feely, VP Research UCD, Dr Ruoyi Zhou: Director, IBM Research Ireland, & Dr Leo Varadkar, TD, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment

Keynote 1: Prof Silvana Perretta, Surgeon, IRCAD-EITS, Strasbourg: The World of Digital Surgery

Keynote 2: Dr Jeff Rogers, PhD, Global Research Leader, Cognitive IoT for Healthcare, IBM: Technology perspective on the future of digital medicine.

Ecosystem in Action, AI for Colorectal Cancer Detection Dr. Sergiy Zhuk, PhD, IBM Research in Ireland

Panel One: Spotlight on Digital Surgery in Ireland: The DTIF Consortium: The Future of Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment.

Reflections on DTIF Ecosystem Experience: focus on power of ecosystem and how accessibility to the many things is the key to progress.

• Prof Ronan Cahill, Surgeon, Mater Hospital and UCD- the cancer surgeon’s perspective.
• Prof Donal O’Shea, Head of Chemistry, RCSI- the university scientist’s perspective.
• Dr Mairin Rafferty, PhD, Deciphex- the SME view and the bigger opportunity in digitalisation for adjunctive specialities alongside surgery.
• Dr Pol MacAonghusa, PHD, IBM Research in Ireland- the industrial research and multinational perspective.

LUNCH Break (1 :00- 1:30PM)

Session 2 (starts at 1:30PM)

Keynote 3: Dr Dominic Crotty, Senior Principal Engineer in Imaging and Data Science, Stryker: Connecting with the future in Ireland- now!

Keynote 4: Mr John O’Dea, CEO, Palliare: Perspective on capabilities in Ireland now…and what’s missing. An SME perspective of opportunities and challenges for business in Ireland.

Panel Two: Reflections on Keynotes and ambitions to build synergy in Digital Surgery in Ireland from small and large industry, government funding agencies as well as university and public hospital sectors.

• Ms Clare Harney, Executive Director, Digital Health Transformation, HealthTech Ireland
• Ms Imelda Lambkin, Manager, DTIF, Enterprise Ireland.
• Prof Patricia Maguire, Director, UCD Institute for Discovery and Co-Director, UCD Conway SPHERE Research Group.
• Mr Enda Mulvaney, Digital Surgery, Lead, Medtronic.
• Ms Siobhan Manning, Innovation Manager, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin.