Insights & stories

Why do businesses and organisations succeed so rarely in being truly innovative? Why is that a problem? And what solutions are there? Joachim De Vos, CEO of Living Tomorrow and TomorrowLab, explains in his new book ‘Why innovation fails" in great detail where the bottlenecks are and provides the keys to change course.

Medtronic plc, a global leader in healthcare technology, and OLV Hospital Aalst announced that the first clinical procedure in Europe was performed with the Hugo™ robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system. The robotic prostatectomy was performed by Prof. Alexandre Mottrie, M.D., head of urology at OLV Hospital in Aalst, Belgium, and chief executive officer and founder of the Belgium-based ORSI Academy, a multidisciplinary center for training, research and development, and data analysis to improve minimally invasive surgery best practices.

MONA, a technological spin-off of KU Leuven and research institute VITO, has developed artificial intelligence that can detect the first signs of blindness.

The Dutch company Qwiek develops care support products that make care moments an experience for patients. In Belgium, the Qwiek.up is already being used in residential care centers as a welfare activity. But now it will also be used for the first time in a Belgian pediatrics department to provide appropriate distraction during examinations.

Who will oppose an ever increasing life expectancy? A rhetorical question, but nevertheless there is a flip side to unrelenting medical progress. The outlines of which are already clear, especially in the ethical realm. Given the technology for monitoring your body, exercise and food intake, to what extent is health an individual responsibility, thus redefining medical solidarity?

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to physical devices which are connected to the internet to send and receive data and instructions. The popularity of the so-called IoT-devices is increasing every year, with more than 30 billion connected devices expected by 2023.

Over the last years, accurate, automated image recognition and AI technology has advanced rapidly, showing promising results in medical diagnostics.

How can we access our health data through apps without risking data privacy? How can we use robotics (safely and ethically) for our healthcare? Or monitor/treat patients remotely safely and efficiently? A new 'think lab' around the future of our healthcare with among others the ex-CEO of Janssen Pharmaceutica, CEO Medtronic Benelux and several university professors - wants to find the answers to this.

The start-up Mother launches HomeForest, an installation that enables to grow plants 'automagically' and harvest food indoors. ‘Grow a Pak Choi for less than 25 cents.’

Ghent University and AquaFlanders, the sector federation of Flemish water and sewage companies, launched the academic chair for sustainable drinking water. The aim is to join forces in order to conduct research into how the sustainability and quality of our drinking water can be guaranteed into the future.