The ICT and Health Chair is born out of an agreement between the University of Vic and the Fundació TicSalut

In order to establish the bonds of knowledge with the Catalan faculties in order to develop, deepen and disseminate the use of ICTs in the social healthcare sector, the Fundació TicSalut has signed a collaboration agreement with the Universitat de Vic. As a result of this agreement, the ICT and Health Chair has been created and will be run by Dr. Francesc García Cuyàs, the foundation’s director. This chair will include teaching activities, transfer of knowledge and scientific dissemination, as well as applied research and innovation. 

The ICT and Health Chair, which will have its institutional base at the Centre for Social Healthcare Studies of Vic, will have these and other questions that will be developed as its work lines:

• The identification of research and innovation projects
• The definition of a framework of professional skills in the area of ICTs and health 
• The rational use of telemedicine to make operative the unattended healthcare model. 

Specifically, one of the first projects will revolve around the use of mobility and especially the application of apps in the social healthcare sector. 

The Chair will be provided with a Scientific Board presided by Dr. García Cuyàs, which will be formed by between five and 10 members with expertise in the areas of specialisation, their territorial surroundings and national and international references. Furthermore, it will have an equally represented Mixed Commission to guarantee the Strategic Plan, and a Technical Monitoring Commission, which will give the annual proposal and prepare the annual report of the teaching and research activities carried out, as well as the financial report. 

Synergies will be created in the ICT area and in the social healthcare sector

The additional goal of the chair is to collaborate with the health and social healthcare institutions of Catalonia to promote research projects and initiatives. Joint policies of action will also be promoted to improve the quality of care, to make the social healthcare system more efficient and, at the same time, to establish a new form of relationship between citizens and the social healthcare system through the use of ICTs. 

Moreover, the ICT and Health Chair will become an instrument to favour joint work between the social healthcare providers, the companies, the researchers of the University of Vic and the Fundació TicSalut. The agreement will foster collaboration between academic agents and internationally renowned professionals and the staff of the UVic and TicSalut and other sector professionals.

The Chair will also answer the need to train Medical Degree students in Information Systems and ICTs. Work will therefore be done to guarantee that they achieve and have the basic knowledge in these subjects when they take up their jobs. 

The act of signing the agreement, which was chaired by the Health Minister, Boi Ruiz, took place on the past 16 December. This presentation was attended by: the Dean of the UVIC, Jordi Montaña; the councillor of the City of Knowledge of Vic and patron of the Balmes University Foundation, Josep Arimany; the Vic-Dean of Research and Knowledge, Marta Otero; the director-general of the Balmes University Foundation, Joan Turró; the president of Vic Hospital Consortium, Jaume Portús; and the director of the Central Catalonia health region, Oriol Morera.