European eHealth Week 2011 Confirms Participation of Prominent Organizations, Partners, Exhibitors and Country Pavilions

BRUSSELS and BUDAPEST, Hungary, February 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- EU-wide Networking and Information Platform Unites Fragmented Industry Behind a Common Goal: Advancing the Application of eHealth in Europe

eHealth Week 2011 (http://ehealthweek.org/) announced today that some of the world's most prestigious and influential eHealth organisations and industry partners will participate in this year's event to exchange views with EU governments representatives (Budapest, Hungary, 10-12 May, 2011). Among them, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), Germany's Federal Association for Information Technology (BITKOM), the European MHealth Alliance, the Continua Health Alliance, Netc@rds and ASIP Sante. Sweden, Turkey, Denmark and other major countries will showcase their projects on the exhibition floor in a country pavilion, alongside some of the largest industry partners such as HP, AGFA, Magyar Telekom / Deutsche Telekom and INTEL. The "Leaders In Health IT" meeting, organised by HIMSS Analytics Europe, will gather the elite of European Health with CIOs from AP-HP in Paris, Vivantes in Berlin, UKE in Hamburg and many more. This will just be one of the many satellite events orbiting around "Europe's eHealth-event of the year". eHealth Week 2011 is organised by The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and HIMSS Europe. Registration is open at http://www.ehealthweek.org.

Modernisation, responsiveness, effectiveness, efficacy and sustainability are key aspects of Governments' health policies in these challenging times. However, they cannot be implemented without the active contribution of information technology, based on an intensive and innovative co-operation of all major stakeholders.

The Ministerial eHealth Conference 2011 will attract senior level government representatives ensuring a dynamic dialogue between health sector decision makers and relevant professional and industrial partners.

BITKOM, Germany's Federal Association for Information Technology (http://www.bitkom.org/en/Default.aspx), is the 'voice' of the country's powerful information technology, telecommunications, and new media industry and represents more than 1,350 member companies. Dr Pablo Mentzinis, its Head of Department, Public Sector, says: "In 2050 nearly 30 percent of EU citizens will be over 65 years old. eHealth is one of the best ways we can meet this challenge. BITKOM will discuss the ongoing rollout of Germany's health card as well as further developments of telemedicine in Germany and Europe."

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) ( http://www.imi.europa.eu/content/home), the largest private-public partnership in life sciences in Europe, with a EUR2 billion collaborative research programme, will hold its second Stakeholders' Forum in Budapest. It is open to all eHealth Week delegates. Michel Goldman, CEO of IMI, says: "IT solutions can drive pharmaceutical research and speed up drug development, testing and time-to-market. But they can also help identify antibacterial resistance and support vaccination programs - which are very much the focus of The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union."

The Leaders in Health IT (LHIT) Symposium, hosted by HIMSS Analytics Europe, is an all-day meeting of Europe's Health-IT elite. The event will feature three educational sessions, intensive knowledge exchange and exclusive networking opportunities at the most senior level. The LHIT forum will run in parallel with the Hungarian Presidency's and the European Commission's Ministerial eHealth Conference 2011 - and delegates will join the Ministerial delegates in the evening for the opening reception.

Further partners and satellite events of eHealth Week 2011:

    
    - The European MHealth Alliance (EuHMA) has linked with the European
    Connected Health Campus, the Continua Health Alliance and associated 
    speakers from the US and Europe to present on 'The Economics of 
    MHealth'.

    - Netc@rds will celebrate its 10th Anniversary Conference and discuss its
    achievements in providing easier access to cross-border healthcare for
    citizens travelling inside the EU.

    - The Assembly of the European Regions focuses its symposium on the
    deployment of personal e-health solutions through the implementation of
    regional projects dedicated to the chronic pathologies that requires most
    resources in Europe: diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases and obstructive
    pulmonary disease.

    - The ARGOS eHealth Pilot Project expands the impact of eHealth Week
    across the Atlantic: it develops and promotes common methods for 
    responding to global eHealth challenges in the EU and the US.

    - The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Aging forum,
    Hungary's ICEG European Centre and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise
    (IHE) will all host individual symposia.

eHealth Week 2011 is a collocation between the European Commission's High Level Ministerial Conference and the World of Health IT Conference & Exhibition and is organised by the European Commission (EC), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Europe (HIMSS Europe) and the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Among the companies that have already confirmed their participation in its industry exhibition are AGFA Healthcare, EPIC, Hitachi Data Systems, InterSystems, Microsoft and Oracle. Find out more at http://www.ehealthweek.org

For regular updates, please visit the http://www.ehealthweek.org and follow us on http://twitter.com/EU_ehealthweek

About the High Level eHealth Conference 2011:

Visit http://www.ehealthweek.org for more information.

About World of Health IT Conference & Exhibition:

Visit http://www.worldofhealthit.org for more information.

    
    For further information please contact:

    HIMSS Europe
    Christina Roosen
    croosen@himss.org
    T: +32-2-793-7633

    European Commission
    Corinne Wenner
    corinne.wenner@ec.europa.eu
    T: +32-2-296-4194

    IT communication (agency)
    jmiglesias@itcomunicacion.com
    T: +34-93-362-10-34

    so2say communications (agency)
    armin.scheuer@so2say.com
    T: +49-30-2191-3610