Interview with an SAB Member

Interview with an SAB Member

Interview with Dr. Pantelis Angelidis, President, Thessaloniki Innovation Zone 

Please highlight here the most relevant parts of your CV.

– Dr. Pantelis Angelidis is currently the President of the Thessaloniki Innovation Zone. A Telecommunications Engineering by education, he has worked as a technology expert in the areas of telemedicine and Digital Health for the past 25 years. He is the founder of VIDAVO, an innovative Digital Health SME in Greece. He is Prof. on eHealth at UOWM and a visiting lecturer at UB Medical School. He is active in turning research results into profitable businesses focusing on technologies for preventive health and active ageing.

 

As an expert in digital health, we would like to know your opinion about the new EU data protection regulation GDPR, how can it affect to Internet of things data, especially in the Health sector?

- There’s no doubt that any privacy regulation pauses barrier to spreading digital innovation, imposing procedures that in many cases the users themselves find them annoying and unwanted. Nevertheless, protection of individual identity is important and regulations are respected. I believe that there is a strong positive side also and this is pushing developers and engineers impose privacy by design principles in their IoT implementations.

 

How did you develop an interest in the Health devices? How long have you been working in this area?

- Since my student years I was very interested to find out ways that ICT technologies could assist the medical sector improve the quality of its services. This resulted in a career of already 25 years in the sector.

 

As the President of the Thessaloniki Innovation Zone, What would you recommend to SMEs participants in the future VICINITY open calls?

- I would recommend that they have a very good knowledge on the market landscape, their competition, what are the unique characteristics of their products, where they lag behind, what are their future plans and be very transparent and accurate on the information their submit with their application.

 

What motivated you to join the VICINITY Stakeholder Advisory Board?

- The quality of the project partners and the technology subject VICINITY addresses.

 

What is your area of interest in VICINITY and how do you think to contribute to the project?

- I guess this has to be openly discussed with the consortium and the other members of the board, but we are definitely entering a new era in healthcare where the combination of IoT, big data analytics, machine learning and robots will disrupt the way we think around health and the delivery of care.

 

How much users know about IoT and how VICINITY will change conventional approach?

-  I don’t think users care to know about IoT. I think users are willing to adapt solutions that would make their life easier, more secure, more enjoyable and less stressful. I sincerely believe that VICINITY can help along these lines.