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Audio FileGround Truths can also be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.The UK is the world leader in human genomics, and laid the foundation for advancing medicine with the UK Biobank, Genomes England and now Our Future Health (w/ 5 million participants). Sir John Bell is a major force in driving and advising these and many other initiatives. After 22 years as the Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford he left in 2024 to be President of the Ellison Institute of Technology. Professor Bell has been duly recognized in the UK: knighted in 2015 and appointed Companion of Honor in 2023. In our conversation, you will get a sense for how EIT will be transformational for using A.I. and life science for promoting human health.Transcript with audio links Eric Topol (00:06):Hello, this is Eric Topol from Ground Truths. And I'm really delighted to welcome today, Sir John Bell who had an extraordinary career as a geneticist, immunologist, we'll talk about several initiatives he's been involved with during his long tenure at University of Oxford, recently became head of the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) in the UK. So welcome, John.Sir John Bell (00:30):Thanks, Eric. Thanks very much for having me.Eric Topol (00:34):Well, I think it's just extraordinary the contributions that you have made and continue to make to advance medicine, and I thought what we could do is get into that. I mean, what's interesting, you have had some notable migrations over your career, I think starting in Canada, at Stanford, then over as Rhodes Scholar in Oxford. And then you of course had a couple of decades in a very prestigious position, which as I understand was started in 1546 by King Henry VII, and served as the Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford. Do I have that right?Sir John Bell (01:11):It was actually Henry VIII, but you were close.Eric Topol (01:14):Henry VIII, that's great. Yeah. Okay, good. Well, that's a pretty notable professorship. And then of course in recent times you left to head up this pretty formidable new institute, which is something that's a big trend going on around the world, particularly in the US and we'll talk about. So maybe we can start with the new thing. Tell us more about the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), if you will.Sir John Bell (01:47):Yeah. So as you know, Larry Ellison has been one of the great tech entrepreneurs focused really on developing terrific databases over his career and through Oracle, which is the company that he founded. And Larry is really keen to try and give back something substantial to the world, which is based on science and technology. So he and I did quite a bit together over the Covid pandemic. He and I talked a lot about what we're doing and so on. He came to visit afterwards and he had, I think he decided that the right way to make his contributions would be to set up an institute that would be using the state-of-the-art science and technology with a lot of AI and machine learning, but also some of the other modern tools to address the major problems in healthcare, in food security, in green energy and climate change and in global governance.Sir John Bell (02:49):So anyway, he launched this about 18 months ago. He approached me to ask whether I would run it. He wanted to set it up outside Oxford, and he wanted to do something which is a bit different than others. And that is his view was that we needed to try and create solutions to these problems which are commercially viable and not all the solutions are going to be commercially viable, but where you can create those, you make them sustainable. So the idea is to make sure that we create solutions that people want to buy, and then if they buy them, you can create a sustainable solution to those issues. So we are actually a company, but we are addressing many of the same problems that the big foundations are addressing. And the big issues that you and I talk about in health, for example, are all on our list. So we're kind of optimistic as to where this will go and Larry's supporting the project and we're going to build out an institute here which will have about 5,000 people in it, and we'll be, I think a pretty exciting new addition to the science and technology ecosystem globally.Eric Topol (04:02):Well, I know the reverberations and the excitement is palpable and some of the colleagues I've spoken to, not just in England, but of course all over the world. So congratulations on that. It was a big move for you to leave the hardcore academics. And the other thing I wanted to ask you, John, is you had distinguished your career in immunology, in genetics, type 1 diabetes and other conditions, autoimmune conditions, and now you've really diversified, as you described with these different areas of emphasis at the new institute. Is that more fun to do it or do you have deputies that you can assign to things like climate change in other areas?Sir John Bell (04:50):Trust me, Eric, I'm not making any definitive decisions about areas I know nothing about, but part of this is about how do you set up leadership, run a team, get the right people in. And I have to say one of the really interesting things about the institute is we've been able to recruit some outstanding people across all those domains. And as you know, success is almost all dependent on people. So we're really pretty optimistic we're going to have a significant impact. And of course, we also want to take risks because not a lot of point in us doing stuff that everybody else is doing. So we're going to be doing some things that are pretty way out there and some of them will fail, so we are just going to get used to trying to make sure we get a few of them across the finish line. But the other thing is that, and you've experienced this too, you never get too old to learn. I mean, I'm sucking up stuff that I never thought I would ever learn about, which is fun actually, and really marvel.Eric Topol (05:55):It's fantastic. I mean, you've really broadened and it's great that you have the runway to get these people on board and I think you're having a big building that's under construction?Sir John Bell (06:07):Yeah, we've got the original building that Larry committed to is about 330,000 square feet of space. I mean, this is completely amazing, but we are of course to accommodate up to 5,000 people, we're going to need more than that. So we are looking at a much wider campus here that'll involve more than just that building. I think we'll end up with several million square feet of space by the time we're finished. So mean, it's a really big project, but we've already made progress in some domains to try and get projects and the beginnings of companies on the road to try and solve some of the big problems. So we're quite excited about it.Eric Topol (06:49):Now you, I assume it's pretty close to Oxford, and will you have some kind of inter interactions that are substantial?Sir John Bell (06:58):Yeah, so the university's been terrific about this actually, because of course most universities would say, well, why don't you do it inside the university and just give us the money and it'll all be fine. So of course Larry. Larry wasn't born yesterday, so I said, well, thank you very much, but I think we'll probably do this nearby. But the university also realized this is a really exciting opportunity for them and we've got a really good relationship with them. We've signed an agreement with them as to who will work where. We've agreed not to steal a lot of their staff. We're going to be bringing new people into the ecosystem. Some of the university people will spend some time with us and sometime in the university, so that will help. But we're also bringing quite a few new people into the setting. So the university has been really positive. And I think one of the things that's attractive to the university, and you'll be familiar with this problem in the UK, is that we're quite good. The discovery science here is pretty good.Sir John Bell (08:06):And we do startups now at scale. So Oxford does lots of little startup companies in the biotech space and all the rest of it, but we never scale any of these companies because there isn't the depth of capital for scaling capital to get these things scaled. And so, in a way what we're trying to do here at Ellison actually avoids that problem because Larry knows how to scale companies, and we've got the financial support now. If we have things that are really successful, we can build the full stack solution to some of these problems. So I think the university is really intrigued as to how we might do that. We're going to have to bring some people in that know how to do that and build billion dollar companies, but it's sufficiently attractive. We've already started to recruit some really outstanding people. So as a way to change the UK system broadly, it's actually quite a good disruptive influence on the way the thing works to try and fix some of the fundamental problems.Eric Topol (09:07):I love that model and the ability that you can go from small startups to really transformative companies have any impact. It fits in well with the overall objectives, I can see that. The thing that also is intriguing regarding this whole effort is that in parallel we've learned your influence. The UK is a genomics world leader without any question and no coincidence that that's been your area of emphasis in your career. So we've watched these three initiatives that I think you were involved in the UK Biobank, which has had more impact than any cohort ever assembled. Every day there's another paper using that data that's coming out. There's Genomes England, and then now Our Future Health, which a lot of people don't know about here, which is well into the 5 million people enrollment. Can you tell us about, this is now 15 years ago plus when these were started, and of course now with a new one that's the biggest ever. What was your thinking and involvement and how you built the UK to be a world leader in this space?Sir John Bell (10:26):So if you turn the clock back 20 years, or actually slightly more than 25 years ago, it was clear that genomics was going to have a play. And I think many of us believed that there was going to be a genetic element to most of the major common disease turn out to be true. But at the time, there were a few skeptics, but it seemed to us that there was going to be a genetic story that underpinned an awful lot of human disease and medicine. And we were fortunate because in Oxford as you know, one of my predecessors in the Regius job was Richard Doll, and he built up this fantastic epidemiology capability in Oxford around Richard Peto, Rory Collins, and those folks, and they really knew how to do large scale epidemiology. And one of the things that they'd observed, which is it turns out to be true with genetics as well, is a lot of the effects are relatively small, but they're still quite significant. So you do need large scale cohorts to understand what you're doing. And it was really Richard that pioneered the whole thinking behind that. So when we had another element in the formula, which was the ability to detect genetic variation and put that into the formula, it seemed to me that we could move into an era where you could set up, again, large cohorts, but build into the ability to have DNA, interrogate the DNA, and also ultimately interrogate things like proteomics and metabolomics, which were just in their infancy at that stage.Sir John Bell (12:04):Very early on I got together because I was at that stage at the Nuffield Chair of Medicine, and I got together, Rory and Richard and a couple of others, and we talked a little bit about what it would look like, and we agreed that a half a million people late to middle age, 45 and above would probably over time when you did the power calculations, give you a pretty good insight in most of the major diseases. And then it was really a question of collecting them and storing the samples. So in order to get it funded at the time I was on the council of the MRC and George Radda, who you may remember, was quite a distinguished NMR physiologist here. He was the chief executive of the MRC. So I approached him and I said, look, George, this would be a great thing for us to do in the UK because we have all the clinical records of these people going back for a decade, and will continue to do that.Sir John Bell (13:01):Of course, we immediately sent it out to a peer review committee in the MRC who completely trashed the idea and said, you got to be joking. So I thought, okay, that's how that lasted. And I did say to George, I said, that must mean this is a really good idea because if it had gone straight through peer review, you would've known you were toast. So anyway, I think we had one more swing at peer review and decided in the end that wasn't going to work. In the end, George to his credit, took it to MRC council and we pitched it and everybody thought, what a great idea, let's just get on and do it. And then the Wellcome came in. Mark Walport was at the Wellcome at the time, great guy, and did a really good job at bringing the Wellcome on board.Sir John Bell (13:45):And people forget the quantum of money we had to do this at the time was about 60 million pounds. I mean, it wasn't astonishly small. And then of course we had a couple of wise people who came in to give us advice, and the first thing they said, well, if you ever thought you were really going to be able to do genetics on 500,000 people, forget it. That'll never work. So I thought, okay, I'll just mark that one out. And then they said, and by the way, you shouldn't assume you can get any data from the health service because you'll never be able to collect clinical data on any of these people. So I said, yeah, yeah, okay, I get it. Just give us the money and let us get on. So anyway, it's quite an interesting story. It does show how conservative the community actually is for new ideas.Sir John Bell (14:39):Then I chaired the first science committee, and we decided about a year into it that we really needed the chief executive. So we got Rory Collins to lead it and done it. I sat on the board then for the next 10 years, but well look, it was a great success. And as you say, it is kind of the paradigm for now, large genetic epidemiology cohorts. So then, as you know, I advise government for many years, and David Cameron had just been elected as Prime Minister. This was in about 2010. And at the time I'd been tracking because we had quite a strong genomics program in the Wellcome Trust center, which I'd set up in the university, and we were really interested in the genetics of common disease. It became clear that the price of sequencing and Illumina was now the clear leader in the sequencing space.Sir John Bell (15:39):But it was also clear that Illumina was making significant advances in the price of sequencing because as you remember, the days when it cost $5,000 to do a genome. Anyway, it became clear that they actually had technology that gets you down to a much more sensible price, something like $500 a genome. So I approached David and I said, we are now pretty sure that for many of the rare diseases that you see in clinical practice, there is a genetic answer that can be detected if you sequenced a whole genome. So why don't we set something up in the NHS to provide what was essentially the beginnings of a clinical service to help the parents of kids with various disabilities work out what's going on, what's wrong with their children. And David had had a child with Ohtahara syndrome, which as you know is again, and so David was very, he said, oh God, I'll tell you the story about how awful it was for me and for my wife Samantha.Sir John Bell (16:41):And nobody could tell us anything about what was going on, and we weren't looking for a cure, but it would've really helped if somebody said, we know what it is, we know what the cause is, we'll chip away and maybe there will be something we can do, but at least you know the answer. So anyway, he gave us very strong support and said to the NHS, can you please get on and do it? Again massive resistance, Eric as you can imagine, all the clinical geneticists said, oh my God, what are they doing? It's complete disaster, dah, dah, dah. So anyway, we put on our tin hats and went out and got the thing going. And again, they did a really good job. They got to, their idea was to get a hundred thousand genomes done in a reasonable timeframe. I think five years we set ourselves and the technology advance, people often underestimate the parallel development of technology, which is always going on. And so, that really enabled us to get that done, and it still continues. They're doing a big neonatal program at the moment, which is really exciting. And then I was asked by Theresa May to build a life science strategy because the UK, we do this stuff not as big and broad as America, but for a small country we do life sciences pretty well.Eric Topol (18:02):That's an understatement, by the way. A big understatement.Sir John Bell (18:04):Anyway, so I wrote the strategies in 2017 for Theresa about what we would do as a nation to support life sciences. And it was interesting because I brought a group of pharma companies together to say, look, this is for you guys, so tell us what you want done. We had a series of meetings and what became clear is that they were really interested in where healthcare was going to end up in the next 20 years. And they said, you guys should try and get ahead of that wave. And so, we agreed that one of the domains that really hadn't been explored properly, it was the whole concept of prevention.Sir John Bell (18:45):Early diagnosis and prevention, which they were smart enough to realize that the kind of current paradigm of treating everybody in the last six months of life, you can make money doing that, there's no doubt, but it doesn't really fix the problem. And so, they said, look, we would love it if you created a cohort from the age of 18 that was big enough that we could actually track the trajectories of people with these diseases, identify them at a presymptomatic stage, intervene with preventative therapies, diagnose diseases earlier, and see if we could fundamentally change the whole approach to public health. So we anyway, went back and did the numbers because of course at much wider age group, a lot of people don't get at all sick, but we thought if we collected 5 million people, we would probably have enough. That's 10% of the UK adult population.Sir John Bell (19:37):So anyway, amazingly the government said, off you go. We then had Covid, which as you know, kept you and I busy for a few years before we could get back to it. But then we got at it, and we hired a great guy who had done a bit of this in the UAE, and he came across and we set up a population health recruitment structure, which was community-based. And we rapidly started to recruit people. So we've now got 2.9 million people registered, 2.3 million people consented, and we've got blood in the bank and all the necessary data including questionnaire data for 1.5 million people growing up. So we will get to 5 million and it's amazing.Eric Topol (20:29):It is. It really is, and I'm just blown away by the progress you've made. And what was interesting too, besides you all weren't complacent about, oh, we got this UK Biobank and you just kept forging ahead. And by the way, I really share this importance of finally what has been a fantasy of primary prevention, which never really achieved. It's always, oh, after a heart attack. But that's what I wrote about in the Super Agers book, and I'll get you a copy.Sir John Bell (21:02):No, I know you're a passionate believer in this and we need to do a lot of things. So we need to work out what's the trial protocol for primary prevention. We need to get the regulators on board. We've got to get them to understand that we need diagnostics that define risk, not disease, because that's going to be a key bit of what we're going to try and do. And we need to understand that for a lot of these diseases, you have to intervene quite early to flatten that morbidity curve.Eric Topol (21:32):Yeah, absolutely. What we've learned, for example, from the UK Biobank is not just, of course the genomics that you touched on, but the proteomics, the organ clocks and all these other layers of data. So that gets me to my next topic, which I know you're all over it, which is AI.Eric Topol (21:51):So when I did the NHS review back in 2018, 2019, the group of people which were amazing that I had to work with no doubt why the UK punches well beyond its weight. I had about 50 people, and they just said, you know what? Yeah, we are the world leaders in genomics. We want to be the world leader in AI. Now these days you only hear about US and China, which is ridiculous. And you have perhaps one of the, I would say most formidable groups there with Demis and Google DeepMind, it's just extraordinary. So all the things that the main foci of the Ellison Institute intersect with AI.Sir John Bell (22:36):They do. And we, we've got two underpinning platforms, well actually three underpinning platforms that go across all those domains. Larry was really keen that we became a real leader in AI. So he's funded that with a massive compute capacity. And remember, most universities these days have a hard time competing on compute because it's expensive.Eric Topol (22:57):Oh yeah.Sir John Bell (22:58):So that is a real advantage to us. He's also funded a great team. We've recruited some people from Demis's shop who are obviously outstanding, but also others from around Europe. So we really, we've recruited now about 15 really outstanding machine learning and AI people. And of course, we're now thinking about the other asset that the UK has got, and particularly in the healthcare space is data. So we do have some really unique data sets because those are the three bits of this that you need if you're going to make this work. So we're pretty excited about that as an underpinning bit of the whole Ellison Institute strategy is to fundamentally underpin it with very strong AI. Then the second platform is generative biology or synthetic biology, because this is a field which is sort of, I hesitate to say limped along, but it's lacked a real focus.Sir John Bell (23:59):But we've been able to recruit Jason Chin from the LMB in Cambridge, and he is one of the real dramatic innovators in that space. And we see there's a real opportunity now to synthesize large bits of DNA, introduce them into cells, microbes, use it for a whole variety of different purposes, try and transform plants at a level that people haven't done before. So with AI and synthetic biology, we think we can feed all the main domains above us, and that's another exciting concept to what we're trying to do. But your report on AI was a bit of a turning point for the UK because you did point out to us that we did have a massive opportunity if we got our skates, and we do have talent, but you can't just do it with talent these days, you need compute, and you need data. So we're trying to assemble those things. So we think we'll be a big addition to that globally, hopefully.Eric Topol (25:00):Yeah. Well that's another reason why I am so excited to talk to you and know more about this Ellison Institute just because it's unique. I mean, there are other institutes as like Chan Zuckerberg, the Arc Institute. This is kind of a worldwide trend that we're seeing where great philanthropy investments are being seen outside of government, but none have the computing resources that are being made available nor the ability to recruit the AI scientists that'll help drive this forward. Now, the last topic I want to get into with you today is one that is where you're really grounded in, and that's the immune response.Eric Topol (25:43):So it's pretty darn clear now that, well, in medicine we have nothing. We have the white cell neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, what a joke. And then on the other hand, we can do T and B cell sequencing repertoires, and we can do all this stuff, autoantibody screens, and the list goes on and on. How are we ever going to make a big dent in health where we know the immune system is such a vital part of this without the ability to check one's immune status at any point in time in a comprehensive way? What are your thoughts about that?Sir John Bell (26:21):Yeah, so you seem to be reading my mind there. We need to recruit you over here because I mean, this is exactly, this is one of our big projects that we've got that we're leaning into, and that is that, and we all experienced in Covid the ins and outs of vaccines, what works, what doesn't work. But what very clear is that we don't really know anything about vaccines. We basically, you put something together and you hope the trial works, you've got no intermediate steps. So we're building a really substantial immunophenotyping capability that will start to interrogate the different arms of the immune response at a molecular level so that we can use a combination of human challenge models. So we've got a big human challenge model facility here, use human challenge models with pathogens and with associated vaccines to try and interrogate which bits of the immune response are responsible for protection or therapy of particular immunologically mediated diseases or infectious diseases.Sir John Bell (27:30):And a crucial bit to that. And one of the reasons people have tried this before, but first of all, the depth at which you can interrogate the immune system has changed a lot recently, you can get a lot more data. But secondly, this is again, where the AI becomes important because it isn't going to be a simple, oh, it's the T-cell, it's going to be, well, it's a bit of the T cells, but it's also a bit of the innate immune response and don't forget mate cells and don't forget a bit of this and that. So we think that if we can assemble the right data set from these structured environments, we can start to predict and anticipate which type of immune response you need to stimulate both for therapy and for protection against disease. And hopefully that will actually create a whole scientific foundation for vaccine development, but also other kinds of immune therapy and things like cancer and potentially autoimmune disease as well. So that's a big push for us. We're just busy. The lab isn't set up. We've got somebody to run the lab now. We've got the human challenge model set up with Andy Pollard and colleagues. So we're building that out. And within six months, I think we'll be starting to collect data. So I'm just kind of hoping we can get the immune system in a bit more structured, because you're absolutely right. It's a bit pin the tail on the donkey at the moment. You have no idea what's actually causing what.Eric Topol (29:02):Yeah. Well, I didn't know about your efforts there, and I applaud that because it seems to me the big miss, the hole and the whole story about how we're going to advanced human health and with the recent breakthroughs in lupus and these various autoimmune diseases by just targeting CD19 B cells and resetting like a Ctrl-Alt-Delete of their immune system.Sir John Bell (29:27):No, it's amazing. And you wouldn't have predicted a lot of this stuff. I think that means that we haven't really got under the skin of the mechanistic events here, and we need to do more to try and get there, but there's steady advance in this field. So I'm pretty optimistic we'll make some headway in this space over the course of the next few years. So we're really excited about that. It's an important piece of the puzzle.Eric Topol (29:53):Yeah. Well, I am really impressed that you got all the bases covered here, and what a really exhilarating chance to kind of peek at what you're doing there. And we're going to be following it. I know I'm going to be following it very closely because I know all the other things that you've been involved with in your colleagues, big impact stuff. You don't take the little swings here. The last thing, maybe to get your comment, we're in a state of profound disruption here where science is getting gutted by a madman and his henchmen, whatever you want to call it, which is really obviously a very serious state. I'm hoping this is a short term hit, but worried that this will have a long, perhaps profound. Any words of encouragement that we're going to get through this from the other side of the pond?Sir John Bell (30:52):Well, I think regardless of the tariffs, the scientific community are a global community. And I think we need to remember that because our mission is a global mission, and we need to lean into that together. First of all, America is such a powerhouse of everything that's been done scientifically in the human health domain. But not only that, but across all the other domains that we work in, we can't really make the kind of progress that we need to without America being part of the agenda. So first of all, a lot of sympathy for you and your colleagues. I know it must be massively destabilizing for you, not be confident that the things that work are there to help you. But I'm pretty confident that this will settle down. Most of the science is for, well, all the science is really for public good, and I think the public recognizes it and they'll notice if it's not being prosecuted in the way that it has to be. And the global science community cannot survive without you. So we're all leaning in behind you, and I hope it will settle. One of my worries is that these things take years to set up and literally hours or minutes to destroy. So we can't afford to take years to set them back up again. So we do need to be a bit careful about that, but I still have huge confidence in what you guys can achieve and we're all behind you.Eric Topol (32:37):Well, that's really helpful getting some words of wisdom from you there, John. So this has been terrific. Thanks so much for joining, getting your perspective on what you're doing, what's important is so essential. And we'll stay tuned for sure.Sir John Bell (32:59):And come and visit us at the EIT, Eric. We'd be glad to see you.*******************************Some of the topics that John and I discussed—immunology, A.I., genomics, and prevention—are emphasized in my new book SUPER AGERS. A quick update: It will have a new cover after making the New York Times Bestseller list and is currently ranked #25 for all books on Amazon. Thanks to so many of you for supporting the book!Here are a few recent podcasts:Dax Shepard: Dr. Mike Sanjay Gupta ***********************Thanks for reading and subscribing to Ground Truths.If you found this interesting please share it!That makes the work involved in putting these together especially worthwhile.All content on Ground Truths— newsletters, analyses, and podcasts—is free, open-access.Paid subscriptions are voluntary and all proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. They do allow for posting comments and questions, which I do my best to respond to. Please don't hesitate to post comments and give me feedback. 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The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is pleased to announce the achievement of training 100,000 direct learners and trainers through the European Battery Alliance Academy, implemented by EIT InnoEnergy. Launched in 2022 as one of the models ahead of Europe's Net-Zero Industry Academies following a mandate from the European Commission, the Academy addresses the needs of a rapidly evolving industry and its workforce. Battery Academy Milestone: 100,000 Learners The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), as part of Horizon Europe, is the only EU innovation instrument dedicated to integrating education and skills with research and business. By building long-term partnerships called, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) between business, education, and research, the EIT has been able to amass a large portfolio of industry-focused skilling programmes and academies that have trained over 880,000 learners. EIT Battery Academy The European Battery Alliance Academy provides tailored training services to equip new talent entering the evolving battery sector and enhance the technical expertise of experienced professionals, developed in collaboration with industry experts at the European Battery Alliance. Technical courses developed for engineers and technicians such as Battery Management Systems and Battery Technician were the most subscribed courses, with 27,000 learners completing the latter. Foundational courses such as the Battery Fundamentals and Battery Storage Basics were also in high demand reflecting the growing interest from the workforce to gain the foundational skills needed to work in the sector. The Academy courses, taken online or through in-person training in 10 languages, have had a pan-European impact with 27,500 learners trained in Germany, 21,000 in France, 11,000 in Spain, and 8,000 in Poland and Romania respectively. Stefan Dobrev, Chairman of the EIT Governing Board, added, 'The EIT continues to address the skills gap in Europe, orchestrating its large ecosystem and expertise to offer upskilling services to thousands of workers, innovators, students and entrepreneurs. By integrating education and skilling programmes into the innovation landscape, the EIT stands out; ensuring that Europe's talent pool remains competitive and ready to power the technologies of tomorrow for a more sustainable future." Oana Penu, Director of the EIT InnoEnergy Skills Institute said, "Equipping Europe's workforce with the right skills is a necessity for Europe's competitiveness in strategic sectors. Reaching the milestone of 100,000 trained learners is a testament to the power of targeted, industry-focused training initiatives. However, there is still a long way to go to equip the workforce with all the skills needed for the green transition. The European Battery Academy has set a new standard for collaboration between industry and academia." The Academy has established a blueprint for future Net-Zero Academies, laying the foundations for the European Solar Academy, which was launched in 2024 and further academies to be launched under the Net Zeros Industries Act. Following the successful completion of training 100,000 learners, the European Battery Alliance Academy and its partners will expand its upskilling services to sourcing, hiring, onboarding, and retention in a holistic approach to meet industry needs beyond reskilling. What is the European Institute of Innovation and Technology? The EIT strengthens Europe's ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities, among leading companies, research labs, and universities. Together with their leading partners, ...

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has successfully launched 16 innovation hubs across Central, Eastern and Southern Europe dedicated to tackling Europe's regional innovation divide. The new hubs, known as EIT Community Hubs are an integral part of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme and have been launched in the following countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Spain and Portugal covering their respective EU's Outermost Regions. The new EIT Community Hubs will serve as a central gateway to Europe's largest innovation ecosystem, supporting local innovators and entrepreneurs to scale their innovations and launch new products to the market. EIT Community Hubs represent all EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) under one roof, boosting cooperation among local businesses, education authorities, and research organisations, enhancing the region's competitiveness and contributing to Europe's economic growth and competitiveness. Stefan Dobrev, Chairman of the EIT Governing Board, said, 'The EIT Regional Innovation Scheme has grown in the past ten years to be one of the most successful innovation instruments connecting and collaborating, between researchers, entrepreneurs and companies in the widening countries." "RIS-eligible countries currently account for 60% of the EIT's total participation, well above the Horizon Europe average of 40% - and many RIS-supported ventures have realised their potential and found breakthrough commercial success. This year we celebrate ten years of impact, ten years of helping grow companies and launching innovations to the market," said Dobrev. By connecting regional actors, innovators, and partners to Europe's largest innovation ecosystem, the EIT RIS enhances innovation capacity in low-performing regions and fosters synergies between new networks and local or regional smart specialisation strategies. A Decade of Impact 2024 marks ten years of impact for the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme - a dedicated programme offering tailor-made support and widened regional outreach to 'moderate' and 'emerging' innovator countries as designated by the European Innovation Scoreboard. Today, the EIT, under Horizon Europe is strongly addressing Europe's innovation divide, having invested over a billion euros into building innovation ecosystems across Europe. Over 700 innovation projects have been supported by the EIT Reginal Innovation Scheme, helping to launch over 500 products and services to the market, and supporting over 3,360 start-ups and scale-up including creating over 250 new start-ups. The EIT Regional Innovation Scheme's mid-term evaluation results were recently published, documenting the programme's effectiveness in strengthening the capacity of innovation enablers and actors, such as business accelerators, incubators, start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs, and educational and research institutions. The study also notes that results achieved by the EIT RIS often exceed expectations and highlight the interconnected approach of the EIT Model and the EIT's local presence as critical to its effectiveness. critical to its effectiveness. In addition to the sixteen established EIT Community Hubs, further innovation hubs will be launched in the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, and France, representing the EU's Outermost Regions by the end of 2025. What is the European Institute of Innovation and Technology? The EIT strengthens Europe's ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities, among leading...

Mesterségesintelligencia-kompetenciák a vállalati versenyképesség fejlesztése érdekében A 62. Közgazdász-vándorgyűlés ipari és vállalkozási, valamint informatikai szekciója Szekcióelnökök: Kozma Miklós MBA-programigazgató, egyetemi docens, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, az MKT Ipari és Vállalkozási Szakosztályának elnöke és Pongrácz Ferenc regionális igazgató, EIT Health InnoStars, az MKT Informatikai Szakosztályának elnöke Bevezető előadások: Kozma Miklós MBA-programigazgató, egyetemi docens, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, az MKT Ipari és Vállalkozási Szakosztályának elnöke Pongrácz Ferenc regionális igazgató, EIT Health InnoStars, az MKT Informatikai Szakosztályának elnöke A kerekasztal-beszélgetés résztvevői: Horváth Bence ügyvezető igazgató, Spicy Analytics Kft. Papp Tamás ügyvezető igazgató, CollabIT Switzerland AG Herczeg Márton innovációs ökoszisztémákért felelős osztályvezető, European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT)

Dr. Gemma Galdon-Clavell is a pioneer and global force in AI safety and auditing, on a mission to ensure that AI large language models and unsupervised machine learning tools truly serve society. She is the founder and CEO of Eticas.ai, a venture-backed organization that identifies, measures and corrects algorithmic vulnerabilities, bias and inefficiencies in predictive and LLM tools. Eticas' software, the ITACA platform, is the first solution to automate impact analysis and monitoring, ensuring that AI systems are high performing and safe, explainable, fair and trustworthy. Gemma was acknowledged by the BBC as one of the “people changing the world” and this year honored by Forbes Women as one of the “35 Leading Spanish Women in Technology” and praised as “a pioneer in algorithmic auditing software”. She also advises international and regional institutions such as the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and the European Commission, among others.

Welcome to the newest episode: How to engage citizens in urban mobility?

EIT Health, part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union (EU), has launched a new Think Tank report titled "Implementing the European Health Data Space across Europe" during the EIT Health Summit which took place in Rotterdam. The report finds that enhanced commitment, awareness, and collaboration are needed to maximise the full potential of the European Health Data Space (EHDS). Insights provided within the report are based on a series of 11 national roundtable discussions held throughout 2023, involving European leaders from public health, healthcare, and health data economics. The EHDS sets out a data-sharing governance framework, designed to deliver an EU-wide system for citizens' health data, with the aim of improving care across borders and boosting opportunities for research and innovation for the benefit of patients in Europe. The legislative proposal was adopted by the European Commission in May 2022, with political agreement on a draft legislative text recently agreed by the European Parliament and Council of the EU. EIT Health's new Think Tank report considers potential hurdles and proposes solutions under six dimensions of implementation: Governance Capacity and skills Resources and funding Data quality Closing the loop: The relation between primary and secondary use Awareness, education and communication: Towards a data-driven culture in healthcare The report sets out that as Europe strives to strengthen its position as a global leader in healthcare innovation, it is imperative that adequate resources and funding are allocated to initiatives such as the EHDS to drive progress and improve the health and well-being of European citizens. Experts involved in national roundtable events highlighted that significant financial commitment is required from both the European Commission and individual member states to support healthcare and infrastructure developments. The report advises national policymakers to commit to funding EHDS initiatives to ensure its success and maximise its impact on healthcare outcomes across Europe. Overall, the EIT Health Think Tank report provides practical recommendations for the actors leading the transformation at local, national and EU levels to ensure a harmonised and inclusive European approach. Recommendations include: Setting out initiatives to ensure buy-in and cooperation of stakeholders across politics, healthcare, research, industry and civil society. Concerted public awareness-raising campaigns on the contents and rationale of the regulation, to highlight why data is critical to drive innovation in the sector. National health data access bodies to facilitate data traceability across research to foster trust in the new outputs and technologies to be fed back into healthcare. "The EHDS is a high-stakes development with significant transformative potential, and this report provides crucial insights for those involved in its implementation, at European, national, and regional levels," said Elaine Murray, Public Affairs Lead at EIT Health Ireland-UK. "EIT Health is committed to the EHDS's objectives and stands ready to contribute its expertise, resources, and networks to facilitate its implementation. Through collective efforts and strategic investments, the EHDS has the potential to transform healthcare delivery and drive positive health outcomes for all European citizens." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more...

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is pleased to announce the launch of the Deep Tech Talent Training Prize. This award aims to recognise and reward excellence in tackling deep tech training challenges in the framework of the EIT's new programme set to skill one million people in deep tech fields until 2025. Deep Tech Talent Training Prize announced Since being launched in October of last year, the EIT's flagship programme, the Deep Tech Talent Initiative is in full swing, where the EIT's Innovation Communities work together with a pledger community of industry partners and training providers to address Europe's skills gap. Deep Tech innovations - cutting-edge technology solutions combining fields of science and engineering in the physical, biological and digital spheres - are indispensable in creating solutions to the most pressing global challenges. To award and recognise the existing contributions of training providers in deploying the most effective training programmes, the EIT is launching the Deep Tech Talent Training Prize. Training providers, employers, universities, and industry partners are encouraged to apply and showcase their exceptional contributions in tackling deep tech training challenges. Each award recipient will be awarded a maximum funding of EUR 60 000. Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, said: 'Europe needs a talent pool of specialised workers to keep up with the rapid advances of new technology, and harness their power for sustainable innovation. The European Institute of Innovation and Technology and its flagship programme will be instrumental in creating new training courses and building a network of existing training providers. We are committed to the most exceptional contributions in tackling deep tech training.' Nektarios Tavernarakis, Chair of the EIT Governing Board, added: 'The EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative is a pivotal programme that recognizes the need in Europe to accelerate the development of skills on new technologies that can help us solve major challenges. This prize recognizes and praises the exceptional contributions of European organisations, such as universities, training providers, and companies, in tackling the challenges of deep tech training. By fostering collaboration and innovation, these entities are instrumental in ensuring that individuals from diverse backgrounds have access to excellent training opportunities.' To be eligible for the Deep Tech Talent Training Prize, applicants must meet the Deep Tech Talent Initiative pledger criteria and have successfully completed the pledge registration and quality check of the training. Organisations can apply in one of following two prize categories: Partner Training - for consortia of at least two organisations which meet the pledger criteria and can demonstrate how their partnership, training and results demonstrate excellence in addressing a deep tech training challenge. Targeted Training - for individual training providers who have demonstrated excellence in a specific targeted approach to address challenges in deep tech training. Targeted approaches may address underrepresented audiences or specific market/training gaps, emphasising excellence in results and impacts. Examples include promoting inclusivity and sector-specific training needs. The prize categories are further divided into pre-defined deep tech topic areas, which include among others, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cleantech, advanced/quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, and remote sensing. Organisations are encouraged to read the full call text and documents available now on the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative website. Applicants must submit the required documents, including the application form, pitch deck, and a 1-2-minute video pitch, through the online submission platform by the prize deadline, 31 October 2023. For more information about the Deep Tech Talent Initiative an...

The European Health Data Space is supposed to be implemented in a bit more than two years, by 2025. Two goals are at the forefront: to create the infrastructure for a European health data pool for researchers and innovators, and secondly, to enable patients to pick up their medications outside their home country and give doctors across Europe access to their patient information, if in need of medical care while abroad in Europe. On 18 November, EIT Health Germany-Switzerland and EIT Health Spain organized a joint symposium titled Right to privacy vs. duty to protect lives: Health Data Management in Focus. Speakers discussed patients' perspectives on Health Data use and the EHDS, balancing health data privacy and AI development, ongoing approaches for data solutions, and more. I managed to speak with Nick Schneider, Head of division 511 on new technologies and data use at the Germany Federal Ministry of Health to discuss:  Where is EHDS at the moment Will it be implemented by 2025 What are still the biggest open questions And how Germany is advancing with its digital transformation.  Resources: EIT Health Statement on the European Health Data Space: https://eithealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/EIT-Health-Statement-on-the-EHDS-proposal_final-05052022.pdf  Joint Symposium with EIT Health Spain - EIT Health Germany (eit-health.de): https://eit-health.de/en/joint-symposium-2022/ eHealth Services across Europe: https://health.ec.europa.eu/ehealth-digital-health-and-care/electronic-cross-border-health-services_en  This episode is supported by EIT Health Germany-Switzerland,  which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Find out more: eit-health.de www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Monthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

For new ideas and solutions to reach the market, startup founders need to find the right partners that are willing to listen to them and take their ideas one step further. Established in 2015, the Health Innovation Hub & Holding provides years of expert ​knowledge in innovation pathways, paving the way for better healthcare and a sustainable healthcare industry. The European organization better known under the name of Innovation in health has many programs in its portfolio. In this episode Hannes Toivanen, Lead, Global Digital Ecosystem Engagement at Takeda and Jesus Jeronimo Director of New Digital Services & Products at Sanitas + BUPA ELA. Jesus and Hannes talked about how pharma, insurance companies and healthcare providers work with startups, what makes a successful partnership, and why their organizations took part in the Innovation in health programs Start-ups Meet Pharma (Takeda) and start-ups Meet Healthcare Providers (Sanitas + BUPA ELA). More about Innovation in health: https://innovationinhealth.eu/ MONTHLY Newsletter which recaps episodes in the past month: https://fodh.substack.com/ www.facesofdigitalhealth.com **** This episode is supported by EIT Health Germany-Switzerland, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The unique network helps initiate outstanding innovations in the health sector. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs.

Patients dream about reliable and clinically meaningful digital innovations that would help improve their health in a smooth way. With the digital health market maturing, startups increasingly need to not only offer a good user experience but also comply with rigorous regulatory requirements and test their solutions in clinical trials. They need to go through long certification processes. For a few years now, Germany has in place a clear workflow for making digital health apps reimbursable. France is on its way to adopting a similar framework. In today's episode, you will hear more about what companies need to do to get certified and reimbursed in Germany. I spoke with Jörg Trinkwalter, the Managing Director at ProCarement, a young startup that developed a telemedicine digital care solution for patients with heart failure. ProCarement is participating in the current cohort of the EIT Health Diginovation program. The Diginovation program links start-ups with an international consortium to accelerate the reimbursement of digital health apps in Europe. Jorg explained how ProCarement is preparing to have their application included in the DiGA repository, and how they're working with the regulatory body Bfarm to achieve that goal. There are currently 35 DiGA applications in the repository. I added the link to the DiGA repository in the show notes, so you can browse through what's approved and can be prescribed by doctors. In this episode, Jörg talks about ProCarement, telemedicine reimbursement in Germany, the benefits of the Diginovation program and plans for the French market, and how ProCarement is working towards also having a DiGA app. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com  Monthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com Diga repository: https://diga.bfarm.de/de/verzeichnis This is the 7th out of 12 episodes prepared in collaboration with EIT Health. This episode is supported by EIT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Find out more about startup opportunities in 2022.

One of the more prominent news in July was that according to Sifted, healthcare seed investments in Europe surpassed Fintech investments in June, making the health tech industry the industry that's attracting the most investments. At the same time, in the US, Rock Health reported that digital health startups in the US raised 10.3 billion USD in the first half year of 2022, and StartupHealth reported a lower amount of investments compared to 2021. As StartupHealth noted, the 16B raised globally in Q1 and Q2, is still much more than in the first half of the year 2020. You can tune into a reflection on the current state of digital health globally by listening to the interview with the Startup Health president Unity Stoakes in April:  https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/startup-health-unity-stoakes This episode takes a look at the European market and how aescuvest invests in digital health startups. We also talk about the rising problem of digital visual stress.  Speakers:  Simon Molitor, Associate Project Manager at Aescuvest,  Michael Mrochern, Member of Investment Committee aescuvest and the CEO of Vivior which offers a novel wearable device – the Vivior Monitor – to objectively measure visual behavior prior to vision correction interventions. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com  Monthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/p/a-glimpse-in-digital-health-and-healthcare  https://www.aescuvest.eu/  https://vivior.com/  https://eithealth.eu/in-your-region/germany/  This episode is supported by EIT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Find out more about startup opportunities in 2022.

When the war in Ukraine began, Marta Kaczmarek welcomed one of the refugee families to her home. She then thought about how more could be done to help Ukrainians and started an incentive called  EIT Health Ukraine. EIT Health, which is a European organsation connecting stakeholders in healthcare, partnered with the Polish Medical Mission. PMM is a 22 years old Polish humanitarian organization that provides medical aid to the countries most in need in the world. Since 1999, the Polish Medical Mission Association has been helping victims of wars, catastrophes and natural disasters. Their volunteers include doctors, paramedics, nurses, rehabilitators, as well as psychologists and medical analysts.  In this episode, speakers: Ewa Piekarska, President of the Board, Head of the Development Aid Program, Polish Medical Mission andMarta Kaczmarek, Coordinator of the EIT Health Ukraine Appeal explain the current needs for medical support, what supplies are in demand and more.  EIT Health Ukraine appeal is ongoing, so if you're a medical device manufacturer or have the ability to donate medical equipment, please go to the link in the show notes and coordinate with EIT Health to provide help to Ukraine. Please complete the form on EIT Health's website:  https://eithealth.eu/ukraine-appeal/    This episode is supported by EiT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs. And as you will hear from Marta, it doesn't matter if you're a startup, a small or a large business. If you would like to contribute to support Ukraine, anything you can do to help, will help.

Marathon is a tough challenge. There will be days when you wonder whether the early morning runs, the sweltering heat, and the pressure to win are all worth it. Yet, despite the odds, charity runners still put on their running shoes, hoping to transform the lives of people in need. Without a doubt, completing a marathon is an amazing feat. However, doing it for a good cause always elevates the experience. In this episode, Andrew McCrory talks about his journey running across New Zealand to raise funds for kids with cerebral palsy. He describes the obstacles he faced during the marathon and shares how he overcame them. Finally, Andrew offers advice to those considering undertaking such amazing feats for a good cause. If you're interested in running for a cause, this episode is for you! Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode: Understand how running can help advance a noble cause. Get advice on how to cope with the effects of long-distance running. Find out how Andrew overcame hurdles, both in ultra-marathons and in life. Get Customised Guidance for Your Genetic Make-Up For our epigenetics health programme, all about optimising your fitness, lifestyle, nutrition and mind performance to your particular genes, go to  https://www.lisatamati.com/page/epigenetics-and-health-coaching/. Customised Online Coaching for Runners CUSTOMISED RUN COACHING PLANS — How to Run Faster, Be Stronger, Run Longer  Without Burnout & Injuries Have you struggled to fit in training in your busy life? Maybe you don't know where to start, or perhaps you have done a few races but keep having motivation or injury troubles? Do you want to beat last year's time or finish at the front of the pack? Want to run your first 5-km or run a 100-miler? ​​Do you want a holistic programme that is personalised & customised to your ability, goals, and lifestyle?  Go to www.runninghotcoaching.com for our online run training coaching. Health Optimisation and Life Coaching Are you struggling with a health issue and need people who look outside the square and are connected to some of the greatest science and health minds in the world? Then reach out to us at support@lisatamati.com, we can jump on a call to see if we are a good fit for you. If you have a big challenge ahead, are dealing with adversity or want to take your performance to the next level and want to learn how to increase your mental toughness, emotional resilience, foundational health, and more, contact us at support@lisatamati.com. Order My Books My latest book Relentless chronicles the inspiring journey about how my mother and I defied the odds after an aneurysm left my mum Isobel with massive brain damage at age 74. The medical professionals told me there was absolutely no hope of any quality of life again. Still, I used every mindset tool, years of research and incredible tenacity to prove them wrong and bring my mother back to full health within three years. Get your copy here: https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/books/products/relentless. For my other two best-selling books Running Hot and Running to Extremes, chronicling my ultrarunning adventures and expeditions all around the world, go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/books. Lisa's Anti-Ageing and Longevity Supplements  NMN: Nicotinamide Mononucleotide, an NAD+ precursor Feel Healthier and Younger* Researchers have found that Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide or NAD+, a master regulator of metabolism and a molecule essential for the functionality of all human cells, is being dramatically decreased over time. What is NMN? NMN Bio offers a cutting edge Vitamin B3 derivative named NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) that can boost the levels of NAD+ in muscle tissue and liver. Take charge of your energy levels, focus, metabolism and overall health so you can live a happy, fulfilling life. Founded by scientists, NMN Bio offers supplements of the highest purity and rigorously tested by an independent, third-party lab. Start your cellular rejuvenation journey today. Support Your Healthy Ageing We offer powerful third-party tested NAD+ boosting supplements so you can start your healthy ageing journey today. Shop now: https://nmnbio.nz/collections/all NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 250mg | 30 capsules NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 500mg | 30 capsules 6 Bottles | NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 250mg | 30 Capsules 6 Bottles | NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 500mg | 30 Capsules Quality You Can Trust — NMN Our premium range of anti-ageing nutraceuticals (supplements that combine Mother Nature with cutting edge science) combats the effects of aging while designed to boost NAD+ levels. Manufactured in an ISO9001 certified facility Boost Your NAD+ Levels — Healthy Ageing: Redefined Cellular Health Energy & Focus Bone Density Skin Elasticity DNA Repair Cardiovascular Health Brain Health  Metabolic Health My  ‘Fierce' Sports Jewellery Collection For my gorgeous and inspiring sports jewellery collection, 'Fierce', go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/lisa-tamati-bespoke-jewellery-collection. Resources Gain exclusive access and bonuses to Pushing the Limits Podcast by becoming a patron!  Visit Peak Fitness and Health Be a part of Precision Fuel and Hydration by Andy Blow Connect with Megan Stewart Try PerfectAmino  by Dr David Minkoff Know more about Andrew's cause at Give a Little Connect with Andrew Facebook and Instagram  Episode Highlights [3:56] Andrew's Background  Andrew is a loving husband and father. He is an EIT tutor who assists students preparing for careers in the police and defence forces. He works part time at Peak Fitness and Health as an instructor. Andrew had a back injury as a result of an unfortunate event when he was 17 years old. He went back to running after his recovery. Before joining the army, he worked as a mechanic and a farmer. [8:27] Starting Long-Distance Running Andrew was inspired to run across New Zealand to raise funds for children with cerebral palsy. He trained for around two months before he started running in December. The only requirement when taking part in long-distance running is to be physically fit. [11:24] Standing on the Starting Line  Andrew was thrilled to begin his run at Te Mata's Peak because there were many spectators. On day one, finishing the remaining 20 kilometres was a challenge as he continued to hurl. Throughout the first four days of the marathon, Andrew's body continued to cramp.  On the second day, Andrew overcame hurdles as he soothed his blistered feet and endured the burning heat. Running for an extended period causes your feet to swell. Before running a marathon, it is advisable to visit a shoe clinic.  [18:03] Andrew's Supportive Wife Andrew's wife, who is a nurse, has been there for him since he began running. She and Andrew work together to help children with cerebral palsy.  Athletes need the guidance and support of a professional or loved one as they train. [23:40] Coping with the Challenges of Running It doesn't matter how long it takes to finish a run. Instead, do what you can for the day. You can enjoy your run once you stop thinking of it as a race. We should commend people who put themselves out there for others, regardless of whether their initiative succeeds or fails. [33:01] Running for a Cause Andrew's marathon for cerebral palsy brought a large crowd from Auckland. He planned to gather $20,000 at the end of the marathon.  By the 12th day, he had already received half of the planned charity fund. Utilise the features of social media to encourage people to participate and support charity initiatives.  People who have the least usually donate the most because they understand the struggle.  [37:32] Preparing and Understanding Your Body  Andrew changed little in his diet, except for giving up coffee. Athletes need the right combination of protein and amino acids to perform well.  Listen to the full episode to know how amino acids can help you perform and recover better.  [43:13] Bouncing Back  Andrew completed his run across New Zealand in 40 days.  He admits missing the simplicity of marathoning now that he has to deal with the complexities of reality. Allow your body to recover and experience your accomplishment after completing a massive challenge.  [50:49] Valuable Lessons from Marathoning Don't be frightened to take on a tough challenge.  Learn to build a team. Look for someone who can help and motivate you. Seek advice from good people. Always celebrate small wins.  Failure is inevitable. You need to learn how to pick yourself up when you fall. [55:45] The Ultra Marathon Community In the marathon community, it doesn't matter who crosses the finish line first. Everyone encourages one another to get through the event.  The last person to cross the finish line is the toughest and has fought every obstacle known to man. 7 Powerful Quotes [23:42] Andrew: ‘I just got it through my head that it doesn't matter how long it took me to do 50k… It didn't matter. I could only do what I could do' [25:22] Lisa: ‘I don't care whether they make it or not make it… because people who are putting themselves out there on the line to do something epic and for good and for their own sporting achievement as well deserve to be congratulated for giving it their all.' [36:53] Lisa: ‘It does reinforce your belief in humanity because we can get pretty damn cynical in the world that we live in. You know how terrible things can be. Then, you get on the other hand, just amazing people doing amazing things. It's just giving and caring.' [46:15] Lisa: ​​'Please don't just dive into the next thing. Because you have this tendency when you come off the back of something epic that you've just done, and you've achieved, and you've done so well, to rush into something else because there's a big hole in your life.'  [46:49] Lisa: ‘That was the beautiful thing about ultra-marathon running. You only had one problem to solve that day and that was to get you across the finish line —5 0k's away. And that's a beautiful purity of purpose.'  [50:50] Andrew: ‘Don't be afraid to give it a go. But find someone to help you.' [52:54] Andrew: ‘Celebrate the small wins. Success breeds success.' About Andrew Andrew McCrory made a name for himself as a runner for children who couldn't walk. While trapped on his sofa for four months due to an accident, he had plenty of time to consider what he could do once he regained his strength. Thus, he began his campaign for kids with cerebral palsy. Since then, he's run thousands of kilometres in favour of the cause. His most recent accomplishment was running 50 kilometres for 40 days to raise money for children with cerebral palsy and need the costly Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery in the United States.  Apart from being an ultra-marathoner, Andrew is an instructor at Peak Fitness and Health and a Services Pathway Tutor at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), where he prepares students for the field of law enforcement. Andrew is also a loving husband and father of two.  Learn more about Andrew's cause on Give a Little. You can also connect with him through his social media accounts: Facebook and Instagram.  Enjoyed This Podcast? If you did, be sure to subscribe and share it with your friends! Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share Andrew's inspiring story with your family and friends. Have any questions? You can contact me through email (support@lisatamati.com) or find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. For more episode updates, visit my website. You may also tune in on Apple Podcasts. To pushing the limits, Lisa

Voice tech is one of the tech areas with high potential to optimize healthcare processes for providers and ease chronic disease in management for patients. In reality: How far are we from futuristic ideas where everything would be operated with the help of voice? How do innovators reduce the risk of misunderstandings in designing voice technologies? What does the development of human-like bots look like? Tune in to the discussion with Julia Hoxha co-founder and CEO of Zana - a healthcare startup that helps organisations to build artificially intelligent voice and chatbot solutions. Julia's background is in computer science with a heavy focus in machine learning and particularly in conversational AI, which is also the core technology of Zana. We discussed the latest trends in the use of voice in healthcare and how far beyond scheduling appointments with the help of Alexa have we come by 2022.  This episode is supported by EiT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The unique network helps initiate outstanding innovations in the health sector. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs.  The application deadline for many of these programs is 14th March, so do check them:  Startups meet healthcare providers: https://eithealth.eu/programmes/start-ups-meet-healthcare-providers/  All 2022 opportunities: https://eit-health.de/en/accelerator-2/ Learn more about Zana:https://zana.com/  Past EIT Health Germany series episodes: EIT Health Germany Series 2/12: Improving Medication Prescribing With Digital Twins (ExactCure): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/eit-health-germany-medication-prescribing-digital-twins-exactcure EiT Health Germany Series 1/12: Changing The Paradigm in the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance (Alexander Belcredi): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/phagomed-biontech-antimicrobial-resistance Also visit: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Unsafe medication practices and medication errors are a leading cause of injury and avoidable harm in health care systems across the world.  Exactcure is a digital health startup from France addressing the challenge of preventing the negative effects of medications. The company is building a digital twin simulator, that shows the effects and interactions of drugs in the body of an individual. They take into account any data the patient can provide, from basic personal characteristics such as age, gender, kidney status, genotype, if a person smokes or not, or any other individual parameter that has a proven influence on a specific medication. I spoke with Fabien Astic, Chief Business Development Officer at ExactCure, and Margaux Kerhousse,  Business Developer at ExactCure, about the company's journey, partnerships, and how their solution could fit into the existing prescribing workflows.  This is the second out of 12 episodes supported by EIT Health Germany. EIT Health Germany is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EIT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research, and education from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs.  Exactcure participated in several EIT Health Germany programs. Among others you will hear about is the Startups meet Healthcare Providers programs, which aims to bridge the gap between startups and clinicians. This can help shorten the time it takes for innovators to start testing their solutions in practice. To learn more about this program, go to the link in the show notes. Many application deadlines close in March, so do check out the links for opportunities right for you: All EIT Health Germany 2022 opportunities: https://eit-health.de/en/accelerator-2/ Startups meet healthcare providers: https://eithealth.eu/programmes/start-ups-meet-healthcare-providers/  www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Recap of the episode: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/eit-health-germany-medication-prescribing-digital-twins-exactcure Leave a rating or review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem related to the overuse of antibiotics and the lack of development of new ones. Many solutions are entering the market to address the issue: software solutions to identify, track and predict antibiotic-resistant infections and help prescribers with more accurate prescribing of antibiotics.  Antibiotics are not appealing to the pharmaceutical industry from a business perspective. The reason is that new antibiotics are intended for a fraction of all patients. So if you develop a drug that's meant to be used as the last resort for clinicians after they've tried all other options, clinicians would more often than not try to avoid using these new antibiotics if not absolutely necessary.  Among the problems with antibiotics is the fact that many are very broad-spectrum, used to kill several different bacteria. So in this episode, we're going to change the paradigm of antimicrobial treatments: what if you could target harmful bacteria more precisely? You'll hear from Alexander Belcredi, co-founder and Co-CEO of the biotech startup PhagoMed, which was acquired by BioNTech and renamed BioNTech R&D Austria in October 2021. Phagomed has been researching the field of antimicrobials and also developed an innovative treatment for bacterial vaginosis. In today's discussion, you'll hear about the challenges with the development of antimicrobial therapies, and also learn more about Phagomed's journey before the acquisition.   This episode is supported by EiT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The unique network helps initiate outstanding innovations in the health sector. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs. Learn more: EiT Catapult Program: https://eit-health.de/en/eit-health-catapult-2021/ EiT Health Germany: https://eit-health.de/en/   More about antimicrobial resistance:  How Can We Optimize the Use of Antibiotics? (Oliver Schacht, OpGen): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f130-how-can-we-optimize-the-use-of-antibiotics-oliver-schacht-opgen?rq=antibiotic   US Clinicians: Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs here: https://earnc.me/UpR9lQ

Over the past decade, Israel has seen the birth of over 11,000 start-ups: 70 of which have gone on to become unicorns. Israeli tech companies have attracted investments of more than 65 billion US dollars. So what sets Israeli entrepreneurs apart, in terms of thought, creativity and innovation? Adi Barel, managing director at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) hub in Israel, speaks with Andrew Wrobel about the Israeli approach to doing business, success and failure, the importance of tachles, chutzpah and yalla and - most importantly - what emerging Europe's start-up founders can learn from the Israeli approach.

In this episode, Dr Sam Ekundayo, fondly known as the Purpose Preacher, shares his own story of his journey to finding his purpose.  He talks about the void that exists when we don't have a clear purpose for our lives. He explains the importance of children having a sense of purpose and the important role of parents in helping them realise this.Dr Samuel Ekundayo is a Senior Lecturer, Life Coach, Preacher and Motivational Speaker. He is on the mission to inspire men and women to rob their graves of the many untapped treasures they carry, both in and out of the classroom. The Mandate on his life is to help people discover their purposes so they can maximise their potentials towards a fulfilled, impactful and influential life.A Senior Lecturer at the School of Computing, Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), New Zealand, he holds a Ph.D. in Business Information Systems from Auckland University of Technology (AUT), New Zealand; a Master of Science in Knowledge Management from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and a Bachelor's degree from Coventry University (CU), United Kingdom in Engineering Business Management.Samuel has had the opportunity of teaching at various institutions in New Zealand including Victoria University of Wellington and Auckland University of Technology. While currently he teaches postgraduate students at EIT, He is also an internationally sought-after speaker who has been privileged to consult for corporate organisations, as well as speak on various platforms including churches, independently organised conferences and events all over the world.His research interests include Knowledge Based Economies, Educational Technology, Activity theory, Human Computer Interaction, ICT in Education, ICT4D, Pedagogy, Open and Distance Learning, and Mobile Development.Before becoming a full-time faculty at EIT, Samuel was an Agile Business Analyst and a Senior Technical Analyst at renowned New Zealand brands. He has experience in Payment technologies (E-commerce) and Software development (particularly Mobile and the Web).As a speaker, he often speaks on the subject of purpose and human potentials. In 2019, he gave a TEDx Talk on 'Purpose, the ultimate cure to suicide', an inspirational talk that has changed lives and helped many discover their life's purpose.He is the president and founder of School of Purpose and Influence (SPIN), an institution with a vision to raise men and women for transgenerational influence and impact worldwide. He is also the founder of Motivitality, a weekly motivational video series online with the vision of helping men and women find their purpose and maximise their potentials, reaching thousands of people weekly with over 300,000 views and counting.He has authored five books including ‘Arise and Succeed: Becoming the Champion you are', ‘FIRED UP: The ultimate guide to focus and consistency in every endeavour', '30 Reasons to Stay: Say no to suicide and give life another try', ‘THE WORLD NEEDS YOU: Life-changing secrets to becoming a person of value' and ‘Purpose in Crisis: Uncommon secrets to finding and fulfilling purpose in times of adversity', all of which can be found in major bookstores online.He is married to a woman he calls his Treasure - Blessing Ekundayo - and they are blessed with two boys, to the glory of God.More about him on his website: SamuelEkundayo.comSocial Media:  @drsamekundayo

While not featured in Hollywood blockbuster films like some universities from the UK, Boston, or California, Belgium’s KU Leuven University has topped the Reuters ranking as Europe’s most innovative university for four of the last six years. This Belgian innovation engine boasts more than 135 spin-off companies and has a dominant focus on healthcare innovation. In this podcast we discuss the role that KU Leuven plays in Flanders with Professors Maarten De Vos and Inge De Prins, who introduce the latest effort to broaden the EU’s innovation capacity through their new initiative focused on health innovation fellowships. Named The Institute for Biodesign, it will open its doors this spring in collaboration with TU Delft and Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. The institute’s Health Fellowship Network will be further supported by the European Institute of Technology (EIT), whose input in ensuring that KU Leuven’s new project comes to fruition is also discussed in the podcast. Lastly, the podcast details how interested researchers, healthcare professionals, and industry partners can join the new Institute for Biodesign and offers some insights into what the programme will deliver in the future. We touch on the broad macroeconomic competitive challenges that the EU currently faces and how the fellowship network hopes to overcome these to keep breakthrough technologies and the value they create within Europe.

In this podcast episode, we will discuss how blockchain technology is utilized in the energy sector beyond the well-known utility of a payments system, her experiences in entrepreneurship and innovation, including start-up life in Berlin.Ana Trbovich is the Grid Singularity co-founder & COO and Vice-Chair of the Energy Web Foundation. She serves on UNECE Carbon Neutrality and DENA SET Hub Advisory Boards, and previously acted as an independent board member at the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), Axa, and the Belgrade Philharmonic, among others. She teaches Entrepreneurship at FEFA, a leading business school in Belgrade, Serbia, where she also served as Dean from 2012 to 2015. She has consulted on good governance, competitiveness, and innovation policy for international organizations, including the EU and the World Bank.Link to the Video of the Recording:YouTubeSpeaker:Ana TrbovichAstrid WoollardChristian SoschnerOrganizations:CS Life Science InvestGrid SingularityScytale VenturesBe part of our Network:Subscribe here: https://mailchi.mp/e2467061ef75/lsg2gSupport the show (https://www.lifescienceget2gether.com/registration-membersclub/)The LSG2G Partners Experts in Life Science

Gudrun talks with the Scotish engineer Claire Harvey. After already having finished a Master's degree in Product design engineering at the University of Glasgow for the last two years Claire has been a student of the Energy Technologies (ENTECH) Master program. This is an international and interdisciplinary program under the label of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) inbetween a number of European technical universities. She spent her first year in Lisbon at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) and the second master year at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Gudrun had the role of her supervisor at KIT while she worked on her Master's thesis at the EUREF Campus in Berlin for the Startup inno2grid. Her study courses prepared her for very diverse work in the sector of renewable energy. Her decision to work with inno2grid in Berlin was based on the fact, that it would help to pave the way towards better solutions for planning micro grids and sustainable districts. Also, she wanted to see an actual micro grid at work. The office building of Schneider Electric, where the Startup inno2grid has its rooms is an experiment delivering data of energy production and consumption while being a usual office building. We will hear more about that in the episode with Carlos Mauricio Rojas La Rotta soon. Micro grids are small scale electrical grid systems where self-sufficient supply is achieved. Therefore, the integration of micro grid design within district planning processes should be developed efficiently. In the planning process of districts with decentralised energy systems, unique and customised design of micro grids is usually required to meet local technical, economical and environmental needs. From a technical standpoint, a detailed understanding of factors such as load use, generation potential and site constraints are needed to correctly and most efficiently design and implement the network. The presence of many different actors and stakeholders contribute to the complexity of the planning process, where varying levels of technical experience and disparate methods of working across teams is commonplace. Large quantities of digital information are required across the whole life-cycle of a planning project, not just to do with energetic planning but also for asset management and monitoring after a micro grid has been implemented. In the design of micro grids, large amounts of data must be gathered, there are initial optimization objectives to be met, and simulating control strategies of a district which are adapted to customer requirements is a critical step. Linking these processes - being able to assemble data as well as communicate the results and interactions of different "layers" of a project to stakeholders are challenges that arise as more cross-sector projects are carried out, with the growing interest in smart grid implementation. Claire's thesis explores tools to assist the planning process for micro grids on the district scale. Using geographical information system (GIS) software, results relating to the energetic planning of a district is linked to geo-referenced data. Layers related to energy planning are implemented - calculating useful parameters and connecting to a database where different stakeholders within a project can contribute. Resource potential, electrical/thermal demand and supply system dimensioning can be calculated, which is beneficial for clients and decision makers to visualize digital information related to a project. Within the open source program QGIS, spatial analysis and optimizations relating to the design of an energy system are performed. As the time dimension is a key part in the planning of the energy supply system of a micro grid, the data is linked to a Python simulation environment where dynamic analysis can be performed, and the results are fed back in to the QGIS project. References T. Benz et al.: Der Zellulare Ansatz. VDE, Energietechnische Gesellschaft, Frankfurt, Germany, 2015. A. Halu et al.: Data-driven modeling of solar-powered urban microgrids. Science Advances 2 (1). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.1500700, 2016. M. Giudice and E. Patti: BIM and GIS for District Modelling Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy, 2014. QGIS Ch. Nytsch-Geusen et al.: Sustainable and energy-efficient redevelopment of city quarters - Analytical and planning tools for energy assessment and rehabilitation of urban districts. Universität der Künste, Berlin, 2015. Podcasts Z. Ahamed, G. Thäter: Electric Vehicles on the Grid, Gespräch im Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 183, Fakultät für Mathematik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2018. G. Thäter, M. J. Amtenbrink: Wasserstofftankstellen, Gespräch im Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 163, Fakultät für Mathematik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2018. G. Thäter, B. Pousinho: Weather Generator, Gespräch im Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 148, Fakultät für Mathematik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2017.

Gudrun talks with the Scotish engineer Claire Harvey. After already having finished a Master's degree in Product design engineering at the University of Glasgow for the last two years Claire has been a student of the Energy Technologies (ENTECH) Master program. This is an international and interdisciplinary program under the label of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) inbetween a number of European technical universities. She spent her first year in Lisbon at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) and the second master year at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Gudrun had the role of her supervisor at KIT while she worked on her Master's thesis at the EUREF Campus in Berlin for the Startup inno2grid. Her study courses prepared her for very diverse work in the sector of renewable energy. Her decision to work with inno2grid in Berlin was based on the fact, that it would help to pave the way towards better solutions for planning micro grids and sustainable districts. Also, she wanted to see an actual micro grid at work. The office building of Schneider Electric, where the Startup inno2grid has its rooms is an experiment delivering data of energy production and consumption while being a usual office building. We will hear more about that in the episode with Carlos Mauricio Rojas La Rotta soon. Micro grids are small scale electrical grid systems where self-sufficient supply is achieved. Therefore, the integration of micro grid design within district planning processes should be developed efficiently. In the planning process of districts with decentralised energy systems, unique and customised design of micro grids is usually required to meet local technical, economical and environmental needs. From a technical standpoint, a detailed understanding of factors such as load use, generation potential and site constraints are needed to correctly and most efficiently design and implement the network. The presence of many different actors and stakeholders contribute to the complexity of the planning process, where varying levels of technical experience and disparate methods of working across teams is commonplace. Large quantities of digital information are required across the whole life-cycle of a planning project, not just to do with energetic planning but also for asset management and monitoring after a micro grid has been implemented. In the design of micro grids, large amounts of data must be gathered, there are initial optimization objectives to be met, and simulating control strategies of a district which are adapted to customer requirements is a critical step. Linking these processes - being able to assemble data as well as communicate the results and interactions of different "layers" of a project to stakeholders are challenges that arise as more cross-sector projects are carried out, with the growing interest in smart grid implementation. Claire's thesis explores tools to assist the planning process for micro grids on the district scale. Using geographical information system (GIS) software, results relating to the energetic planning of a district is linked to geo-referenced data. Layers related to energy planning are implemented - calculating useful parameters and connecting to a database where different stakeholders within a project can contribute. Resource potential, electrical/thermal demand and supply system dimensioning can be calculated, which is beneficial for clients and decision makers to visualize digital information related to a project. Within the open source program QGIS, spatial analysis and optimizations relating to the design of an energy system are performed. As the time dimension is a key part in the planning of the energy supply system of a micro grid, the data is linked to a Python simulation environment where dynamic analysis can be performed, and the results are fed back in to the QGIS project. References T. Benz et al.: Der Zellulare Ansatz. VDE, Energietechnische Gesellschaft, Frankfurt, Germany, 2015. A. Halu et al.: Data-driven modeling of solar-powered urban microgrids. Science Advances 2 (1). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.1500700, 2016. M. Giudice and E. Patti: BIM and GIS for District Modelling Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy, 2014. QGIS Ch. Nytsch-Geusen et al.: Sustainable and energy-efficient redevelopment of city quarters - Analytical and planning tools for energy assessment and rehabilitation of urban districts. Universität der Künste, Berlin, 2015. Podcasts Z. Ahamed, G. Thäter: Electric Vehicles on the Grid, Gespräch im Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 183, Fakultät für Mathematik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2018. G. Thäter, M. J. Amtenbrink: Wasserstofftankstellen, Gespräch im Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 163, Fakultät für Mathematik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2018. G. Thäter, B. Pousinho: Weather Generator, Gespräch im Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 148, Fakultät für Mathematik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2017.

Gudrun is speaking with the portuguese engineer Bruno Pousinho. He has been a student of the Energy Technologies (ENTECH) Master program. This is an international and interdisciplinary program under the label of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) inbetween a number of European technical universities. Bruno spent his second master year at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Gudrun had the role of his supervisor at KIT while he worked on his Master's thesis at the Chair of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems (ENS) at TUM in Garching. His direct contact person there was Franz Christange from the group of Prof. Thomas Hamacher. Renewable energy systems are a growing part of the energy mix. In Germany between 1990 and 2016 it grew from 4168 GW to 104024 GW. This corresponds to an annual power consumption share of 3.4% and 31.7%, respectively. But in the related research this means a crucial shift. The conventional centralized synchronous machine dominated models have to be exchanged for decentralized power electronic dominated networks - so-called microgrids. This needs collaboration of mechanical and electrical engineers. The interdisciplinary group at TUM has the goal to work on modeling future microgrids in order to easily configure and simulate them. One additional factor is that for most renewable energy systems it is necessary to have the right weather conditions. Moreover, there is always the problem of reliability. Especially for Photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines Weather phenomena as solar irradiation, air temperature and wind speed have to be known in advance in order to plan for these types of systems. There are two fundamentally different approaches to model weather data. Firstly the numerical weather and climate models, which provide the weather forecast for the next days and years. Secondly, so-called weather generators. The numerical models are very complex and have to run on the largest computer systems available. For that in order to have a simple enough model for planning the Renewable energy resources (RER) at a certain place weather generators are used. They produce synthetic weather data on the basis of the weather conditions in the past. They do not predict/forecast the values of a specific weather phenomenon for a specific time but provides random simulations whose outputs show the same or very similar distributional properties as the measured weather data in the past. The group in Garching wanted to have a time dynamic analytical model. The model is time continuous which grant it the ability of having any time sampling interval. This means it wanted to have a system of equations for the generation of synthetic weather data with as few as possible parameters. When Bruno started his work, there existed a model for Garching (developped by Franz Christange) with about 60 parameters. The aim of Bruno's work was to reduce the number of parameters and to show that the general concept can be used worldwide, i.e. it can adapt to different weather data in different climate zones. In the thesis the tested points range from 33º South to 40º North. In the synthesis of the weather generator the crucial tool is to use stochastic relations. Mostly the standard normal distribution is applied and shaped for the rate of change and corelation between RER. In particular this means that it describes the fundamental behavior of weather (mean, standard deviation, time- and cross-correlation) and introduces them into white noise in an analytical way. This idea was first introduced for crop estimation by Richardson in 1985. Time-dependence works on different time scales - through days and through seasons, e.g.. In the Analysis it is then necessary to parametrize the measured weather data and to provide a parameter set to the weather model. Bruno started his Master course in Lisbon at Instituto Superior tecnico (IST). In his second year he changed to KIT in Karlsruhe and put his focus on Energy systems. In his thesis he uses a lot of mathematics which he learned during his Bachelor education and had to recall and refresh. The results of the project are published in the open source model 'solfons' in Github, which uses Python and was developed in MATLAB. References F. Christange & T. Hamacher: Analytical Modeling Concept for Weather Phenomena as Renewable Energy Resources, in IEEE International Conference on Renewable Energy Research and Applications (ICRERA), 2016. doi: 10.1109/ICRERA.2016.7884551 P. Ailliot, D. Allard, P. Naveau, C. D. Beaulieu, R. Cedex: Stochastic weather generators, an overview of weather type models, Journal de la Société Française de Statistique, Vol. 156, No 1, pp. 1-14, 2015. C.L. Wiegand, A.J. Richardson: Leaf area, light interception, and yield estimates from spectral components analysis, Agron. J., 76, 543, 1984. solfons: Artificial wheater data for energy system modeling, Software at GitHub. Podcasts S. Seier, T. Alexandrin: Blindstrom - Der Energie Podcast, 2016-2017. M. Völter, V. Hagenmeyer: Stromnetze, ein Überblick, omega tau Podcast, Episode 246, 2017. K. A. Zach, L. Bodingbauer: Energiespeicher, PHS186 in der Physikalischen Soiree, 2013. F. Trieb, T. Pritlive: Energie der Zukunft, RZ033 im Raumzeit Podcast, Metaebene Personal Media, 2012.

Gudrun is speaking with the portuguese engineer Bruno Pousinho. He has been a student of the Energy Technologies (ENTECH) Master program. This is an international and interdisciplinary program under the label of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) inbetween a number of European technical universities. Bruno spent his second master year at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Gudrun had the role of his supervisor at KIT while he worked on his Master's thesis at the Chair of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems (ENS) at TUM in Garching. His direct contact person there was Franz Christange from the group of Prof. Thomas Hamacher. Renewable energy systems are a growing part of the energy mix. In Germany between 1990 and 2016 it grew from 4168 GW to 104024 GW. This corresponds to an annual power consumption share of 3.4% and 31.7%, respectively. But in the related research this means a crucial shift. The conventional centralized synchronous machine dominated models have to be exchanged for decentralized power electronic dominated networks - so-called microgrids. This needs collaboration of mechanical and electrical engineers. The interdisciplinary group at TUM has the goal to work on modeling future microgrids in order to easily configure and simulate them. One additional factor is that for most renewable energy systems it is necessary to have the right weather conditions. Moreover, there is always the problem of reliability. Especially for Photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines Weather phenomena as solar irradiation, air temperature and wind speed have to be known in advance in order to plan for these types of systems. There are two fundamentally different approaches to model weather data. Firstly the numerical weather and climate models, which provide the weather forecast for the next days and years. Secondly, so-called weather generators. The numerical models are very complex and have to run on the largest computer systems available. For that in order to have a simple enough model for planning the Renewable energy resources (RER) at a certain place weather generators are used. They produce synthetic weather data on the basis of the weather conditions in the past. They do not predict/forecast the values of a specific weather phenomenon for a specific time but provides random simulations whose outputs show the same or very similar distributional properties as the measured weather data in the past. The group in Garching wanted to have a time dynamic analytical model. The model is time continuous which grant it the ability of having any time sampling interval. This means it wanted to have a system of equations for the generation of synthetic weather data with as few as possible parameters. When Bruno started his work, there existed a model for Garching (developped by Franz Christange) with about 60 parameters. The aim of Bruno's work was to reduce the number of parameters and to show that the general concept can be used worldwide, i.e. it can adapt to different weather data in different climate zones. In the thesis the tested points range from 33º South to 40º North. In the synthesis of the weather generator the crucial tool is to use stochastic relations. Mostly the standard normal distribution is applied and shaped for the rate of change and corelation between RER. In particular this means that it describes the fundamental behavior of weather (mean, standard deviation, time- and cross-correlation) and introduces them into white noise in an analytical way. This idea was first introduced for crop estimation by Richardson in 1985. Time-dependence works on different time scales - through days and through seasons, e.g.. In the Analysis it is then necessary to parametrize the measured weather data and to provide a parameter set to the weather model. Bruno started his Master course in Lisbon at Instituto Superior tecnico (IST). In his second year he changed to KIT in Karlsruhe and put his focus on Energy systems. In his thesis he uses a lot of mathematics which he learned during his Bachelor education and had to recall and refresh. The results of the project are published in the open source model 'solfons' in Github, which uses Python and was developed in MATLAB. References F. Christange & T. Hamacher: Analytical Modeling Concept for Weather Phenomena as Renewable Energy Resources, in IEEE International Conference on Renewable Energy Research and Applications (ICRERA), 2016. doi: 10.1109/ICRERA.2016.7884551 P. Ailliot, D. Allard, P. Naveau, C. D. Beaulieu, R. Cedex: Stochastic weather generators, an overview of weather type models, Journal de la Société Française de Statistique, Vol. 156, No 1, pp. 1-14, 2015. C.L. Wiegand, A.J. Richardson: Leaf area, light interception, and yield estimates from spectral components analysis, Agron. J., 76, 543, 1984. solfons: Artificial wheater data for energy system modeling, Software at GitHub. Podcasts S. Seier, T. Alexandrin: Blindstrom - Der Energie Podcast, 2016-2017. M. Völter, V. Hagenmeyer: Stromnetze, ein Überblick, omega tau Podcast, Episode 246, 2017. K. A. Zach, L. Bodingbauer: Energiespeicher, PHS186 in der Physikalischen Soiree, 2013. F. Trieb, T. Pritlive: Energie der Zukunft, RZ033 im Raumzeit Podcast, Metaebene Personal Media, 2012.