Through a new collaboration, with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Pfizer's Center for Digital Innovation (CDI) steadily and systematically broadens its strategic investment in collaborations with the Greek research and innovation ecosystem, while at the same time giving patients an active role in shaping the new reality in the domain of digital health.
The new collaboration with the Signal Processing and Biomedical Technology Unit (SPBTU) of AUTH’s Telecommunications Laboratory aims at the development and validation of novel digital biomarkers for the assessment of diseases in the domain of inflammation and immunology, utilizing applications for mobile devices and serious games.
A notable feature of this project is that health care professionals as well as patients, will be actively engaged across all the stages of the development for measuring digital biomarkers (design/creation/testing), so as to provide their input and insights, highlight their needs and wants and be active stakeholders, which is in line with Pfizer’s patient-centric approach.
At the same time, the project will involve an interdisciplinary team from Greece, the Netherlands and Portugal, under the coordination of the Aristotle University, together with other Pfizer departments, such as Inflammation & Immunology NL and Global Medical Affairs, serving Pfizer's principle of global collaborations, contributing to its global positive impact.
"Through our collaborations with the Greek research and innovation ecosystem, we co-create innovations that can revamp the digital health sector, that is our firm objective. We are particularly happy that our new collaboration with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki has an international dimension as well as it gives patients an active role. After all, CDI is charged with developing transformative digital solutions that advance breakthroughs that change patients' lives, and these collaborations bring us closer to this purpose", said Nico Gariboldi, CDI site lead.
From his side, Prof. Leontios Hatzileontiadis, professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering of AUTH and SPBTU lead, added: “Our partnership with Pfizer’s Center for Digital Innovation is an important opportunity to bridge research from the lab to daily practice. We both aspire to develop supportive digital tools that facilitate patients with inflammation to manage their disease as well as providing new forms of diagnostic insights, like digital biomarkers to physicians. Pfizer’s support in a context of international partnerships secures an environment where innovative solutions are developed in the field of personalized medicine. We are certain that this is just the beginning of a fruitful collaboration”
