This year, the international PMNET Forum or Precision Medicine Networking Forum will gather 600 participants - experts in the field of health and those interested in precision medicine. As part of it, discussions will take place on important issues for Latvia's economy and health care - including the provision of human resources.
More information about the event is available at https://pmnetforum.com/.
Latvia has been successful with large networking events - 5G Techritory, Deep Tech, TechChill, and PMNET is becoming of the largest forums in region - already 600 participants have registered (last year 200 participants participated.) As part of the two-day international networking forum, satellite events will also be held. Solutions offered using the latest technologies in the health sector will be discussed in cooperation with foreign experts. Promoting the attraction of human resources to sectors essential to the economy, including biomedicine, requires international cooperation projects and educational programs. The aim is also to promote the digital skills of doctors and the healthcare industry in order to develop precision medicine.
Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy Raimonds Lapiņš: "With the support of the PMNET organizing team and private entrepreneurs, the PMNET forum has become one of the leading precision medicine forums in the region. Thanks to the ideas developed at the PMNET forum of previous years, several important initiatives for the economic development of Latvia have been successfully implemented - Riga Technical University (RTU) in cooperation with Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and University of Latvia (LU) is implementing the project "Development of high-level digital skills in Latvia in the field of high-performance computing", within the framework of which it is planned to create 12 new study modules in high-performance computing in the field of technology. Such cooperation between three universities is an important step for scientific and economic development, as it combines the strengths of each university in order to prepare specialists in Latvia who will be able to solve future health care challenges. Also, as a result of the previous forums, a strategy for the development of human capital has been developed and a "Law on the second use of data" has been submitted to the Saeima, the purpose of which is to ensure the availability of data for scientific research.”
It has already been reported that at the same time, the Ministry of Economy has established a national research program "Innovation Fund - Industry Research Program", within the framework of which commercial oriented research projects in the field of biomedicine, medical technology and pharmaceuticals have already been supported for a total of 5.7 million euros. The Ministry is currently working to introduce a new, long-term national research program model, in which we plan to allocate more than 10 million to support projects in the fields of biomedicine, medical technology and pharmaceuticals. euro during 2024-2026. for the year, as well as to take care of the increase of additional funding in the following years.
Also, thanks to the 2022 forum, which promoted cooperation in the creation of new educational programs, RTU, in cooperation with RSU and LU, is implementing the project Development of high-level digital skills in Latvia in the field of high-performance computing. Agrita Kiopa, vice-rector of sciences of RSU, states that with the help of such a study program, it is planned to develop a multidisciplinary approach, which provides that medical students acquire skills in bioinformatics, genetics and visual diagnostics.
The discussion "Smart specialization in biomedicine" will discuss the next steps of the country and the simplification of administrative processes and the use of health data, as well as the financing of medical projects. On the other hand, in the discussion "Innovations in health", it is planned to discuss the possibilities of using big data and artificial intelligence for the development of the Latvian economy. Acting director of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency Iveta Strupkāja:"These discussions are an important step in the implementation of the current biomedical strategies. I invite everyone to participate and express their opinion in person with the aim of identifying the steps to solve the challenges, using Latvia's innovation and research potential in national industries and science." The ecosystem strategy of the RIS3 field "Biomedicine, medical technologies, pharmacy" is available here: https://ej.uz/izcilibu_ar_LIAA
In the field of health innovation, Riga Technical University offers a medical technology development program «INNO HEALTH HUB», where interdisciplinary teams are looking for solutions to two challenges related to big data or genomic data analysis in cancer diagnostics.
Accurate determination of genetic information using modern genome sequencing technologies enables more successful treatment of children with oncological or rare diseases. Therefore, precision medicine is one of the important directions, which is planned to be further developed in the future Health Care Achievement Center of the Children's Clinical University Hospital.
The forum is organized by Riga Stradins University, Children's Hospital Foundation, Latvian Children's Oncology Foundation, Children's Clinical University Hospital, Ministry of Economics, Ministry of Health, Latvian Investment and Development Agency and patient organizations - Latvian Patient Organization Network, Latvian Alliance for Rare Diseases, Onco Alliance, Men's Alliance for health, etc. in cooperation with the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Center, the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, the University of Latvia, Riga Technical University, Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital, Paula Stradins Clinical University Hospital. The forum is supported by Novartis, EUSA Pharma, Roche and Illumina.
More information about the forum program and speakers: www.pmnetforum.com, as well as on social media Facebook: PMNET - Precision Medicine Networking Forum and LinkedIn: Precision Medicine Networking Forum using hashtags #MissionLatvia #PMNETforum #PMNETforum2023 #PrecisionMedicineNetwork
The event is empowered by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) and the European Regional Development Fund.