The Canary Islands becomes the first international HUB of medical Technologies for Africa and the MACARONESIA

-ULPGC and Harvard University professionals have trained about twenty physicians, engineers and researchers in medical technologies for sustainable development #medtec4susdev. They come from various African countries and Macaronesia. -The Canary Islands adopt and transfer an innovative working tool in medicine based on open technology (3DSlicer). Thanks to the advances implemented by doctors, engineers and researchers of the University of Harvard in Boston (USA), the Universidad de Palmas de Gran Canaria, through its Interreg – MAC MACbioIDi project, “Promoting the cohesion of the Macaronesian RUPs through a common ICT platform for Biomedical research – MACbioIDi”, based on medical technology for sustainable development, has presented the conclusions of the 1st International Seminar of training in medical technologies for African countries and for the Macaronesia,  during March in Gran Canaria. ULPGC and Harvard University professionals have trained about twenty physicians, engineers and researchers in medical technologies for sustainable development #medtec4susdev. They come from several African countries (Cape Verde, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal) and the Macaronesia. The Director of Economic Affairs with Africa of the Government of the Canary Islands, Pablo Martín-Carbajal, has thanked the work done by the ULPGC to implement new ways of collaboration in the field of medical technology destined to African countries. Mr Martín Carbajal highlighted other cases of success already initiated by the Government of the Canary Islands through projects in sectors of logistics, gas, transport and research, which have managed to establish a work structure in the Canary Islands that is being exported to African countries. The collaboration of the Government of the Canary Islands in this type of initiatives is total and we hope that in the future we can continue with the hard work that is being done by the Canary professionals. Luis López, head of the international cooperation projects of the Canarian Health Service, of the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, and also, the Canary Islands Prize for International Cooperation, highlighted the importance of forming Doctors, engineers and other health professionals in Africa and the Macaronesia, since collaborative work will improve their progress and the increase of health quality in E SOS countries. Moreover, the director of the Biomedical and Sanitary Research University Institute (IUIBS), Lluís Serra Majem, pointed out that the IUIBS is proud to receive foreign professionals dedicated to improving health, and he hopes to continue collaborating with this type of projects in the future. Finally, the director and principal investigator of the project Interreg-MAC MACbioIDi, Juan Ruiz Alzola, professor in signal theory and communications at the ULPGC, stressed that these training weeks with African, Macaronesian and North American delegations have been a real milestone in the history of training in medical technologies for sustainable development. Professor Ruiz Alzola took the opportunity to invite all the collaborating institutions of the project to participate in the next international meeting, the NAMIC 2018, which will take place in the last week of June in the Canary Islands. The celebration of the NAMIC Canarias 2018, important global event, in which the different teams of the National Alliance for Medical Image Computing (na-mic.org) meet annually, will take place at the ULPGC in June 2018.  The previous edition took place alternatively at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in winter 2017. NAMIC Canarias 2018 will welcome the best American and Europeans professionals, and, for the first time, it also have representatives from Africa and Macaronesia, so the exchange of knowledge and work experiences are expected to be quite useful and productive for medicine and technological advances for sustainable development.