EPSRC UK IMAGE-GUIDED THERAPIES NETWORK+

Image-guided therapy (IGT) combines simulation and modelling, imaging and sensing, computing, robotics as well as visualisation to improve the localisation and targeting of pathological tissue with surgical instruments and focused energy delivery. With the widespread acceptance of minimally invasive interventions, IGT is increasingly important for enhancing the capabilities of the surgeon and advancing the frontiers of interventional capabilities. Translating IGT innovation into clinical practice relies on effective collaboration, knowledge dissemination and sharing, because IGT is a cross-disciplinary and cross-modality field in which physicians, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists work jointly to build solutions. Deploying such solutions in clinical practice relies on effective management of the workflow and ergonomics of technology in the interventional theatre and on information exchange between systems within well-defined secure protocols that can pass regulatory certification and patient safety standardisation. The diversity and complexity of IGT systems positions this domain as a critical field to advance the possibilities of physical interventions through a coordinated effort, discussion, road mapping and vision that can only be facilitated through an EPSRC UK-IGT Network+.

The primary impact of this proposal is to create a network to fertilise and enhance collaboration across UK IGT and promote relationships with industry and stakeholders with the ability to clinically translate IGT to realise patient benefits.

The Network's objectives of bridging EPSRC UK-IGT research activities among disparate research institutions and cultivating cross-disciplinary research ideas for future collaborative proposal submission will be achieved through a hierarchy of planned activities. With focused levels of engagement, the beneficiaries of the planned activities range from the entire community, to the partnerships within the Network, and, finally, the promotion of talented researchers that seek to work across the established IGT research themes and centres.

There are an estimated 3,100 medical devices companies in the UK, 80% of which are SMEs, which employ around 64,000 employees, and have an estimated turnover of £15B. As well as established companies, a vibrant UK SME community is emerging in the area of image-guided therapy, and our Network can have a key role to play in expanding this activity.