Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa and Polytechnic of Milan: together for the prolongation of active life
13 April 2017 - “In Italy, the second country in the world for longevity, aging is not characterized by a healthy life, so much so that 80% of disabled citizens are over 65 years old”. This is the data from which the entire reflection held by the Pro-Rector for Research and Full Professor of Bioengineering starts UCBM, Eugenio Guglielmelli, within the conference organized at the Inail headquarters in Rome. “Numbers that open up new scenarios with which science must measure itself, if we also look at the data on accidents at work which in general decrease while increasing only for workers over 55”.
The occasion is the official presentation of the publication 'Bioengineering for well-being and active aging', promoted by the Journal of Accidents and Occupational Diseases of INAIL. The text, edited by Eugenio Guglielmelli, Maria Chiara Carrozza, Member of Parliament, Professor of Bioengineering at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, President of the National Bioengineering Group, and Riccardo Pietrabissa, Professor at the Polytechnic University of Milan, takes its cue from the proceedings of the annual doctoral school of the National Bioengineering Group, organized by the three institutions last September.
The social role of biomedical engineers
A team effort, which goes in the direction of concrete training for bioengineers, "figures increasingly accredited in hospitals and characterized by a strong social intent" as underlined Maria Chiara Carrozza, which aims to raise awareness among policymakers about the pressing issue of the socioeconomic implications of an aging population and the possible actions to reduce the negative consequences on the quality of life in Italy. It is no coincidence that the event, strongly supported by INAIL, was attended by its top management, including President Massimo De Felice and Director General Giuseppe Lucibello, as well as the President of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Walter Ricciardi, and the Director General of Research and Innovation in Healthcare at the Ministry of Health. Giovanni Leonardi. The Inail Central Health Superintendent, Angela Goggiamani, the director of the magazine also participated in moderating the debate. Luigi Peccerella who expressed full support for the initiative carried out by the group of scholars.
"Specifically - continues Guglielmelli - Italy is the 19th country for longevity in good health, as well as the 30th for life satisfaction of the inhabitants. Not to mention that in 2015 the mortality rate increased again after 66 years. All this in a European context in which by 2020 25% of the population will be over 65 and those over 40 will increase by % in the following ten years". Hence, the need for new technologies that monitor the evolution of state of health of the person and make it possible to counteract the physio-pathological decline with the possibility of personalized therapies.
Welfare solutions and industrial development
"Themes on which Italian bioengineering researchers are at the forefront, counting the highest number of patents and spin-off companies compared to other sectors", comments the professor Pietrabissa while, at the same time, warns about the state of development biomedical business in our country. Compared to the excellence of research, the balance is therefore not positive if we consider that, in the sector, Italy is in tenth place for exports and eighth as an importer.
On the other hand, the scientific publication brings together the most important research projects promoted by Italian universities, often in a network with each other and with foreign universities: at the center there is certainly wearable robotics with examples such as that of Aide, a European project for creation of a platform for the rehabilitation of the upper limb which will shortly be tested on patients at our Center for the Health of the Elderly (CESA) or in the field of Soft Robotics, in which, starting from 'octopus model', the scientist Cecilia Laschi has created an arm with an aid function in the shower for the elderly. There is no shortage of spin-offs such as I-can Robotics, challenge launched by the engineers UCBM with a biomedical device for post-stroke rehabilitation, nor collaborations with institutions: among these, the PPR2 project, which sees the synergy between the INAIL Prosthetic Center of Vigorso di Budrio and theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma in the creation of upper limb prostheses equipped with an innovative control system.
What emerges is the richness of the Italian panorama, but above all a central figure who "is no longer the engineer who listens to the doctor and designs the tool with which to diagnose or treat". Rather "a doctor and an engineer who together anticipate technology to reduce the risk of getting sick or to live better and remain as independent as possible and well integrated in the social and work context when you are sick" (Bioengineering for well-being and aging active, Pàtron publisher, Bologna 2016).
