The 13th IEEE International Symposium of Medical Information and Communication Technologies

The 13th IEEE International Symposium on Medical Information and Communication Technology (ISMICT 2019) was held in Oslo, Norway, on 8-10 May 2019. The 3-day program was packed with great activities including 4 prestigious keynote speakers from various fields and 4 invited speeches on some of the hottest topics. A total of 57 papers were presented across 4 special sessions, 6 general sessions and a poster session. In addition, two panel sessions were arranged where current issues, such as new regulations and leadership in complex areas, were discussed. While European researchers formed the majority, significant input was also provided from the Americans and Asians underlining the international collaboration of the unique community. More than 70 voluntary reviewers supported ISMICT 2019 to ensure its high-quality contributions. With 87 attendees from all over the world encountering topics ranging from basic research ideas to real life applications and future research directions, ISMICT 2019 turned out to be a great success. ISMICT 2019 hosted 4 special sessions. The special session on Wireless Body Area Network attracted many papers, so did the special session on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. Besides all opportunities of an increasingly connected world, risks have to be assessed and mitigated. The special session on Cybersecurity in Healthcare aimed to raise everyone?s awareness in this regard. Finally, the special session on Cardiac Monitoring Using Video Plethysmography picked up an interesting aspect in medical diagnostics. The attendees were welcomed by the mayor of Oslo in the main reception, which took place in the tremendous Oslo City Hall on May 9. Later that evening, the banquet was held in a historic venue located in the heart of Oslo, where a gourmet dinner was served, awards were given, and collaboration was encouraged. ISMICT 2019 was technically sponsored by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Norway Health Tech, the Research Council of Norway, and Oslo University Hospital. In addition, 16 Early Stage Researchers (PhD students) funded within H2020-MSCA: ITN Wireless In-Body Environment (WiBEC) project contributed to the organization of the conference. In his assessment of ISMICT 2019, the head of the ISMICT steering committee, Prof. Ryuji Kohno said: ?This is clearly one of the most successful editions of ISMICT?.

The 13th IEEE International Symposium on Medical Information and Communication Technology successfully established a forum to present new research and development results, exchange ideas, discuss practices, and share experiences among Technology and Medicine sides, including healthcare, wellness, clinical therapy, and surgery, as well as ICT, mechanical, and biomedical engineering. Moreover, activities of standard, regulation and business for medical ICT devices, systems and services were promoted by national and international government and industry. The technical program featured among others Wireless body area sensor networks, E-Health systems and electronic medical records, Medical devices regulatory science, Medical imaging and patient diagnostic systems, Privacy and security issues, and Medical data analytics. It attracted ca. 90 participants and accepted 57 papers, which were published in the IEEE Xplore. The review process was according to the IEEE regulations.

ISMICT 2019 conference will continue the tradition of being the premier forum for the presentation of results on cutting-edge research in medical information and communication technology (ICT). The mission of the conference is to bring professionals from academia and industry who combine ICT to develop novel diagnostics, treatment and monitoring regardless whether the person is at home or hospital. This means the technological solutions are for health and care sector which is desperately looking for cost-effective, high-performance systems. The conference provides professionals to share novel basic research ideas as well as experimental applications in addition to identifying new directions for future research and development. ISMICT 2019 will be held in Oslo from 6th to 8th May 2019 and will also offer an exciting social program. Authors will be invited to submit full papers of up to 6 pages. Accepted papers will be included in the IEEE Xplore. The review process is according to the IEEE regulations, where we aim to accept 30-35% of the submitted papers and aim to have a minimum 60 papers. Authors of accepted papers can correct minor typos in the final camera-ready version. The number of participants is estimated to be approximately 120-140, including students and one-day registrations based on previous symposia. The Oslo University Hospital can handle up to a maximum of about 500 persons.