On 10 November 2014, a national workshop was held at the Wyndham Grand Regency Hotel, Doha to leverage expertise and ideas to advance pediatric robotics, simulation and imaging in Qatar and Canada for healthcare outcomes, training of medical and healthcare engineers, and conducting research. Building on the expressed desire to pursue the creation of a Qatar Pediatric Surgical Innovation Institute which would synergistically boost surgical innovation, this meeting was designed to facilitate discussions amongst the major organizations in Qatar involved in surgical and imaging innovation.
The objectives of the workshop were to:
- Explore the opportunity for partnerships with Qatar-based stakeholders from hospitals, universities and industry within the areas of medicine and engineering who are focused on innovation for children
- Support the development of innovation around medical devices, imaging, simulation and robotics for children in Qatar, Canada, and beyond
- Identify strategies to enable the development of international, multi-member stakeholder collaborations, including the sharing of intellectual property, funding approaches and governance structure
Dr. James Drake, Chief, Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Image Guided Care, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (SickKids), presented an overview of the Center for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention (CIGITI) at SickKids, highlighting the key drivers for successful innovation and application within this model. This generated discussion regarding the concept of a CIGITI-like model to be developed in Qatar. The workshop concluded with agreement to the fundamental principles for institute planning and identified dependencies for formalization of the partnership.
In recognition of the growth in complimentary projects in Qatar and Canada, there is a tremendous opportunity for surgeons and physicians to create a collaborative pediatric surgical and imaging innovation institute. Developing such an institution would allow expertise and ideas to be leveraged into cutting edge pediatric surgical innovations. This workshop was the first step to advancing medical technology in pediatrics. The meeting granted stakeholders with the opportunity to lead on the institute planning which would enable them to rapidly become world leaders in pediatric surgical innovation. Beginning in December 2014, the steering committee will continue the pursuit of formalizing the partnership and aligning the institute objectives with the priorities of Qatar.
