Encouraging Innovation at the HUG

Context

The HUG Innovation Day was started in 2007 as an occasion to learn about the projects created by HUG and UNIGE associates and to form a bridge between the hospital world and the financial world. Each year they award an Innovation Prize, trophies to recognize two other projects, and a “Jury’s Choice” Prize. The Scientific Innovation Committee, led by Professor Karl-Heinz Krause, is tasked with selecting the laureates. A jury of about fifteen members – including outside partners, specialists in medical innovation, and representatives of the healthcare staff – determines the finalists. The decision of the winning projects is based on precise criteria, with consideration also given to the benefit for patients and for the institution.

Project

At the 11th year of the event, in 2017, the Private Foundation of the HUG participated for the 4th time by funding three of the prizes, including the famous Innovation Prize. Nineteen projects were presented. The 2017 Innovation Prize was awarded to the project led by Professor Jean-Charles Sanchez and Ms. Linnéa Lagerstedt from the UNIGE Department of Human Protein Sciences. Their project intends to develop a marker capable of determining if a CT scan would be useful or not for a person who has had a head trauma. Clear financial aspects are involved, since in practice, 90% of CT scans are negative and lead to unnecessary waiting in the emergency department.

The best scientific poster, also awarded a prize from the Private Foundation of the HUG, was on x-Motion, developed by Dr. Ferran Galán and Dr. Tomislav Milekovic. The project is an interface for paraplegic individuals that uses facial movements to interact with a computer.

Finally, the Jury’s Choice Prize from the Private Foundation of the HUG went to the project for a “wall mount for gloves, masks, disposable scrub tops, and hand and surface disinfectants” as conceived by Ms. Doris Abbyad Conne and Maryline Vionnet. This new storage doesn’t get in the way, is more reliable than carts, is hygienic, ergonomic, and economical, and is perfectly adapted to care units’ needs. A prototype was produced in collaboration with a Swiss company and 300 of these custom mounts were installed in the Gustave Juillard and Bellerive hospital buildings.