S100:
And which do you think will have the greatest impact on human health
and well-being?
CMN:
For me, that would be projects which utilise sensors with integrated
ICT capabilities for remote management and monitoring – with the fu-
ture potential for controlled therapeutic intervention.All of the large-scale
projects I’m currently involved in have that vision and it’s brilliant to work
with people who share it.
S100:
You’re a very senior researcher in sensor technology, funded by the EPSRC
and the EC Framework 7. Is there enough funding for research in sensor technol-
ogy?
CMN:
How much is enough? There are many routes to secure reasonable
levels of funding for small or medium-scale targeted sensor technology R&D.
However, I think that the initiatives by the EC and, recently, by EPSRC to
look at larger, longer, more diverse projects involving multiple capabilities, is
the way to go.The flexibility of those projects to identify and incorporate
new partners to address unmet and, in some cases, unidentified needs is a
real step-change – an excellent example would be the recently launched
EPSRC IRCs in Sensing Systems for Healthcare.These are as close as the
UK can get to large-scale Integrating Projects such as those launched by the
EC in Framework 6 and 7 - and soon to be part of Horizon 2020. It’s just a
pity in the IRCs that SMEs, which will be crucial to successful delivery, can’t
benefit financially as a direct result of their involvement in the same way they
could via EC funding.The UK is fortunate to have some of the most inno-
vative sensor technology SMEs in the world and we should support their
development more vigorously.
Continued...
The goal of the d-LIVER project
is to address the unmet need for
support systems with associated
monitoring and control for the
remote management of patients
with chronic liver disease outside the hospital. EC FP7 Large Scale Integrating Project
(10.96M€, Oct 2011 - Sept 2015)
12
Sensor100 November News 2013
