5 Nations Multi-Ecosystems Gathering held in Cardiff, Wales

A world first was achieved over 24 hours from 27 November 2019 to 28 November 2019 when ecosystems from across the 5 nations of England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales came together to ‘learn and grow’. Among the broad range of innovative case studies were RiTTA, a Chatbot supporting chemotherapy patients; examples of the impact of early recognition of deterioration; two angles on how technology is used in dementia support and care; an overview of the use of capsule technology to capture endoscopy data; a summary of how the eHealth Ireland Ecosystem is supporting its strategy Sláintecare; a description of a Robotics Testbed opportunity and an effective approach to electronic card records using open data.

The keynote agenda item saw representatives from the Welsh Rugby sharing an exciting initiative which is bringing sport into the classroom combining education, sport and health.

The 2^nd day included an informative update on the progress of delivering healthcare innovation in Wales from the Welsh Government Director for Digital Health, Ifan Evans; information sharing on funding; ideas for collaboration in Europe; an enlightening insight from a patient in a digital world; an interesting overview of an Ethics and Governance project; updates on the Digital Health Society and the growing international network of Ecosystems and each ecosystem highlighted their ‘One Ask (for help) and One Offer’ (to help).

The 2 day ecosystem enabled opportunities for collaboration to be identified, new connections to be  made and relationships across the 2 islands to be developed and enhanced for future working together. A wide variety of stakeholders took part across the 2 days and early feedback has indicated the desire to repeat this important multi-ecosystems approach.  

We are very grateful to Digital Health Ecosystem, Wales, for hosting and supporting this 5 Nations Ecosystem.