EUREKA aims at advancing the results-driven innovation culture in the company's Healthcare IT division
Press release
Mortsel, Belgium
June 25, 2013 2:00 PM CET
- Program continues to inspire creative thinking and innovation within the organization. - Includes concrete goals for both disruptive and incremental innovations. - First results demonstrate the high level of support for and interest in the program at all levels of the organization.
Agfa HealthCare announces that it will present an Innovation Award to the most innovative contributors to its EUREKA program, today, at its second annual HealthCare Innovation Day. EUREKA was launched in March 2011 to continue to embed innovation and creative thinking within Agfa HealthCare's IT division. Its concrete, 10-year goals include the instigation of disruptive innovations that will have a significant impact on healthcare. In addition, a number of smaller, incremental innovations will be initiated. The first results demonstrate the high level of support for and interest in the program at all levels of the organization.
IT technologies help improve quality of care and decrease costs
"The IT industry provides many opportunities for driving change and innovation: internet technology, mobile applications and devices such as tablets create endless possibilities," comments Geert Claeys, Technology Manager for Healthcare IT. "In healthcare, these new ideas and technologies can help increase quality of care and decrease costs." Several innovation prototypes focus on automating clinical tasks (e.g. reporting, image measurements), experimenting with natural user interaction models using concepts from gaming and consumer industry and exploiting the potentials of disruptive technologies (e.g. mobile, cloud, big data) in a healthcare context.
Unlocking the creativity of each person
The EUREKA program aims to unlock the creative potential within staff, by encouraging an environment in which people can innovate and allow them to spend 10% of their time on innovation. It thus adds to and complements Agfa HealthCare's other innovation activities, including collaboration with universities and research centers.
Providing an agile and lightweight innovation process, the program is being rolled out amongst the various Research & Development sites of the company's Healthcare IT division. "Many of these sites already have a strong innovation culture," comments Geert Claeys.
Program is supported by management and staff
The program has the strong support and sponsorship of Agfa HealthCare's senior management. Program participants demonstrate the results of their projects at Agfa HealthCare's yearly Innovation Day, receiving direct feedback. "Innovation is important for the growth and competiveness of Agfa Healthcare" says Luc Thijs, CEO, Agfa HealthCare. "Innovation programs like EUREKA help us to create an innovation culture and to establish an innovation portfolio that may lead to disruptive offerings."
The program has been enthusiastically received within the company. "We achieved our original goal of a 10% participation rate soon after launching the program. 110 project proposals have already been entered, 35 of which have now gone on to the prototyping or development phase," concludes Geert Claeys. "By the end of 2012, the first incremental innovations became visible to our customers. The disruptive innovations will take more time to be brought to the market."
Marc De Fré
Global Marcom Director
tel:+32 3444 7319
marc.defre@agfa.com
Agfa-Gevaert NV is one of the world leaders in the design, manufacturing, and marketing of imaging systems and products. Net sales break down by sector of activity as follows:
- Radiology solutions (36.9%). Agfa-Gevaert NV supplies radiology departments of hospitals all over the world with traditional X-ray film, hardcopy film and printers, digital radiography equipment and image processing software. Agfa's roots are in traditional medical imaging, but in today's healthcare market, digital radiography has become the dominant technology. All Agfa's digital radiography systems are offered with the company's leading MUSICA image processing software and its MUSICA workstation for image identification, acquisition and quality control;
- Digital Print & Chemicals (35.6%). Agfa-Gevaert NV supplies sign & display printing companies with a range of highly productive and versatile wide-format inkjet printers and dedicated inks, in addition to workflow software, cutting machines and inkjet media. Agfa produces classic film-based products, such as film for non-destructive testing and aerial photography, as well as microfilm and film for the production of printed circuit boards;
- HealthCare IT (21.6%). Agfa-Gevaert NV offers Imaging IT Solutions (The Enterprise Imaging platform creates a true imaging record for every patient, containing all possible images of the patient, regardless of the department and the facility that created them), Hospital IT Solutions (the leading Hospital Information System /Clinical Information System ORBIS, connects medical departments and administrative departments of hospitals into one virtual network), and Integrated Care Solutions (these solutions support collaboration across the borders of care organizations and medical disciplines and enable hospitals to actively engage with all stakeholders in the expanded care process, including physicians, informal care-givers and patients) ;
- Offset solutions (5.9%). Agfa-Gevaert NV is a leading supplier to the printing industry, offering innovative and reliable solutions. Commercial, newspaper and packaging printers around the globe rely on Agfa for the most extensive range of integrated solutions, from computer-to-plate systems with digital offset plates over color management and workflow optimization software to pressroom chemicals.
AGFA-GEVAERT NV 
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