Profile of our organization

The NST's mission is to provide new solutions and new knowledge in telemedicine and eHealth. In 2002, the NST was designated as the first Collaborating Centre for Telemedicine by the World Health Organization (WHO), and in June 2006 the Research Council of Norway designated the NST as a Centre for Research-based Innovation.

Vision

The NST has a vision: "High-quality health services for everyone, regardless of time and place”.
The vision receives its strength and energy from tangible initiatives and activity supporting our mission statement: The NST will undertake forward-looking research that renews the health service.

The NST conducts research and development in national areas of focus described in governing documents, regional action plans and Te@mwork 2007, the strategic plan for electronic interaction in Norway's health and social sector.  The centre provides documentation and contributes with advice and recommendations to health professionals, health authorities and decision-makers.

The NST works together with business and industry to develop new services and new products aimed primarily at the health market.

Funding

The NST’s budget for 2007 is about NOK 70 million, or about € 8 million. The centre receives funding from Norwegian authorities, primarily the Ministry of Health and Care Services, the Northern Norway Regional Health Authority and the Research Council of Norway. In addition, the NST obtains income through national and international collaborative projects as well as contract-funded research.

Organization

The Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine is a department of the University Hospital of North Norway Trust. The NST has about a hundred staff members from 10 countries with multidisciplinary education and work experience. The centre has an academic profile of high standing, with four professors in its own ranks as well as six staff members with doctoral degrees. In addition, there are 12 PhD research fellows associated with the NST.

Of the staff members, 70-80 have an education corresponding to a university degree or higher. The professional environment comprises technologists, social scientists, health professionals, educationists, economists, lawyers and administrative staff.

The centre's activities are organized in three different programmes, each with its own programme coordinator.

• The Programme for Patients works for greater interaction between users and the public health service with the help of electronic tools, and for greater availability of the health services to users. For members of the public who are interested in health, the Programme for Patients is involved with issues related to health service offerings on the Internet.
• The Health Service Programme conducts research and development in national areas of focus with high priority. The programme provides documentation and contributes with advice and recommendations to health professionals, health authorities, and decision-makers.
• The Municipal Programme is intended for service providers and users of the primary health service. The aim of the Municipal Programme is to focus on elderly people and patients with special needs for collaboration between different service providers in the public health service.
  

Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory (TTL)

The Research Council of Norway has designated the Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory as a Centre for Research-based Innovation (SFI). This is a scheme to strengthen collaboration between strong research communities and firms that are already active in research.

As the host institution, the NST is building up a strong technological community, with the objective of strengthening innovation through long-term telemedicine research in close collaboration between research-intensive firms and leading research communities in Norway and abroad. The results of the research from Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory are intended to provide the foundation for new business start-ups and products within health and ICT with the whole world as their market.

The Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine has the following positions in 2007

• National centre of expertise for the specialist health service
• WHO Collaborating Centre in telemedicine
• Secretariat for the "best-practice" health initiative of the Directorate for Health and Social Affairs in the municipalities (fyrtårnsatsing)
• Secretariat for the Nordic Council's collaborative forum in telemedicine
• Project manager for the European study on the habits of the population related to use of the Internet for health purposes
• Centre for Research-based Innovation (SFI)
  

Tromsø Telemedicine and eHealth Conference

Every year, the NST organizes an international professional conference on telemedicine and eHealth in Tromsø. This has become an annual meeting place for researchers, health staff, technologists and others who work with technology and health.

In May 2005, the NST hosted the EU Commission's annual conference for health and ICT ministers in Europe. In total, 22 ministers and state secretaries gathered in Tromsø together with delegations from 37 countries and 500 conference participants to discuss health services of the future for Europe's population.

Links for more information

•    The NST’s Web pages: www.telemed.no
•    TTeC 2008 Web pages; www.telemed.no/TTeC2008
•    The World Health Organization, WHO’s home page; www.who.int/en/
•    Web pages of the Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory: www.telemed.no/ttl

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