Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1415381
4 NEWS 30.9.2021 MEDICAL technology leaders and cre- ators Umana Medical, as well as its Ital- ian parent company GPI, a multination- al industrial leader in the sector, will be participating through exhibitions and workshops at the high-profile Med- Tech event in Malta. e Forum, taking place on 18-19 November, will be show- casing the latest developments and in- novations in the digital health industry across the globe. It is estimated that the global digi- tal health market will increase to $640 billion by 2026. is potential, coupled with Malta's position as a digital hub for the changing face of technology, makes this event an excellent showcase for the opportunities that this industry has to offer. Umana Medical Technologies has raised the bar of Malta's offering in terms of medical tech having developed solutions by working closely with their patients by providing advanced meth- ods to monitor, analyse and share long- term vital data in the fields of cardiolo- gy, diabetes and telemonitoring. At the MedTech forum it will be show- casing some of its most innovative solu- tions including its Smarter Skin Tech- nology, a sensor that forms an integral part of the Artificial Intelligence-as- sisted telemonitoring system, known as Umana T1. is system seamless- ly combines non-invasive, ultra-thin hardware together with state-of-the-art software that accurately guarantees the reading, transmission and analysis of heart activity, together with other vital parameters. Another innovation expected to attract interest at the Forum is the Umana Vita, a revolutionary solution in telemedicine aimed at making the life of persons with diabetes easier through continuous glu- cose monitoring, estimating the glycae- mic levels in a non-invasive way, with no need of blood samples, and notifying the user in case of hypoglycaemic and hyperglycaemic levels. e event will also see the participation of Umana's mother company, Italy-based GPI group, a multi-national leader in information systems and services for health and social care which has over 30 years worth of history and is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. It is a lead- ing company in the field of technology and services in the field of health, social care and public administration. It devel- ops cutting-edge technological solutions such as EmoLife, which manages trans- fusion processes and guarantees the covering of all the process from donor recruitment and donation management, blood bags storage, blood components and blood derivatives processing, man- agement of blood bags request, distribu- tion and delivery. e two companies are also collaborat- ing closely on the local market through national projects related to electronic patient records and a diabetes monitor- ing project. Adrian Attard Trevisan, Managing Di- rector for Umana Medical said: "We are very happy to showcase our innovative solutions at this high-profile event, and to participate in a healthy discussion on the future of this industry along side some of the biggest names in med-tech. As a growing Maltese firm, we are also proud to be strengthening Malta's ap- peal as a leading digital tech hub in the Mediterranean". e Med-Tech World Expo will follow the success of 2020's virtual event, and will take place between the 18th and 19th November2021 at the Hilton Mal- ta Convention Centre. It will also form part of Malta Week, which will feature other high-profile events such as SIG- MA and AIBC. Further details are avail- able on https://med-tech.world/ Umana Medical and GPI to showcase innovations at Med-Tech Malta MICRO WatTS, a 2.5 million euro In- terreg Italia-Malta project, developed prototypes that treat greywater and render it safe for reuse. Greywater re- fers to the relatively clean water drained from showers, baths and wash-hand basins, which if treated can be used for toilet flushing. Two types of greywater treatment prototypes were developed: one oper- ating under solar radiation and another using UV LEDs. Both prototypes were fitted with photocatalytic materials which decompose bacteria and pollut- ants when exposed to visible and/or UV radiation. "Results indicate that the UV prototype can treat sufficient water for a three-person household, slashing its consumption by about 30%. Such a sav- ing is remarkable especially when one takes into consideration the fact that Malta is an arid island where the provi- sion of water comes at a high financial and environmental cost. ese results tie in with the country's ongoing efforts to conserve as much water as possible," Prof. Ing. Maurice Grech, Project Lead- er and Professor at the University's De- partment of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, said. Prof Grech and Dr Stephen Abela from the Department of Metallurgy and materials Engineering collaborated with Dr Paul Refalo from the Depart- ment of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. "ese promising results present op- portunities for further research and de- velopment leading to the eventual com- mercialisation of the water treatment prototypes," he added. Parliamentary Secretary for EU Funds, Dr Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, said that this project addresses problems of wa- ter scarcity that are prevalent in Sicily and Malta. rough the Interreg Ita- lia-Malta Programme 2014-2020 a total of 15 projects were allocated €27.9 mil- lion which included the participation of 32 Maltese entities. Maltese beneficiar- ies received €1.4 million of European Funds for their projects. Environment minister Aaron Farrugia said that the sustainable use of natural resources including water, require long- term planning which in turn is benefit- ted by research and innovation to find solutions. As demonstrated by this pro- ject, solutions to existing challenges can be generated through research and in- novation. "e MicroWatts project is very much complementary to the measures pro- posed in our Low Carbon Development Strategy. is sets out the vision for the coming four decades as we react to cli- mate change and seek, not just mitigate but to implement adaptation measures. Technology such as developed through this project can thus have a direct po- tential in the achievement of our long- term climate vision and plays an inte- gral part of our future environmental policy direction." is is another project between UM and local industry, financed by Europe- an funds. "Such partnership is the only way of ensuring that research yields re- sults with a direct application which in turn impacts our lives." said UM Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella e project was led by the University of Malta and had Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, MCAST, the Universi- ty of Catania, and two SMEs namely, Econetique and Plastica Alfa as part- ners. A network of researchers, SMEs, stakeholders and public administrators has been set up to help topple legislative barriers related to the use of recycled greywater for toilet flushing, irrigation and other applications. Wastewater treatment project 'registers promising results'