Interviews with technologists, business professionals, startupers, scientists, researchers and eHealth stakeholders

Interviews Abrupt

The field of non-invasive Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) is gaining massive momentum as startups, companies and researchers are pushing hard. The race on BCI research is on improvement of the efficiency and the accuracy of the systems, while some of the first commercial efforts are testing the waters with several affordable devices already available to consumers. Professor Bin He, a pioneer in the field of Biomedical Engineering, talks about the ground-breaking research currently being done at the University of Minnesota in decoding brainwaves more accurately and reliably using non-invasive interfaces. We discuss the already impressive results of a  brain-controlled helicopter experiment, some of  the present challenges and the upcoming breakthroughs in the field of Brain Computer Interfaces. Interviewed by George Voulgaris for Tech Talks central.

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TTC #109 Your brain as the ultimate controller, Prof. Bin He

James Tagg, author of the book ‘Are the Androids Dreaming Yet?’ presented in front of an audience his own beliefs on the Singularity issue. He started out by answering his own question ‘Can a Machine think Creatively?’ and argued mathematically on how much artificial intelligence has progressed, which are the crucial parity point dates and why he doesn’t believe that machines can surpass the creativity of humans. The speech was conducted during a Heroes of Mobile event organised by its founder Helen Keegan, on the 2nd of March at the Talent Garden(TAG).


TTC #145 Are The Androids Dreaming Yet, James Tagg

Shock, happiness, ecstasy, pure adrenaline and tiredness – those were the feelings moments after the announcement of the coveted victory… Shai Mishali, the global winner of BattleHack Competition Finals (https://2014.battlehack.org) in November 2014 (along with Pavel Kaminsky, as representatives of vibrant start-up city Tel Aviv, where they had won in the local competition), remembers the hot atmosphere, the VIP treatment and the unique experience of holding the Axe of Victory at San Jose, CA. He insists that he will take part again in the competition and urges every serious developer to join. Find him on Twitter under twitter.com/freak4pc. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #175  The winner of the BattleHack 2014 Axe speaks out, Shai Mishali

Dr. Aristotelis Chatziioannou, Electrical & Computer Engineer, Dr. Lefteris Pilalis, Biochemist and Dr. Ioannis Valavanis, Computer Engineer, all with a degree in Bioinformatics present http://e-nios.com, a spin-off they created from the National Hellenic Research Foundation. They talk about the solutions e-nios offers for analysing and interpreting data derived from modern high throughput Genomics technologies and the opportunities that open up for them in the future. They mention what it means to be a researcher and a startup founder; what kind of support they have received through mentoring and funding; whether they would prefer to be in some other country outside Greece and  how they see their startup growing. They touch on the subject of data ethics and the future of medicine and patient care due to supporting technologies like theirs. Follow them on http://twitter.com/e_nios or sign up on their newsletter http://eepurl.com/bn1c8j. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #176 Analysing the Genome, e-nios

Background, context, and poem text: http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/05/28/keeping-quiet-sylvia-boorstein-reads-pablo-neruda

Excerpted from https://soundcloud.com/onbeing/what-we-nurture-with-sylvia

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Sylvia Boorstein reads "Keeping Quiet" by Pablo Neruda

Marcello Melgara Responsible for International eHealth Projects, Italy /
Karima Bourquard, IHE-Europe Director of Interoperability, France

How does compliance with the European Interoperability Framework(EIF) help a National health system’s sustainability? At what percentage would you say your country’s NIF is aligned w/ the EIF when it comes to eHealth? What are the obstacles? Does your country have a published eHealth Strategy and what are its core objectives? In what percentage is it being implemented?


TTC #204 Interoperability & eHealth Strategies In Italy & France

Dimitra Liveri, Network and Information Security Expert at ENISA /
Marcello Melgara Responsible for International eHealth Projects

European eHealth companies have a huge potential to grow, by approaching an ever growing market inside and outside EU borders. Apart from the obvious innovation potentials in a broad number of health & patient care sectors, markets like that of the US, Latin America and China have come ‘closer’ due to international agreements. What kind of impediments will European eHealth companies have to overcome, in order to reach these markets effectively?


TTC #205 Extroversion of eHealth Companies

George Crooks, Medical Director for NHS24 and Director of the Scottish Centre for Tele-health and Telecare. President of the European Telematics Association (EHTEL) & leader of the Integrated Care Action Group of the European Innovation Partnership for active and healthy ageing for the European Commission

George Crooks responds to our questions on whether Scotland has a published eHealth Strategy and what are its core objectives. Also, how does compliance with the European Interoperability Framework(EIF) help a National health system’s sustainability? 


TTC #210 George Crooks on Scotland’s eHealth Strategy & Interoperability

Grab a cocktail, put on your favorite karaoke track, and let’s talk some more about disentangling audio data!

The Cocktail Party Problem

Centuries ago, Germany came up with a way to keep books that contained "dangerous" information without releasing them to the general public: The Giftschrank.
The word, a combination of "poison" and "cabinet," has a variety of meanings in different contexts. At its most literal, a Giftschrank is a space for storing controlled substances in places like pharmacies. Colloquially, it can refer to spaces reserved for all kinds of hidden and forbidden objects, ideas or stories.

203- The Giftschrank

PhotOral is the first intra-oral blue light wellness device, suitable for controlling your mouth’s microbiome. Stamatis Astra, CEO at PhotOral, life science startup based in Boston, explains how the product stemmed from biomedical research conducted within the Forsyth Institute; and how they plan to have it in the market by the end of 2016. He also talks about product development costs, investor backup, dental studies and what led them in the development of a new product, this time for pet hygiene. Pantelis Angelidis, founder and president of Vidavo, an mHealth company based in Greece, explains their incentives behind their investment in PhotOral and how they’re contributing to the company’s growth with expertise knowledge derived from their own specialisation in the eHealth domain. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #262 Bringing Oral Hygiene A Step Further Into The Future

As a Lord of the Rings fan... Netbeast fits the“One platform to control them all” description, meaning that Netbeast will be able to control all your smart and connected devices through one app. Co-founders Jon Senra Dearle, CEO & Jesus Dario Rivera, CTO at Netbeast share their story and the startup’s journey up to now. You will listen to what IoT challenges they are tackling and a brief concern about privacy and security. One of the highlights of the interview is when they explain how one can actually create an ideal wake up morning call thanks to Netbeast and smart devices. They discuss the similarities, the differences and the progress of the startup ecosystems in Spain and Germany. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #264 A Javascript Framework For All Your Smart Devices

Dr. Michail Bletsas, Research Scientist & the Director of Computing at MIT’s Media Lab was one of the founding members of the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ initiative, in 2005. He is a strong proponent of Connectivity, as he considers it is as necessary as our water supply; it provides the basis for communication, which he firmly believes distinguishes us humans from other complex species on this planet; it acted as the primary catalyst to help us “invent” social networking, law, religion, democracy and currency. He talks about the emerging, telephony and mobile, convergence; the EU and USA research environments versus that of China’s, and how the latter’s lack of institutions may prove critical in the failure or success equation.  Finally, he discusses the OLPC legacy, as the result of an elaborate demo, conducted by MIT, ever. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

TTC #265  Connectivity Is Important As Water

So... about those bots. Bots bots bots. Bots!

In this episode of the botcast, a16z partners Benedict Evans and Connie Chan -- along with Chris Messina, longtime advocate of the open web and more -- pull apart various threads related to the topic of bots, mobile, and beyond: the (evolution?) from web to apps to messaging to bots; chat as an interface; “conversational commerce”; and so on. They also discuss why framing messaging through the lens of WeChat both reveals useful things (what works/ might not work) and not-so-useful things (such as seeking the “WeChat of the West”).

More importantly, how can we keep bots, and what they represent, in perspective -- beyond the fad? Especially when it comes to considering innovation on the 'web' vs. 'mobile' (remember the mobile browser!) and when it comes to removing friction (vs. adding limited interaction). What contexts (like customer service) are most useful for thinking about bots? And how can we even know, given it’s early days yet and we haven’t moved much beyond the command-line interface... 

Finally, as computing moves outside the classic work-centric paradigm to room- and urban-scale, how do we think about integrating online and offline, ubiquitous and “diffuse” computing through bots?

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a16z Podcast: Bots and Beyond

Having an interview with a London-based VC was pretty exciting as for the European startup ecosystem London is the closest thing to Silicon Valley. Axel Wehr who is Partner at Firestartr and previously an Associate in Bain Capital’s private equity group introduced us to Firestartr and to which verticals and regions they focus in. He mentions some factors of their investment strategy and why they believe that there is room for European unicorns. Apart from the capital, a VC should help and support its startups and Axel explains how they do that. Compared to the US startup ecosystem, Europe is showing progress but lacks of experienced capital, meaning teams and people that have successfully done that before. Closing he talks about some promising startups that are funded and supported by Firestartr. Interviewed by Sakis Triantafyllakis for Tech Talks Central.


TTC #268  What A UK-based VC Can Offer A Promising Startup?

The Tech Talks Central web radio covers all the hot topics and trends in the connected world and features interactive interviews with thought leaders, as well as movers and shakers of the tech industry.
It’s a joint venture between entrepreneurs working in the mobile and technology field and people who love the radio waves!

TTC #268 What A UK-based VC Can Offer A Promising Startup?

Tech Talks Central

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