ICICI BME 2017: Bringing Engineering and Healthcare Practitioners Together

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – The School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (STEI) and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) once again held the 5th International Conference on Instrumentation, Communication, Information Technology, and Biomedical (ICICI BME) with the theme Science and Technology for A Better Life on Monday – Tuesday (6-7/11/2017) at the East Hall of ITB, Jalan Ganesha, Bandung.

ICICI BME is a biennial event held with keynote speakers Prof. Wenny Rahayu (La Trobe University, Australia), Prof. Hong Joo Kim (Kyungpook National University, Korea), Prof. Christophorus Nikou (University of Ioannina, Greece), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jakrapong Kaewkhao (Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University, Thailand), and Assoc. Prof. Suchart Kothan (Chang Mai University, Thailand).

"We are consistent in holding this conference, and on this occasion, we tried to unite various institutions such as ITB, UGM, UI, UNAIR, UNHAS, and other universities. We also invited practitioners from hospitals because they are users of the technology we create. However, this time, and for the first time, it is a design thinking method," said Prof. Dr. Tati LR. Mengko.

This time, ICICI BME invited healthcare practitioners to discuss the technology to be implemented. This differed from the 3rd ICICI BME, which held an IT System workshop for midwives, attracting 200 midwives. The event also provided a socialization session on the technology developed so midwives could directly apply the system.

According to Prof. Tati, it's a good thing if all these elements come together, and she and her team want to create such a community. Beyond the academic aspect of research development, this conference also aims to foster contact between these various elements.

Each conference held always presents an improvisation from the previous conference. In addition to the conference, there are also workshops and paper competitions. There were 62 papers participating. Speakers at the Professional Development Workshops were Bryan Ranger (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA), Dr. Gianfranco Giuntoli (Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Australia), Dr. Allya P Koesoema, and Dr. Yoke Saadia Irawan (IEEE SIGHT Indonesia Section, Biomedical Engineering Research Group, ITB).

Bryan explained that the design thinking method consists of Identifying the problem, breaking it down, building it up, and making it better.

Fauziah Maulani via itb.ac.id