“This was one of the best organized, most enjoyable programs I have ever attended.”

From the 21^st to the 26^th of September, the interdisciplinary Summer School of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences was held under the motto of “Social Sciences Meet Health Care.” 27 guest scholars from all over the world used this week for an intensive exchange of ideas through mutual initiation of long-standing cooperative relations.

“From the first moment, our international guests were very open. This was shown during the whole week, most of all in the intensive discussions after the lectures but also by the lively personal exchange during the breaks,” reported the organizer of the Summer School. During the course of the summer school, participants discussed the topic of “Inclusive Innovation in Health Care” through guest lectures, interactive poster sessions, and workshops. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and a targeted invitation from renowned guest lecturers, including Professor Gerry George from Imperial College London, who is best known in the professional world as editor of the Academy of Management Journal, the participants developed new approaches to inequalities in medical care. These include, for example, new information and communication technologies that improve the coordination between physician and patient, or innovations on the level of health care systems in order to provide sufficient medical care for socially disadvantaged persons. Other guests were Prof. Andrea Prado from the INCAE Business School, Costa Rica; Prof. Pepe Lee Chang from the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA; Prof. Bart Niewenhuis, University of Twente in the Netherlands; as well as practitioners such as Dr. Shyam Vasudey, CEO of Forus Health Inc. of India and Peter Kastner of Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH of Austria.

Through the realisation of the Summer School, cooperation was strengthened and new possibilities for collaboration were motivated. For example, the organizers were able to intensify new research projects with Prof. Gerry George from Imperial College London and Prof. Jelena Spanjol from the University of Illinois in Chicago. But the participants also discussed their ideas for their own research projects during the event. In addition to the professional aspects, the participants were introduced to the cultural side of the city of Dresden: “Our guests have enjoyed exploring Dresden. In particular, the joint evening event on Wednesday, which was attended by all the participants of the 5 summer schools and presented the city of Dresden as well as some services from the TU Dresden, was very positively received.”

The events were organized by the junior researcher group InnoTech4Health with leadership from Dr. Sebastian Gurtner, who researches the intersections between medical technology, health economics, and technology management.