The agreement signed between the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Jesús Usón, Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre Foundation, for the “Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery Systems” TREMIRS Project, 80% co-financed by European Regional Development Fund within the framework of the Spanish Multi-regional Operational Programme (POPE) 2014-2020 and by the Regional Ministry of Economy, Science and Digital Agenda of the Regional Government of Extremadura, was published in the Spanish Official State Gazette (BOE) on 28 December 2020.
The Foundation will invest €7,345,300 to develop new surgical robots to improve the service to the patient, the ergonomics of the surgeon and offer greater benefits to the surgical team, thus achieving an increased quality of care.
Two platforms will be developed during the three years, one for laparoscopic surgery and one for microsurgery. The first will facilitate new surgical approaches, improvements in surgeon ergonomics, advances in viewing systems and new wearable tools; the second will consist of robotic micro-instruments for soft tissue manipulation and for performing microsurgical techniques such as anastomosis, suturing and ligation on small anatomical structures such as blood vessels, nerves and lymphatic ducts.
The development of these two platforms will provide the National and the Extremadura Health System with new equipment not currently available on the market and improve the quality of the services provided to patients and improve surgical outcome.
By co-funding the project, the Secretary-General of Science, Technology, Innovation and University has highlighted the importance for the Autonomous Community of developing the platforms and also the fact that the Foundation is embarking on a Public Procurement of Innovation project, plus the public-private cooperation it entails. The experience gained with this instrument will help manage the new European funds and the España Puede (Spain Can) programme.
After completing the preliminary market consultation and receiving the conclusions report, the Foundation will hire a technical office to manage the Project.
The JUMISC Foundation is a Unique Scientific and Technical Infrastructure (Infraestructura Científica y Técnica Singular – ICTS) dedicated to research, training and innovation in health, which also offers pre-clinical and medical device testing services to biotech companies.
