Hello once again to all IET and Healthcare Technology Network members.



This month's update also serves as a review of some of the Network's activities over the last year. Before the current session had begun in October, the HTN had already lent its support to several outstanding events in 2013, with notable highlights including the PGBioMed conference held at the University of Surrey and a sponsored session at the IEEE EMBC conference in Osaka.



The network's stated ambition since the beginning of the current session has been to develop its level of international engagement, both via the online eCommunity and through events in the UK and abroad. This aim coexists alongside initiatives to to work closely with related groups in other institutions to promote excellence and commercial awareness in healthcare technologies by offering strong complementary programmes. While we are only three months into our schedule, I am delighted to say that the network is well on its way to achieving these goals.



Recent evidence of this has included the event on Medical Imaging Pioneers held at the IET in Glasgow and our annual Healthcare Lecture and Awards. You can see the webcast of Douglas Anderson's fascinating lecture here as well as two of the student winners' presentations here and here. As one of the judges, I am delighted to note that we received over double the number of entries compared with last year and the overall standard remained consistently high, with two of the three winners claiming their awards by a fraction of a percentage point from the other entrants.



In terms of our online presence, the HTN's myCommunity membership has increased by over 60% in 2013 and we are now seeing four times as many unique site views per month when compared with January. As always we welcome everyone to contribute in the forums and to let us know how we can support your professional requirements.



Looking ahead to 2014, the network will be hosting events across the globe: in the UK, Ireland, China and the USA. Some of these activities will also be collaborative efforts with our partners at the IMechE, Royal Society of Medicine and the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. I also hope to be able to announce details of an exciting new initiative to engage our younger community members as part of my next update.



In the meantime and on behalf of the entire Healthcare Technologies Network Committee, I'd like to finish by wishing everyone a prosperous 2014!



Dr Peter Bannister, CEng

Chairman, Healthcare Technologies Network

prbannister@theiet.org