The Geneva School of Health Science (HEdS-Genève), the University of Geneva (UNIGE), and the company imito AG have obtained Innosuisse funding for the development of an application that will support clinical decision-making in the treatment of wounds, intended for healthcare professionals and their training.

Geneva and Zurich, January 20, 2022: The analysis of wounds and the search for the appropriate treatment are complex tasks. Both require advanced knowledge of physiology, but also knowledge of the equipment available for optimal care.

In 2020, imito AG launched "imitoWound", an intuitive application that facilitates the documentation of wound care for healthcare professionals.

This Innosuisse project aims to go beyond that goal by developing a decision-making support system for caregivers based on clinical records and artificial intelligence (AI). This system will be able to automatically recognize and characterize wounds both qualitatively and quantitatively, and suggest adapted treatments. In addition, the application will offer the opportunity to practice knowledge and skills of wound care using a training platform and a serious game. These features will benefit both future healthcare professionals as well as practicing healthcare professionals who would like to develop their expertise in the field of wound care. In the future, the relatives of the patients may also benefit from this knowledge through a serious game.

In order to achieve the best possible results, a collaboration has been established between the wound and wound-healing center HEdS-Geneva (Pr Sebastian Probst), the digital health expertise of HEdS-Geneva (Pr Swann Pichon), the UNIGE computer science department (Dr Guillaume Chanel) and imito AG. The project “AI-powered mobile application for assisted wound care monitoring and assessment, and the training of healthcare professionals and carers'' obtained a fund of CHF 1.08 million from the Swiss agency Innosuisse in December 2021 to carry it out within the next two years.

Professor Sebastian Probst, a specialist in wound care and healing at HEdS-Geneva, will take charge of the aspects related to the management and the scientific research. He will be responsible for the liaison with clinical practice.

Professor Swann Pichon, a specialist in digital health at HEdS-Geneva, will provide his expertise in designing applications and thus will support the creation of the specialized learning platform. Professor Swann Pichon will also contribute to the scientific evaluation of the application.

Doctor Guillaume Chanel, a specialist in artificial intelligence at UNIGE, will take charge, together with imito engineers, of the aspects related to the suggested treatments, which are based on the images of wounds and the modeling allowing their segmentation and classification.

These three institutional partners will join their forces to develop a solution based on artificial intelligence which will offer professional training possibilities. The solution shall become a valuable clinical decision-making support tool for the practice and training of carers in the long term. 

More information:

Haute école de santé Genève
Service communication
Tel : 022 558 60 37
Courriel : communication.heds@hesge.ch 

About HEdS Geneva

The Geneva University of Applied Sciences - HEdS-Geneva - trains professionals in five fields: nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, medical radiology, midwifery and nursing. Alternating theoretical teaching and practical training, it aims for professional expertise and encourages synergies between the professions. The HEdS-Geneva has a Research Institute and an Interprofessional Simulation Centre, and develops close partnerships with scientific institutions and the professional world. www.hesge.ch/heds

About HES-SO Geneva

The HES-SO Geneva is a key player in the economic, social and cultural fabric of Geneva. Its six universities offer university-level tertiary education, focused on professional practice and compatible with the euro; they offer 27 Bachelors and 17 Masters degrees. Its 11 research institutes participate in numerous regional, national and international projects. A member of the HES-SO Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale, the HES-SO Geneva welcomes more than 5,000 students. Its universities are: the School of Landscape, Engineering and Architecture - HEPIA, the School of Management - HEG, the School of Art and Design - HEAD, the School of Music - HEM, the School of Health - HEdS and the School of Social Work - HETS. www.hesge.ch

About University of Geneva

The University of Geneva, Switzerland, was founded in 1559 by Jean Calvin and Théodore de Bèze and ranks amongst the top 60 best universities in the world. It enjoys worldwide recognition and develops an ever-strengthening international network. The University of Geneva welcomes about 17’000 students in its nine faculties teaching Sciences, Medicine, Humanities, Economics and Management, Social Sciences, Law, Theology, Psychology and Educational Sciences, as well as Translation and Interpreting. The University of Geneva fulfils three missions: education, research and knowledge-sharing. It is a member of the League of European Research Universities since 2002 and is a founding partner of Campus Biotech, the life science hub for the Geneva Lake region. www.unige.ch

About imito AG

imito's aim is to combat the shortage of wound experts with artificial intelligence which analyses wounds from images and medical data and suggests treatments to promote better healing. Their digital wound measurement and documentation has already helped 35+ hospitals and many ambulant care providers to save time documenting wounds. The headquarters of imito AG are located in Zurich, Switzerland. More about their AI-assisted wound documentation at imito.io and wound.app