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Happy Birthday,
Patient Innovation

! عيد ميلاد سعيد والابتكار المريض

Patient Innovation is celebrating its second anniversary!

It has been two years since the launch of the Patient Innovation (PI) platform on February 7^th 2014 at Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics, which was the beginning of a very collaborative and exciting journey. With the beginning of 2016, we reached an important milestone: more than 500 solutions developed by patients, caregivers and collaborators from all over the world (all of the continents and from over 30 countries) were submitted to the platform and curated by our team. These innovations are now being shared to improve the lives of many patients who struggle with different health conditions. We are grateful to all the patients, caregivers and collaborators for sharing their innovations.

Also, on January 28^th, the PI team met with the Advisory Board at MIT-Sloan School of Management to discuss the progress and the future of project, as well as to select the winners of the 2^nd PI Awards, which will be announced very soon.

Apart from the Patient Innovation team, the following Advisory Board members attended the meeting:

Aaron Ciechanover (Technion-Israel) - Nobel Laureate in Chemistry;
Lee Fleming (University of California, Berkeley);
Eric von Hippel (MIT);
Robert Langer (MIT);
Richard Roberts (New England Biolabs) - Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine;
Katherine Strandburg (New York University).

Patient Innovation: one of eleven innovations featured at the World Government Summit, in Dubai

Patient Innovation was one of eleven innovations from all over the world distinguished by the office of Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to be featured at the 4^thWorld Government Summit, in Dubai (February 8^th – 10^th 2016).

The World Government Summit is a global event that promotes the exchange of knowledge in areas such as: government, technology and innovation. The event gathered more than 4000 world leaders, from over
90 countries.

The speakers in the event included the President of the United States, Barack Obama; the President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim; the Secretary-General of the OECD, José Ángel Gurría; the Prime Minister of Egypt, Sherif Ismail; the Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson; the Former President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon; the Former Prime Minister of France, Dominique De Villepin, among many other reputable individuals.

Patient innovation had a very prominent presence in the summit, where a number of solutions were on display during the event:

3D printed hand, (low cost 3D printing prosthetic hand and arm), a collaboration of Ivan Owen (EUA) with the Patient Innovation team;
The Upsee™ (mobility device for children with motor impairment to allow the user to stand and walk), by Debby Elnatan (caregiver from Israel);
The Shower Shirt™, (Post-surgical, water-resistant, garment designed to prevent post-surgical mastectomy drain sites, dialysis catheters and medical-ports from coming into contact with water while showering), by Lisa Crites (patient from EUA) who also attended the event;
The Frequencer™, (Low frequency generator for bronchial drainag), by Louis Plante (patient from Canada);
Feelipa, (a code system developed so that blind and visually impaired people can see colors), by Filipa Nogueira Pires (caregiver from Portugal);
Billow Pillow, (a pillow to help patients who had mastectomies sleep and rest better), by Marine Rustemeyer (patient from EUA) who also attended the event;
Removable termal pockets, (portable pockets that heat its user's hands), by students from JUNITEC (Portugal);
Exovasc, (aortic support device for patients who suffer from Marfan's Syndrome), by Tal Golesworthy (patient from UK).

PI was visited by a number of distinguished individuals, including Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; Paula Kagame, President of Rwanda, just to mention
a few.

Presenting Patient Innovation to Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Presenting Patient Innovation to H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai

Presenting Patient Innovation to the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame

Adeeb Al-Balushi, 11 years old, from the UAE, is a young inventor who built a lightweight prosthetic leg for his father who suffers from poliomyelitis, visited PI and took a picture with some members of the PI team. His solution can be read here.

Participating at the World Government Summit (more info here) was a great opportunity to contact leaders from all continents, learn from them, share the news about our project and establish new bridges that will help PI go further and reach more people. We are grateful to the office of the Prime Minister of UAE for the invitation.

All the best from the Patient Innovation Team