Living Standards Award

Continuous non-invasive monitoring of blood pressure

Living Standards Award 2022, Category "Reaching International Markets"

In intensive care units or during emergency surgery, it may be necessary to monitor the patient's blood pressure by means of continuous invasive measurements in an artery. This method is complicated, entails the risk of infections and is very painful. CNSystems Medizintechnik GmbH realized the medical challenge of continuous non-invasive measurements of blood pressure a long time ago. For its crucial contributions to the development of the international standard ISO 81060-3 "Continuous non-invasive sphygmomanometers", CNSystems Medizintechnik GmbH now received the Living Standards Award.

Benefits: The standard improves not only the testing of medical devices. It also paves the way for introducing new methods and criteria that make it possible to check and assess the performance of continuous non-invasive sphygmomanometers. This reduces complications significantly and shortens hospital stays for patients.

Telemonitoring episode report for disease management programmes in healthcare

Living Standards Award 2022, Category "IEEE Standards"

By introducing the "telemonitoring episode report", ELGA GmbH has revolutionized the way in which data are used in telehealth systems. Patients can now input their own data, such as weight, blood glucose, blood pressure and medication use, via existing systems, e.g. HerzMobil for patients suffering from cardiac insufficiency, and save them to their ELGA health record. Implementation was facilitated, for example, by the standards series IEEE 11073 "Service-Oriented Device Connectivity".

Benefits: The report improves, for example, disease management programmes for chronically ill patients. Health service providers can access health data centrally, and patients enjoy full transparency of their ELGA data.

Consistent calculation of the recyclable share of recovered fuels

Living Standards Award 2022, Category "Developing Future Technology"

Energy and raw materials from waste? In the ReWaste4.0 project, Montanuniversität Leoben developed a method for calculating the recyclable share of recovered fuels in co-operation with the cement industry and recovered fuel producers. The source material: waste, or more precisely, mixed household and commercial waste. The research results obtained by the university lead to the development of a new international standard for recycling recovered fuels in co-processing.

The document co-developed by Montanuniversität Leoben - ISO/AWI 4349 "Solid recovered fuels – Determination of the recycling index for co-processing" - is to be published in 2024.

Benefits: The standard helps calculate the percentage of recovered fuels that can be recycled. As a result, greenhouse gases can be reduced, waste can be used more efficiently, costs can be cut, regional value creation chains can be optimized and sustainable cement production can be promoted.

Medical product tests without suffering for animals

Living Standards Award 2022, Category "Enabling Solutions"

Bye-bye animal testing? In the Biorelation project, the Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology (OFI), member of Austrian Cooperative Research (ACR), aimed at developing a validated in-vitro screening method for assessing the sensitizing or irritating properties of medical products. The new method is now also included as a recognized alternative to animal testing in ISO 10993.

Benefits: Thanks to the in-vitro (meaning "in the glass") method, animal tests do not need to be performed anymore. Tests can already be carried out in an earlier stage of product development, support product optimization and are faster than animal tests. Among others, the Biorelation project contributed to the further development of the international standard ISO 10993 "Biological evaluation of medical devices".

Easy-to-use smart glasses based on Eye Tracking

Living Standards Award 2022, Category "Developing Future Technology"

Controlling smart glasses with your eyes? With Digital Iris Inside – an all-in-one module series –, Vienna-based Viewpointsystem GmbH offers standardized ready-to-use eye-tracking technology for the first time. The first miniaturized eye sensor module ESM 22 is designed as a snap-in nose pad. It can be integrated into existing glasses (virtual and augmented reality) so that it is almost invisible.

Benefits: The smart glasses are to facilitate remote collaboration. Thus, a person can instruct another user located thousands of miles away during sensitive tasks and work steps or guide them on the basis of the eye data received. A great number of safety standards were taken into account during the development of this product, for example EN 166 on personal eye protection and the eye safety standard IEC 62471 for LEDs.

3D SIMULATIONS FOR DELICATE NEUROSURGERY

Living Standards Award 2021, category "Enabling Solutions"

cortEXplore, founded in 2018, develops neurosurgical navigation systems for precisely planning, simulating and implementing brain surgery. The start-up receives the Award for developing a special positioning system allowing surgeons to reach areas of the brain in a particularly precise way.
Benefits: Access to the target area of surgery can be better planned, risks for patients can be reduced and clinical outcomes can be improved. Standards have been important with regard to quality policy (EN ISO 13485) and risk management in product development (EN ISO 14971).

WITH A ROBOTIC ARM IN THE OPERATING THEATRE

Living Standards Award 2021, category „Reaching International Markets“

A tool that surgeons can use without their hands in the operating theatre? The RoboticScope® of BHS Technologies is the first surgical microscope that decouples surgeons from static microscopes and makes them more mobile. By means of a robotic arm, the microscope automatically adjusts to the movements of the surgeon's head. Instruments do not have to be put down anymore when the microscope needs to be re-adjusted.
Benefits: Safe interventions thanks to optimized ergonomics for surgeons and a better overview during surgery. Standards play a crucial role in safeguarding patient safety. They make sure that "everybody plays by the same rules" and there are no unwelcome surprises in the design and production of medical products (ISO 13485) as well as risk management (ISO 1471) and the handling of medical or electrical equipment.

QUANTUM COMPUTER GOES ELECTRIC KETTLE

Living Standards Award 2021, category „Developing Future Technologies“

For the start-up AQT (Alpine Quantum Technologies) standards play a major role, in particular, when it wants to find a "common language" with IT partners in technical respects (ISO/IEC WD 4879 "Information technology – Quantum computing"). AQT has specialized in developing ion-trap quantum computers and is the first European start-up to bring a quantum computer to the cloud. Building on more than 20 years of research at the University of Innsbruck and the Austrian Academy of Sciences, AQT was able to implement a quantum computer based on industry standards.
Benefits: The computer does not need to be operated under laboratory conditions, fits into a cabinet and consumes as little energy as an electric kettle. Owing to its high computing performance, this technology can support the development of new drugs or materials with planned characteristics.

FINDING MICROPLASTICS RELIABLY AND QUICKLY

Living Standards Award 2021, category „Developing Future Technologies“

Purency GmbH makes microplastics visible. The solutions offered by the Viennese enterprise enable laboratories to perform scalable analyses of microplastics. The high-quality results minimize the need for manual processing. Thus, the time required for data analysis is reduced from hours to approximately ten minutes. Thereby, Purency GmbH creates the basis for reducing microplastics.
Benefits: Researchers can better assess health hazards and environmental impacts and enterprises can improve risk assessment and quality control, Since 2019, employees of Purency GmbH have taken part in international standardization – in ISO/TC 61/SC 14/WG 4 "Characterization of plastics leaked into the environment (including microplastics) and quality control criteria of respective methods".

RESEARCH DEDICATED TO ETHERNET AND INDEPENDENT STANDARDS

Living Standards Award 2021, category „IEEE-Standards“

TTTech Group is the technology leader in the fields of safety controllers and real-time networks for industrial IoT, mobile machinery, autonomous driving as well as aerospace applications. Since 2003, the high-tech company has been involved in standardization activities and joined the working group IEEE 802.1 enabling automotive and industrial networks to use fast Ethernet technology in 2012.
Benefits: TTTech has input its know-how into the development of interoperable and vendor-independent technology standards. TTTech' collaboration in IEEE standardization activities is stronger than ever and contributes to key projects (IEEE P802.1Qcw, IEEE / IEC 60802, IEEE802.1DG).