Chalfont St Giles, United Kingdom and Budapest, Hungary - A major new collaborative research programme to transform the care of elderly citizens was announced in Hungary. A broad consortium of private and public sector organisations, led by GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), has secured HUF 895 million (US $4.2 million) from the Hungarian government to research and develop new ways of monitoring the health of elderly citizens in their own homes. GE Healthcare will invest an additional HUF 238 million (US $1.1 million) in the programme.

Beginning in 2008, the three year programme will bring together the expertise of healthcare companies with leading academic institutions. The consortium will develop integrated systems and processes for the remote monitoring of the health of elderly citizens, particularly those who suffer from neurological diseases such as stroke, dementia and depression. The consortium will also research and develop remote telemonitoring systems which monitor both activity levels and vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate, alerting caregivers to changes that may signal potential health issues or emergency situations.

The consortium, led by GE Healthcare, includes Hungarian healthcare industry members Mednet 2000 Ltd. and Meditech Ltd., together with the University of Pannonia at Veszprem, the University of Szeged and the Budapest Tech Polytechnical Institution. The consortium will employ 71 researchers and associates, and will create 23 new jobs in Hungary.

Welcoming the programme, Dr. Karoly Molnar, Minister without Portfolio for Research, Science and Innovation in Hungary, said, "This program offers an important opportunity for Hungary to take part in the development of innovative technologies to help older people. The rapidly aging population of Europe, including that of Hungary, requires new research to enable elderly citizens to stay in their own homes for as long as possible, as this is a really cost-efficient form of delivering healthcare. The Hungarian government is providing financial support to help the implementation of new ideas in the field of integrated homecare because enhancing the security of the elderly is fully in line with the government's economic development strategy. Having an understanding of the demographic trends in Europe, we are confident that the members of the consortium - the global company GE, two Hungarian companies and three Hungarian universities- will be able to develop new info-communications tools and technologies that can be marketed not only in Hungary, but also in Europe and other countries worldwide in the future."

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