Research & Education for Innovation

A hub for care and innovation

Thanks to the value of its social and healthcare, educational and university, research and production systems, Lombardy is an ecosystem conducive to innovation and research in Life Sciences. Lombardy indeed represents a hub for care and innovation, with an Impact Factor of over 33,387.98 which translates in high standards and outcomes for patients’ healthcare.

The advanced specialization of the Healthcare System leads to precision medicine approach in many different therapeutic areas, from non-communicable and rare diseases, to chronic conditions and advanced therapies. Healthcare Excellence is internationally certified by Performance Rankings and Certification Bodies, plus a National System monitoring outcomes and results for each Hospital and I.R.C.C.S.

Biotechnologies, biomedical technologies and pharmaceuticals, the network among hospitals and research and treatment centers are key resources for Lombardy’s development. Lombardy hosts almost a third of biotech firms and medical devices in Italy.

Education & Up-skilling of Medical Professionals

Lombardy’s excellence in healthcare is also due to the quality of its training and professional development, both in the pre-professional and professional phases, which constantly enhances the skills and knowledge of established practitioners and students alike, through our 3 high-end centres for medical simulation, development and research in the fields of neurology, pulmonology and general anatomy.

This, coupled with Lombardy’s desire to attract more healthcare professionals to the region, makes us a fertile ground to welcome international professionals for further training, as we begin to foster a growth in soft cooperation.

International collaboration opportunities

The Lombardy’s research and education system offers huge potential for international collaboration opportunities through research conferences, joint research projects, doctoral exchanges and visits (in both directions), using such pathways as facilitators of networking as well as catalysts of medical progress and discourse.

Lombardy: a front runner of medical innovation in Europe

Here some examples of innovative solutions, most of which were first discovered in Lombardy, in the fields of Cardiology, Oncology and Obstetrics.

NEW GEN. ARTIFICIAL HEART

In 2018 the Niguarda Hospital implanted a 100g Ventricular Assistance Device (VAD) with tele-monitoring capabilities, accessible 24/7, as well as ‘artificial heart’ functions, a pioneering feat in medicine as the first VAD of such capabilities and size. 

Find out more about Niguarda Hospital

HADRONTHERAPY & PREGNANCY SUCCESS

CNAO – one of few world-wide centres using hadrontherapy for the treatment of resistant and inoperable radio-cancers (using carbon ions and protons) – held the first ever case of a successful pregnancy after hadrontherapy for pelvic cancer treatment.

Find out more about CNAO

CAR-T

Lombardy has high-profile centers authorized to administer CAR-T, among which: the National Cancer Institute, Humanitas, Niguarda Hospital and Policlinico, the Azienda Socio-Sanitaria Territoriale Papa Giovanni XXIII, European Institute of Oncology (IEO).

GENIC THERAPY, ADA-SCID

San Raffaele Institute and Telethon (SR-TIGET) are the first to have ever created a cure for this rare disease, through gene therapy, and are the only ones authorized to administer it.

RADIOMICS

Pioneered by the European Institute of Oncology, radiomics is a diagnostic technology that enables the viewing and categorization of a tumour without an invasive biopsy. Born in Lombardy, it is now protocol world-wide.

Find out more about IEO

PROTON THERAPY

This technology is the most advanced form of radiotherapy for treating cancer patients, a technology on which Hadrontherapy is based on. In Lombardy, both Humanitas and IEO I.R.C.C.S. have recently inaugurated high-tech centres for Proton therapy.

Find out more about Humanitas

RESEARCH & VISITING DOCTOR EXCHANGES

Italy’s top Impact Factor producer, the I.R.C.C.S. San Raffaele, is in Lombardy, making it the premiere Italian region for life science research and a true ecosystem in terms of cooperation and shared resources: The Intercompany Neuroscience Department of Pavia is a great example as it is a hub of grouped resources from multiple centers focusing on neuroscience care, advancement and research.