“2014 NUMERIC’ ALSACE Grand Prize” awarded to Visible Patient, an IRCAD spin-off

On November 5, VISIBLE PATIENT, a company which stemmed from 15 years of IRCAD R&D, received the 2014 Numeric’Alsace Grand Prize in Strasbourg. This prize rewards Alsace’s best digital ideas, strategies, solutions and applications. Visible Patient was created in July 2013, and proposes a new type of surgery guided by 3D virtual imaging for every patient, used before and during the intervention.

This prize rewards IRCAD research quality and the ability to turn this research into quality patient care by using Visible Patient.

Visible Patient consists in extracting a Digital 3D clone of the patient, based on real medical imaging (CT-scan or MRI). It is like a virtual copy of the patient. The operator can then plan or simulate the surgical intervention with no risk for the patient.

All Visible Patient software is free and can be used on a computer or a tablet, which reduces costs and allows to train doctors and future physicians with no additional costs. Another benefit of 3D imaging is that it can be used to explain a pathology to the patient along with its treatment modality in a simpler way.

The jury of the contest was put together by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Alsace region. It awarded the prize to Visible Patient due to its innovative features, and its impact on local activity.

The objective of the contest is three-fold:
– To encourage companies to use digital devices;
– To encourage the economic activity of local web service providers;
– To position the Alsace region as a dynamic area in terms of digital tool use.

The young Visible Patient company, which is located within the Haras biocluster, now has 18 employees and plans to recruit over 60 people in Alsace over the next 5 years.