Interest in non-contact vital sign monitoring technology heats up, as Ministers of Science and Research visit the University of Oxford

The meeting of the 42nd Carnegie Group was held in Oxford last month, bringing together the G7 Ministers of Research and Science, alongside those of India, Brazil, South Africa, China, Mexico, and representatives of the European Commission. David Willetts, UK Minister of Science, and Stefania Giannini, Italian Minister of Education, University and Research, were amongst the ministers invited to the University of Oxford to observe some of the innovative technology being developed, with David Willets being the host. Professor Lionel Tarassenko, Founding Director of Oxehealth, demonstrated his patented Oxecam technology, originally developed at the University's Institute of Biomedical Engineering, with Dr Giannini acting as a willing volunteer.
The Oxecam is a new technology, further developed and commercialised by Oxehealth. It allows a camera to monitor the key vital signs of an individual without any need for the probes, patches and often numerous wires associated with traditional methods of monitoring; instead, patented monitoring algorithms run within the camera unit, transmitting vital-sign data to the end user. Oxehealth has collaborated with neonatologists in the Department of Paediatrics, enabling researchers to monitor, in real-time, the first weeks of life for premature infants in an incubator.
'We were delighted to be able to demonstrate the Oxecam technology to the Science Ministers. I think this shows an increase of interest in non-contact vital sign monitoring, and we were pleased to demonstrate the viability of our technology. We'd like to thank Dr Giannini for providing us with excellent heart rate and breathing rate data!' commented Professor Tarassenko.