In the Spotlight: Biomedical Signal Processing

The author has taken the inspiration for drafting this short report from the Annual IEEE-EMBS Conference which was held in San Diego, CA, USA, last August. This conference is the most important event for being informed about the state of the art in Biomedical Engineering and for meeting the most distinguished experts in this area of research and the relevant applications. Again this year, the Theme of Biomedical Signal Processing scored among the most popular ones with more than 400 contributions. The great importance of this Theme has been confirmed by the excellent keynote speakers: many of them made reference to the importance of proper signal and data processing. It is argued that the basic challenge to realize a really successful tool for primary preventive medicine is to transfer (hopefully in an 'easy' fashion) to micro/nano scales the processing algorithms and devices, which were implemented and successfully tested in the last decades for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. This statement serves as the author's opportunity to inform readers on the European Union vision for ICT Research Programs in the next years.