The Back-UP consortium, led by Project Coordinator IBV, visited the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (NTNU), Norway, during the 6th month meeting held at St. Olavs Hospital Laboratories complex.

The international meeting started on June 5th, with presentations about work performed by project consortium, who is going to accomplish with first milestone of the project, that is use case and work flow definition.

Project Director Helios De Rosario said: “Collaboration in the consortium is improving a good deal, and the best is yet to come”, referring to the intense work that is foreseen during the following months.

During the two-days meeting, two workshop have also been performed: the first one was around the “Vision of Back-UP”, and it was led by Stepanhie Jansen-Kosterlink from RRD.

The second workshop was on “Modules/models of the Back-UP platform” and it was led by Jonathan Hill (Keele University) and Alejandro Frangi (Sheffield University). Technical Coordinator Alejandro Frangi affirmed: “The process should finalise with an IT specification document, containing the key components, system and interface requirements, which IT partners use for development”.

The aim of Back-UP project is to create a prognostic model to support more effective and efficient management of Neck and Low Back Pain (NLBP), based on the digital representation of multidimensional clinical information, and in-silico assessments of possible interventions. Management of NLBP is a difficult challenge for healthcare professionals and prevention services in this field, since their decisions have a decisive impact on the patient’s future health and welfare, as well as on the economic burden on the public and private healthcare systems.

The next consortium meeting will be in the Netherlands, hosted by Roessingh Research and Development (RRD) institute, located in Enschede.