The International Centre of Excellence in Telecare (ICE-T) is the Special Interest Group of SEHTA focussing on Assistive Technologies, in particular, Telecare, Telehealth and Telemedicine. The group is led by national e-health expert and SEHTA e-health development Director,Dr Richard Curry.
The ICE-T project started as a £1M 
collaborative R&D grant-funding programme designed to accelerate innovative near-market product and service development in the telecare sector.
In ICE-T we define telecare as the use of information, communication and sensor technologies to enable the delivery of health and social support to help people live as independently as possible, in the lowest intensity care setting consistent with their needs and wishes.
ICE-T was developed by SEHTA, and funded by SEEDA (South East England Development Agency), in recognition of the benefits of employing information, communication and sensor technologies to meet the demographic challenges to our health and social care services, and of the opportunities for the development of new market opportunities for telecare technology and service companies.
The role of ICE-T is to:
- identify and develop new sustainable market and business opportunities
- understand and articulate user and provider need
- promote collaboration and bring together appropriate consortia
An annual Meet the Buyer event is organised under the ICE-T banner. The ICE-T Meet the Buyers Event 2012 on 14 September was a resounding success with 128 delegates from across the UK, Europe, New Zealand and Taiwan. Meet the Buyers 2012 brought together some of the UK’s biggest telecare and telehealth procurers and the very best service and technology providers for partnering, networking and potential deal making.
This was the third annual Meet the Buyers event, which is aimed at all those interested in the use of technology to promote the health, wellbeing and independence of individuals, both in the UK and internationally. Participants included businesses, technology procurers and suppliers, service providers and users, local government, healthcare professionals, academia, industry associations and third sector organisations.
All presentations are available on SEHTA’s YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLinf70z5xknts0hhiNiCX69kNUABcR0A_
Find out more on www.ice-t.co.uk