"CURAC is designed to handle constructively surgical research questions which helps to applicate research approaches to patient well-being and into clinical use, with the help of computer- and robot-assisted surgery."
As engineering scientists and medical researchers, society expects us to develop disruptive solutions that go beyond the current thinking and the practice of clinical routine but also in industry. In the public eye, modern computer- and robot-assisted treatment approaches are often perceived as already available. Excessive expectations of the new "high-tech" treatment methods are fueled. However, the path from basic research to clinical application is complex and risky and often requires long periods of time. New diagnostic and treatment methods must be transferred into clinical routine in order to achieve sustainable improvements for patients and society and to enable acquisition of scientific knowledge. Translation is very complex and requires teams of engineers, clinicians and pre-clinicians, statisticians, health economists, sociologists, and ethicists. Their cooperation must be ensured financially and by infrastructure for longer periods of time. Only if we manage to bring our ideas to the clinic we will remain relevant to the clinical disciplines. To motivate, to accompany and to critically analyze this translation process, that should be the aim of our scientific society. In this sense, we must already reflect today what may come after the solutions propagated by us.
Promoting translational research in academia requires courage and risk-taking. Courage to go for ways that have not yet gone and risk-taking to fail. This not only applies to us researchers themselves, but also to our deans and presidents, our universities and society that ultimately funds the research. Only with courage and risk-taking will we gain new insights, develop better medical procedures and contribute to growth and innovation.
Our CURAC can and should play a pioneering role here and support all of us in contributing further and deeper into our research into translational claims.