MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY
Its initiatives span from practical applications of AI to the development of open-source healthcare platforms, demonstrating the potential for academic institutions to drive industry-wide change.
“ Our mission is to drive a structural change in the way companies and organisations and governments get value from technology,” explains Martin.“ It’ s about solving real world problems, but also then contributing to and taking advantage of the academic literature.”
COVID-19: Disrupting tradition in healthcare Industry challenges remain from the COVID-19 pandemic, where countless systemic vulnerabilities were exposed. This, in turn, has accelerated the push toward digital transformation in healthcare delivery.
The pandemic also pushed rapid innovation at the Health Service Executive( HSE), where Martin was Director of the Digital Transformation and Open Innovation. Within 48 hours, his team deployed remote monitoring solutions for patients with COVID with an Irish SME PatientMPower, followed by automated real-time respiration rate monitoring that provided early warning of patient deterioration.
“ Working with SME PMD Solutions we put novel respiratory technology into 23 hospitals in four months. One of our top clinical engineers said that, in peace time, that might’ ve taken five years or never happened at all,” Martin says.
“ Our mission is to drive a structural change in the way companies and organisations and governments get value from technology”
MARTIN CURLEY, PROFESSOR OF INNOVATION, MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY
The pandemic highlighted structural issues in healthcare delivery.“ The healthcare system in the US has some of the most advanced equipment and facilities. But what happened during COVID was that the hospitals started to empty, but their for-profit business model depended on the hospitals being full,” Martin explains.
What the pandemic also highlighted is that these traditional healthcare models – built around hospital-centric care and reactive treatment – are struggling to meet contemporary demands. In fact, the World Health Organisation( WHO) reports that half the global population lacks access to essential health services, while developed nations grapple with unsustainable cost and demand increases.
130 April 2025