The importance of interdisciplinarity and technological transfer

Abstract

Introduction. The 21st century – or the century of scientific progress in all fields (health, economic and financial, automotive, agribusiness etc.) – brings multiple benefits to the population, such as: development and use of artificial intelligence in all areas mentioned above, in order to eliminate the obligation of performing repetitive operations, increased productivity and decrease production costs. In addition to these benefits, the modern lifestyle favors increasing the prevalence of chronic noncommunicable diseases, such as nutrition and metabolism diseases (e.g., type 2 diabetes, phenylketonuria, gout), cardiovascular diseases, obesity, gastrointestinal diseases (e.g., gastroesophageal reflux disease and constipation). Objectives. To identify the equipment used in diabetes and nutrition patented worldwide, the importance of interdisciplinarity and technology transfer, both for patients and for inventors and owners of applications and patents. Materials and method. For literature evaluation, in July 2022, We used the following databases: World Intellectual Property (WIPO), Clearivate – Web of Science, PubMed, EBSCO and the keywords: “devices used in diabetes” and “devices used in human diabetes” for diabetes. Results. The use of the expression „devices used in diabetes” led to 347,183 results, 298,006 results of “devices used in human diabetes” and “devices in diabetes” – 348,963 results. Conclusions. The devices, systems and techniques used in diabetes and nutrition really contribute to improving the quality of life of patients. Their effectiveness and the prevention of side effects or changes in the clearance of drugs are strictly dependent on the interdisciplinarity of the team. The technological transfer to the industry producing such equipment offers the possibility to market them at competitive prices for patients and brings financial benefits to inventors and owners of patents.