Keynote 4 - ICEDEG 2025

The Rise of Cognitive Healthcare: Hurdles, Hopes and Breakthroughs

Abstract

Healthcare is a foundational pillar of modern societies. Its evolution has closely followed the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The emergence of electronic healthcare (e-health) marked a significant milestone, leveraging ICTs to digitize and streamline healthcare delivery. This was followed by mobile healthcare (m-health), made possible by the proliferation of mobile devices and ubiquitous computing, enabling healthcare access anytime and anywhere. Subsequent advances in sensing technologies, wireless sensor networks, and the Internet of Things (IoT) led to the emergence of smart healthcare (s-health)—a paradigm founded on context-aware, adaptive environments designed to support personalized and responsive medical care. Today, transformative breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) are driving the rise of Cognitive Healthcare (c-health). This novel paradigm builds upon the foundations laid by e-health, m-health, and s-health, and introduces a more powerful, integrative approach. Cognitive Healthcare envisions human–machine collaboration, where AI systems, healthcare professionals, and patients learn from each other to create an intelligent, personalized, and proactive care—particularly relevant in addressing the complex demands of an ageing population. In this keynote, we will revisit the evolution of Smart Healthcare and explore how it has set the stage for the development of Cognitive Healthcare. We will examine the main opportunities that this emerging paradigm presents, as well as the technological and ethical challenges that may hinder its widespread adoption.

Keynote Speaker

 

 

 

Prof. Agusti Solanas is the head of the Smart Technologies Research Group and Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics at the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. He obtained his M.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering from URV in 2004 with honours (Outstanding Graduation Award). He received a Diploma of Advanced Studies (M.Sc.) in Telematics Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) in 2006. He received a Ph.D. in Telematics Engineering from UPC in 2007 with honours (A cum laude). In 2012, he was a visiting researcher in the Department of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Rome Tre (Italy). In 2013, he was a visiting researcher in the Department of Mathematics of the University of Padua (Italy). His fields of activity are smart and cognitive healthcare, cognitive security, anti-phishing, data privacy, and artificial intelligence, specifically: Neural networks, pattern recognition, and evolutionary computation. He has led and participated in numerous European, Spanish, and Catalan research and industrial projects. He has authored over 160 publications and delivered several invited talks worldwide. He has served as chair, programme committee member, and reviewer in several conferences and journals. He serves as external expert re- viewer for several National Councils for Scientific Research (e.g. The European COST Association, the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, the National Centre of Science and Technology of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research, the Research Council of Norway, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the Spanish Research Agency). He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He served as Category Editor of Information Systems for the ACM Computing Reviews, and he was vice-president of the Computer Society Spain Chapter. He has been listed among the 2% of most influential scientists by Stanford University for three years in a row since 2022.

 

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ICEDEG 2026
8 - 10 July 2026
Lisbon, Portugal

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