This year’s Congress of Digital Economy took place on 8 June 1017. It was already a 12^th yearly meeting of the representatives of central and local administration, finance, science and many others, whose activities have impact on creation and development of a modern digital economy in Poland. The Congress has been an occasion also of the first in the history award of the Polish Bank Association and the Foundation ‘A Ray of Sunshine’ has been awarded to Prof. Henryk Skarżyński for his extraordinary achievements in the field of creation and application of innovative technologies for people with impairments.

At the Congress Prof. Henryk Skarżyński has presented a lecture titled „Medicine and new technologies in development of the modern society”.

– We can observe technological progress in almost all fields of medicine. Also in otolaryngology, audiology, phoniatrics and hearing rehabilitation it is tremendous – said in his lecture Prof. Skarżyński. – A perfect example is telemedicine, applied on a wide scale in our Institute, that is a large scale challenge for many specialties, also these seemingly not involved in medicine. Without their participation there will be no new programs and tools. The interdisciplinary cooperation of IT specialists, engineers, teachers, psychologists and even biologists is crucial. The Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing has been conducting the studies on telemedicine form many years and it has applied it in practice. Our team has created the first in the world National Network of Teleaudiology, which allows postoperative care for patients with cochlear implants. The major advantage of this method is saving the patient, especially a child, from tiring, long and expensive travel to see a doctor. – added Prof. Skarżyński.

The Award has been created by the Foundation ‘A Ray of Sunshine’, which works to provide children with disabilities or at risk of maldevelopment with a systematic, comprehensive medical and therapeutic care, including psychology and teaching, conducted by an active, well trained staff. Early diagnostics and rehabilitation allows avoiding or significantly reducing the effects of disability.