The Institute of Image-Guided, in partnership with the Force Foundation, is proud to announce the launch of its new major event: “Les Entretiens de l’IHU Strasbourg” The first edition of this conference, held under the patronage of the Ministry of Health, will take place on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the BNU Auditorium in Strasbourg and will focus on the ethics of health research.

Restoring Meaning to “Progress”

Our world is undergoing an unprecedented period of transition. The dizzying explosion of technological and biomedical discoveries is fundamentally challenging our definition of “progress.” As an international center of excellence in surgery and interventional techniques, the IHU Strasbourg is at the forefront of these upheavals. The growing integration of artificial intelligence and the development of bioremediation strategies hold tremendous promise for patients, but inevitably raise new questions.

A vital dialogue for understanding and explaining the challenges facing society

Conceived as annual high-level gatherings, these conferences aim to shed light on major scientific challenges and, ultimately, to strengthen the fundamental bond of trust between researchers and the public. Because being at the forefront of innovation demands unwavering integrity, the IHU Strasbourg wishes to loudly and clearly affirm its values of professional conduct and ethics.

For this inaugural edition dedicated to the ethics of health research, the goal will be to affirm the need to build a comprehensive, fair, and frugal bioethics framework and to translate its implementation into action to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

A distinguished panel of speakers

To shed light on these discussions, this landmark event will bring together leading thinkers and practitioners from the fields of healthcare, research, and philosophy. In particular, we will have the great privilege of hearing from and engaging with prominent figures such as:

• Madam Minister of Health, Families, Independence, and People with Disabilities, Stéphanie RIST,
• Albert-Claude BENHAMOU, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IHU Strasbourg, Inclusion France 2030 Liaison at the SGPI, former President of the National Academy of Surgery,
• Agnès BUZIN, Former Minister of Solidarity and Health, President of the Evidences Institute,
• Christian DEBRY, Executive Director of the IHU Strasbourg,
• Jean-François DELFRAISSY, Chair of the National Ethics Advisory Committee,
• Thomas EBBESEN, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Strasbourg, pioneer in the field of nanoscience,
• Samir HENNI, Chief Executive Officer of the Strasbourg University Hospitals,
• Jules HOFFMANN, Professor at the University of Strasbourg, Director Emeritus at the CNRS, Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology,
• Étienne KLEIN, Physicist, Research Director at the CEA, and philosopher of science,
• Francis MICHOT, President of the Academy of Medicine (2026),
• Bernard NORDLINGER, Member of the National Academy of Medicine, Surgical Oncologist, Specialist in Gastrointestinal Cancers,
• Philippe RAVAUD, Member of the National Academy of Medicine, Surgical Oncologist, Specialist in Gastrointestinal Cancers,
• Jean SIBILIA, President (Dean of the Strasbourg School of Medicine).

Decision-makers, institutions, healthcare professionals, and the media: join us in shaping this new vision, where innovation is harnessed to build a more humanistic society.

Practical information:

• Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Location: Auditorium of the BNU in Strasbourg

Register for the conference and download the full program:
www.ihu-strasbourg.eu

Event Partners

On March 3, 2026, the Franco-German IMARA project team was present at the Karlsruhe Technology Park Campus for the launch event of the Science Offensive projects supported by the Interreg Upper Rhin program. IMARA (Imitation MAchine for Robotic Assistance) aims to develop a lightweight robotic platform to assist nursing staff in the operating room environment.

Meeting a daily challenge in the operating room

Today, nursing teams and IBODEs (state-certified operating room nurses) devote a significant portion of their time to time-consuming logistical tasks: preparing, checking, and transporting equipment. To address this issue, the IMARA project aims to design a robotic platform that combines an autonomous mobile robot, to transport instruments from storage areas to the operating room, with an intelligent robotic arm capable of learning and reproducing basic nursing tasks for the preparation and presentation of sterile instruments.

The objective is clear: to relieve caregivers of time-consuming and repetitive tasks so that they can refocus on their core business, patient care and safety, while streamlining operating room logistics.

Franco-German partnership to launch a European dynamic

Led by the IHU Strasbourg, the IMARA consortium brings together the team from the Imaging, Robotics, and Innovation for Health (IRIS) platform at the ICube laboratory of the University of Strasbourg, Reutlingen University, the Fraunhofer IPA Institute in Mannheim, the Operating Room Nurse Training Institute of the Colmar Civil Hospitals, and the Bosch Health Campus in Stuttgart.

Artificial intelligence and robotics laboratories, third-party testing facilities, paramedical training centers: a complementary group of stakeholders who share a common vision of the needs expressed by operating room nursing teams, which they aim to address with a pragmatic solution. IMARA’s ambition is to lay the foundations for a new industrial sector in the Upper Rhin region to produce lightweight, economical, and interoperable robots for hospital assistance.

During the presentation of the project, Dr. Alain Garcia reiterated the philosophy behind this consortium: “Our main challenge is to develop robotic solutions capable of effectively supporting nurses in the operating room. To achieve this, these technologies must be adapted to the real constraints of the field, remain flexible and scalable, and above all, be easily adoptable by healthcare professionals.”

The total budget for the IMARA project is €956,734, with €478,367 in funding from the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) and the Interreg Upper Rhin program, and €239,183 from the Grand Est region, the state of Baden-Württemberg, and the state of Rheinland-Patz.

On behalf of the IMARA consortium, IHU Strasbourg would like to express its warmest thanks to the Interreg Upper Rhine program and the Offensive Sciences initiative, as well as their funders, for their invaluable support for cross-border innovation in the service of tomorrow’s healthcare.

Learn more about IMARA project:
www.interreg-rhin-sup.eu/projet/imara