International Digital Health and Intelligent Material Innovation Alliance (IDHIMIA)

Background

Led by the State Key Laboratory of Fiber Material Modification (Dong-hua University); Manchester University, Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Society (TBIS), the State Key Laboratory of Smart Textile Materials and Products (Xi’an Polytechnic University), Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and others, jointly initiated the establishment of the International Digital Health Intelligent Material Innovation Alliance (IDHIMIA).   IDHIMIA was formally established on July 10, 2020 in the 13th international conference of the Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Society.   IDHIMIA currently has 40 founding members from 17 European and Asian countries and regions, representing 22 universities, 12 companies and 6 academic organizations.   Donghua University and Xi’an Polytechnic University were elected as the General Secretariat and Executive Secretariat of the first IDHIMIA council.   Academician Zhu Meifang of Donghua University was elected as the council chair and Prof Li Yi of Manchester University was elected as deputy chair.

Purpose and Nature 

IDHIMIA is an open, international, non-governmental, non-profit multilateral international cooperation scientific and technological innovation organization.

The purpose of IDHIMIA is to promote interdisciplinary and transnational technological innovation. IDHIMIA is a textile and material science research platform to cultivate top-notch innovative talents in the field, enhance cutting-edge scientific research capabilities, strive for original major discoveries, and promote the rapid development of international intelligent materials science, intelligent electronic textile products, wearable devices, smart homes, smart cities, digital infrastructure and digital health industry chain ecosystems. IDHIMIA plays a critical strategic role in promoting economic cooperation among countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” initiative.

IDHIMIA is interdisciplinary, cross-industry, and cross-country. It is a cooperation platform for joint innovation in the industry, academic research and application in building an international industrial ecological chain of digital health smart materials. It differentiates from pure technical organizations and industrial alliances in a singular field.

Development Goals 

DHIMIA currently has 40 founding members from 17 European and Asian countries and regions, representing 22 universities, 12 companies and 6 academic organizations. China Donghua University and Xi’an Engineering University were elected as the general secretariat and executive secretariat of the first IDH-IF-STIO alliance.

The IDHIMIA board of directors was elected. The members of the board are representatives from 16 universities, 2 research organizations, 2 industrial enterprises, and 2 academic groups from 10 countries.

The IDHIMIA Council elected Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academician Zhu Meifang of Donghua University as the Chair, and Professor Li Yi from the University of Manchester as the Deputy Chair of the Council. In addition, the board of directors also elected 8 vice-chairmen, representing 5 countries and professional fields. The council will be committed to leading industry colleagues to participate in the construction of the international industrial ecological chain of digital health and smart materials, benefiting human health, and building a global human health community.