The KIVI (Dutch Royal Institution of Engineers) has been awarding the Speurwerkprijs (Investigative Work Award) to the person who has conducted the best investigative work in a certain field, and through that work contributed to the development of technical science, since 1954. The Speurwerkprijs 2003 was awarded in the field of ‘Medical technology’, in particular for the investigative work or innovation that improved the access of care in the broadest sense. The investigative work or innovation by preference (but not necessarily) consisted of ICT-related products or services.

Byelex thought it right to submit its groundbreaking technology Ortho Expert® for this prestigious price, as Ortho Expert® meets all the criteria as worded by the jury. Alas, Byelex and Ortho Expert® did not win the first prize, but it did receive much praise from the jury and feels justifiably proud of this.

Ortho Expert in a nutshell

Byelex has worked for more than ten years on a generic technology that enables companies and institutions to build, publish and maintain expert systems very quickly. The technology can be applied to any area because the generic character of the application is the implicit basic premise.

The knowledge domain that served as bedrock for the development of this technology was the field of Orthopaedia, classic diagnostics to be specific. The product that was developed for this field is called Ortho Expert®. This multimedia expert system that is able to recognise over 300 afflictions, has a complete anatomical atlas at its disposal. More than 600 images help to determine the specific characteristics of a clinical picture.