Charter - Innovation Committee

Definition and Role

The SFCP Innovation Committee is a national working group whose objective is to accelerate and promote innovation in pediatric surgery.

Pediatric surgery, as a discipline dedicated to the management of rare diseases, is characterized by a strong capacity for innovation driven by its practitioners. However, the small number of patients and the complexity of the conditions often limit pediatric surgeons’ ability to act as promoters of these innovations, more frequently positioning them as users.

In this context, the Innovation Committee aims to foster a paradigm shift by supporting pediatric surgeons in the development, structuring, and promotion of innovative projects.

By definition, the Committee is cross-disciplinary and addresses all subspecialties of the SFCP.

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Mission

The Innovation Committee’s mission is to promote innovation in pediatric surgery by leveraging several complementary approaches.

It aims to train pediatric surgeons in new technologies and innovation challenges, facilitate the emergence and development of projects, and encourage interactions with industrial, academic, and scientific partners.

It also ensures the protection of ideas and the structuring of a viable organizational, human, and economic model to sustain these initiatives over the long term.

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Objectives

Patients

The Committee’s primary objective is to improve the health of children and adolescents treated by pediatric surgeons through the development and integration of relevant and appropriate innovations.

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Sharing and Collaboration

The Committee aims to pool the technical, legal, and relational knowledge necessary for innovation in pediatric surgery.

It issues advisory opinions on the scientific and economic viability of projects, as well as their development potential. It fosters interaction among stakeholders and the sharing of ideas and solutions to drive new innovations.

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A Foundational Innovation Hub

The Committee defines the main short- and medium-term research priorities for innovation to ensure clarity and consistency in the actions undertaken.

It develops communication and outreach initiatives to encourage stakeholder engagement and the development of partnerships.

It contributes to training pediatric surgeons in innovation, collaborates with industrial, scientific, technical, and academic partners, and facilitates the regulatory and legal procedures necessary for project implementation.

 

Finally, it monitors investments made and results achieved.

 

Governance and Organization

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Composition of the Executive Board

The Innovation Committee is structured around an Executive Board comprising:

 

• A Committee Director

• A Deputy Financial Director

• One or more Deputy Section Directors

• One or more Project Managers

• The President of the SFCP

• The Scientific Directors of the affiliated societies​

 

The Committee Director

The Director is elected by the committee members for a three-year term, renewable twice, following the submission of a candidacy at least one month prior to the vote.

 

• The Director’s responsibilities include:

• Leading the committee

• Coordinating the work and monitoring projects

• Serving as the liaison with the SFCP Scientific Council

• Coordinating relations with the committee’s sections

• Coordinating relations with other SFCP committees and groups

• Ensuring the ethical and responsible use of funds

• Ensuring the committee’s financial viability

• Representing the committee before the Board of Directors and providing an annual activity report

• Representing the committee before the support fund​

 

The Assistant Financial Director

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• Prepares the annual financial and ethical report

• Ensures the committee’s financial viability

• Describes the business model and its outlook (see Appendix 1)

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Program Officers

Program officers are recruited based on job descriptions. They support the steering committee and the sections in all their activities.

Other Roles

The Executive Board also includes:

• A Deputy Director of Sections

• The President of the SFCP

• The scientific leads of each society

 

 

Organization into Sections

The Innovation Committee relies on several functional sections:

 

Promotion and Communication Section

This section promotes the committee, its projects, and the solutions developed. It also organizes training initiatives and exchanges, particularly with partners.

Scientific Council

The Scientific Council reviews and approves projects submitted to the committee within a short timeframe. It advises and guides project leaders. It is composed of pediatric surgeons and representatives from other disciplines, selected for their expertise in innovation.

 

Legal and Intellectual Property Section

This section provides the regulatory and legal tools necessary for the development and implementation of projects, as well as for the protection of ideas. It also participates in training members on these issues.

 

Partner Sections

It develops a network of industry partners, laboratories, universities, and partner schools.

It trains members on how to interact with these partners and helps organize exchange formats such as webinars or themed events.

 

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Appendices

Business Model

Innovation in pediatric surgery requires funding for human resources, investment in new innovative projects, and the promotion of these projects.

This funding may come from donations, corporate sponsorship, calls for proposals, and local, regional, or national funding sources.

To this end, a foundation-type structure linked to the Innovation Committee and the SFCP must be established.

The Fondation De l'Avenir is proposing a collaboration in the form of a support fund as an initial step.​

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Target Patients

Newborns and infants: a necessary adaptation of innovations for the very young.

Newborns are a core focus of pediatric surgeons. When they present with congenital anomalies, they are cared for by multidisciplinary teams from the prenatal period through adulthood. These conditions are numerous, but each occurs rarely. Since 2015, these teams have organized themselves into centers of reference and expertise that involve surgeons within the framework of national rare disease plans. Pediatric surgeons have clearly understood that improving their performance requires collaboration. This has led to the creation of groups and committees (GECI, GCPOT, thoracic, gastrointestinal), and to participation in European groups such as ERNICA. Adapting today’s innovations—which are primarily geared toward adults and ill-suited for low birth weights—is critical.

Some examples of ongoing projects:

Development of an initial and continuing education program for the surgical management of esophageal atresia and diaphragmatic hernias: a step-by-step training program aimed at reducing complications and long-term effects of surgery.

The value of 3D printing in developing a surgical strategy for pulmonary malformations: how 1:1 scale printing of the lung and its malformation can facilitate minimally invasive and conservative surgery compared to virtual 3D segmentation.

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Pediatric Tumors: The Surgeon’s Indispensable Role

Pediatric tumors, which are often embryonic, germ cell tumors, and highly diverse, have little in common with adult tumors in terms of response to treatment and incidence. Pediatric surgical oncology has thus gradually become a distinct field, and a tumor board has been established, serving as a bridge between the French societies for pediatric oncology and pediatric surgery. More so than for other conditions, surgery is often a challenge in terms of the risk-benefit balance between the difficulties and the oncological quality of the resection on the one hand, and the consequences and sequelae associated with the procedure on the other: a positive margin requiring radiation therapy with a significant impact on growth, or extensive surgery involving the removal of part of an organ’s function that is essential for a long life… Adapting innovations to these younger patients with rare cancers is also an ambitious goal.

Some examples of ongoing projects:

3D printing and registration to improve surgical outcomes in nephroblastoma surgery.

Surgical strategy in high-risk retroperitoneal neuroblastomas: lessons from a study of surgical strategies in France.
 

 

Topics

• Performance in the Operating Room

Performance involves minimizing errors while improving the efficiency of surgical procedures. The miniaturization of robots and the adaptation of new augmented reality tools are necessary. The development of procedural or full-scale simulation models and initial or continuing education programs is critical. Research in these areas, already well underway, must be accelerated. Research into performance factors specific to neonates and tumor surgery is essential. Maintaining a high level of performance through various forms of cognitive or physical training must be improved.

 

• Applications of Machine Learning in Pediatric Surgery

The use of big data tools naturally aligns with performance objectives in the operating room: new tools such as Intuitive’s hub, which analyzes surgeons’ movements, or upcoming segmentation and registration tools will need to be adapted for pediatric surgeons. However, the field of big data—and, in practice, machine learning—is much broader.

Beyond the operating room, in order to achieve sufficient cohort sizes and obtain actionable data, pediatric surgeons have become accustomed to multicenter research. However, these efforts are often hampered by organizational differences in both strategies and data management. The result is research on surgical performance that is unprecedented on a global scale but still lacks robust evidence. To effectively and prospectively leverage machine learning, it must be integrated into operating rooms and surgical departments within a national framework. These new tools could automate data collection and make the data actionable.

Thus, big data will improve surgical practice in three areas: surgeon training, their knowledge, and automation (1. Wall J, Krummel T. The digital surgeon: How big data, automation, and artificial intelligence will change surgical practice. Journal of Pediatric Surgery. 2020)

 

 

Objectives and Timeline

The Committee has set an ambitious goal: to demonstrate, within five years, the progress made possible by the innovations developed.

This goal requires a high degree of adaptability, as projects are likely to evolve rapidly in a constantly changing technological environment.

The Committee is committed to promoting the sharing of expertise, supporting project leaders, and organizing meetings with innovation partners in various formats (webinars, themed events, etc.).

A schedule for these activities is currently being developed.