Information Technology is having an increasing influence on medicine. This can be readily observed by anybody visiting a hospital or consulting a doctor, or even by going to the chemist. A range of new medical instruments, new scanners, new on-line diagnostics as well as more effective distribution methods all increasingly contain IT elements that enable new more effective medical tools and services. But there is also a lot going on "behind the scenes," at the research and development level, that will greatly influence the medical tools and services of tomorrow. In this respect, Esprit, the...