A series of "firsts" were established at this year's European Connectathon in Istanbul.

The first-ever IHE International World Summit is taking place here gathering participants from 21 countries for two days of presentations and panel sessions.

It is also the first time winter has stayed so long on the banks of the Bosporus.  Unseasonably cold temperatures and steady rain greeted hundreds of health IT engineers arriving to set up their systems at the Haliç Congress Center.

The hospitality of the hosts from IHE-Turkey warmed up spirits while the intensive testing activity heated up with a greater number of test being performed for each system.

Stay tuned for more news, or follow updates on LinkedIn !

IHE European Connectathon gets underway at the Halic Congress Cente in Istanbul.  Carpets and marble floors! A first for software engineers.

Connecting with partners to validate data exchanges.

The weather outside is frightful. Cold and rain continued on Day 2.

Good food, good friends and great hosts.  Thanks IHE-Turkey for a well-organized event.

The delegation from Saudi Arabia enjoys a change in climate.

The Croatia delegation are new participants at Projectathon 2013 testing systems to join the 20-plus nations in epSOS (European Patient Smart Open Services)

Standing room only at IHE World Summit. At the first-ever gathering of regional and national health IT deployment execs, late arrivals filled overflow seating or stood to hear the opening keynote from Mike Nusbaum with Canada Health Infoway.

"Win a seat at the table for interoperability!" Michael Nusbaum from IHE International shares experiences from Canada Health Infoway for aligning IHE deployments with the national infrastructure.

IHE World Summit meets Connectathon. Participants in the conference program toured the testing activity at Connectathon 2013 to get a feel for this 'connectivity marathon.

Prof. Dr. Nevra Elmas, President of the Turkish Society of Radiology views a demonstration of how IHE enables interoperability for medical imaging.