[Innovative technology and blood safety]

If technological innovations are not enough alone to improve blood safety, their contributions for several decades in blood transfusion are major. The improvement of blood donation (new apheresis devices, RFID) or blood components (additive solutions, pathogen reduction technology, automated processing of platelets concentrates) or manufacturing process of these products (by automated processing of whole blood), all these steps where technological innovations were implemented, lead us to better traceability, more efficient processes, quality improvement of blood products and therefore increased blood safety for blood donors and patients. If we are on the threshold of a great change with the progress of pathogen reduction technology (for whole blood and red blood cells), we hope to see production of ex vivo red blood cells or platelets who are real and who open new conceptual paths on blood safety.