EVOLVE2CARE will reveal inhibitors to HealthTech innovation in the Transitional Care sector
EVOLVE2CARE aims to create an ecosystem that fosters experimentation, leading to valuable insights, novel ideas and advancements for innovators, researchers, regulators, and other HealthTech stakeholders. By developing a framework that affords a common approach for practices, EVOLVE2CARE will provide Living Labs with a market-centric paradigm and tool that can expand their impact as experimentation spaces, breaking down the silos which can occur in small local or regional networks.
PROJECT SCOPE
Encompassing a range of technological innovations, from wearable devices to telemedicine platforms, HealthTech has revolutionized the way care is delivered and received across the healthcare spectrum. This is particularly true in transitional care, which focuses on maintaining continuity as patients move between different stages and settings of care and relies upon a vast array of data and information gathered and exchanged between devices, systems, and word-of-mouth. Experimentation in transitional care is indispensable for developing specific technologies or innovative solutions that address the intricate and multifaceted nature of healthcare transitions. By subjecting these technologies to real-world scenarios, experimentation uncovers complexities, ethical considerations, interoperability challenges, and unforeseen barriers that controlled environments may not reveal. This process enables iterative refinement, customization, and validation of solutions to match diverse patient needs, ensure regulatory compliance, and address stakeholder concerns.
EVOLVE2CARE utilizes a network of Living Labs across Europe to address delays in the development, sales, and adoption of HealthTech solutions. These delays often result from the rapid pace of innovation outpacing market and regulatory responses, leading to uncertainty for manufacturers. By engaging end users, decision makers, regulators, and innovators early in the process, EVOLVE2CARE aims to assess real-time challenges during HealthTech experimentation. The focus is on transitional care, piloting innovative solutions in three use cases: a) hospital discharge management; b) home care monitoring; and c) care transitions for the aging population.
We will offer innovators access to certified Living Labs, chosen for their resources that align with prototype development needs. Pairing innovators with these labs boosts the relevance and impact of research outcomes. We’ll also engage stakeholders to identify and eliminate barriers to innovation, speeding up the development of improved transitional care solutions based on real evidence. EVOLVE2CARE will be a key project for the Health and Wellbeing working group of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), creating and delivering new services to the broader Living Labs ecosystem.
1. Foster user-centric research and support technology upscaling
EVOLVE2CARE will utilize pan-European Living Labs to create harmonized experimentation services, making it easier to assess and refine HealthTech innovations based on social and market feedback. The project will map standardized Living Lab services and infrastructure and develop an Action Plan to create a marketplace of experimentation spaces. This will streamline user-centric testing of disruptive HealthTech innovations, particularly in transitional care, aiming to speed up market entry, lower risks, and reduce costs. Additionally, two training programs will be developed for Living Labs and innovators to enhance their knowledge and use of these services.
2. Enable deployment and commercialization
EVOLVE2CARE will identify the prerequisites and barriers—such as legal, regulatory, financial, technological, and operational issues—that could hinder innovation in HealthTech, particularly in transitional care areas like hospital discharge management, home care monitoring, and aging population care transitions. By studying stakeholders across the EU, the project will pinpoint obstacles to the development and market entry of HealthTech innovations. It will support the testing of at least 10 innovations by fostering environments that encourage innovation. To enhance impact and reach, EVOLVE2CARE will implement targeted dissemination and communication campaigns, while also assisting innovators with their exploitation activities.
3. Demonstrate pan-European testing by fostering coordination and regulatory action
Building on the success of the previous H2020 project, VITALISE, EVOLVE2CARE will establish a diverse marketplace called AccelUP. This platform will include Living Labs and other healthcare stakeholders such as innovators, regulators, and investors. AccelUP will facilitate pan-European HealthTech experimentation by matching innovators with Living Labs to utilize their infrastructure and support services. Researchers and innovators can validate their HealthTech solutions through a methodology already tested by Sploro, integrated into the AccelUP platform. This coordinated approach will help overcome legal, regulatory, and operational obstacles, accelerating the shift towards personalized healthcare systems. Additionally, EVOLVE2CARE will assist European regulatory authorities in improving frameworks to promote innovation through standardized mechanisms and an extensive exploitation strategy. Living Labs will be engaged in experimentation activities via an open call through the ENOLL network and beyond.
4. Encourage knowledge sharing and Collaborations
EVOLVE2CARE will create strategies for effective communication and knowledge sharing among legal, regulatory, fiscal, and operational entities. The AccelUP platform will enable stakeholders to identify and share obstacles or conflicts arising from the testing of HealthTech innovations in transitional care. This will lead to the development of solutions better aligned with the healthcare ecosystem’s needs, increasing market adoption and success. AccelUP will also promote best practices among stakeholders, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing. Through AccelUP, policymakers can support transformative innovation by utilizing collective knowledge from Living Labs. EVOLVE2CARE will also engage with EU initiatives and collaborate with existing projects to strengthen these efforts.
1. Increase knowledge on experimentation frameworks for testing innovations
The overall scheme of our project will present a clear step-by-step process to enable this from a requisites’ gathering in Phase 1, to training programs and the development of experimentation services in Phase 2, to an actual experimentation suite in Phase 3 that will significantly enable us to increase knowledge on experimentation frameworks for testing innovations under the transitional care domain in Living Labs’ real-life environments.
2. Provide services for testing innovative solutions leading to technology upscaling, reducing cost, accelerating
time to the market, and reducing investment risks
Through Phase 1, we focus on understanding the diverse needs of stakeholders. In Phase 2, we delve deeper into the practicalities
of innovation, emphasizing the advancement of the AccelUP software infrastructure. In Phase 3 we focus on the actual execution of experimentation services. By testing innovations in real-world settings and gathering feedback. This hands-on approach, combined with the insights and feedback mechanisms ensures that the innovations are not only technologically advanced but also market-ready and cost-effective.
3. Enhance knowledge sharing and development of best practices between stakeholders that have been actively engaged in testing and experimentation processes
Our collaborative and cross-sectoral approach will ensure that a holistic view of Transitional Care issues is generated and shared between all members of the stakeholder chain through the AccelUp platform. Project partners have extensive experience in designing and delivering training programs events, and research related to innovation, commercialization, experimentation.
4. Facilitate the deployment and potential commercialisation of new innovative solutions
In essence, by combining targeted training with the tangible benefits of Living Labs, EVOLVE2CARE ensures that innovative solutions are not only developed but are also ready for deployment and commercialisation in the real world.
5. Identify areas where the multi-sectoral and/or emerging nature of some innovations requires coordinated action by innovators and regulators
EVOLVE2CARE has deliberately chosen 3 Use Cases in the transitional care sector due to the high probability of regulatory issues associated with each one. The iterative experimentation process that will be performed in the Living Labs provides an opportunity to study in real time the regulatory hurdles or enablers that innovators face as they develop new products and services.
6. Identify legal, regulatory, fiscal, technical, and operational prerequisites or barriers for different use-cases which hamper the development of innovation
To effectively identify the myriad of legal, regulatory, fiscal, technical, and operational prerequisites or barriers that obstruct innovation, we employ a two-pronged strategy. Firstly, we conduct a rigorous task-driven analysis, focusing on our Use Cases. Secondly, our methodology emphasizes direct engagement with stakeholders, to glean first hand insights into the real-world manifestations of these barriers.
7. Explore areas where the European supervisory authority exists and pan-European testing might be desirable
Leveraging our expertise in health, transitional care, and multi-sectoral innovations, we delve deep into the European landscape to pinpoint sectors overseen by a European supervisory authority. The project will also engage in workshops and fora to discuss the potential of pan-European testing in the identified areas, drawing from project’s real-life examples and use cases.
METHODOLOGY
The project is implemented through three interconnected phases that underpin its methodological approach
Phase 1 focuses on defining the specific requirements of the various stakeholders who are impacted by, or can impact, the process of validating HealthTech solutions in the transitional care industry. These conclusions will advance the development of the EVOLVE2CARE’s experimentation framework, utilizing AccelUP, which is a centralized marketplace platform where innovators (researchers, SMEs, startups, corporates) who utilize Living Lab services can find and connect with suitable labs.
Phase 2 includes the actual development of the AccelUP marketplace modules and services (as defined in T1.4), which are necessary to set up the functionality of EVOLVE2CARE’s experimentation space and the matching of innovators and researchers in the transitional care sector to use Living Lab services from the AccelUP marketplace.
Phase 3 includes the execution of the experimentation services, during which HealthTech innovations in the transitional care sector will be tested in Living Lab infrastructures identified in Phase 2. This phase includes the execution of each experiment for the Use Case identified, in realistic environments as well as the monitoring and evaluation of the experimentation process. The innovators who have been chosen and matched with a Living Lab will be given access to the agreed resources of the particular Living Lab. The matched labs will be offered payment vouchers by EVOLVE2CARE on behalf of the innovators to compensate for the experimentation services they will provide. An amount of 50.000 euros has been set aside in the budget to cover these costs, and EVOLVE2CARE anticipates that this funding will cover between 10-12 separate innovation experimentation instances of the predefined Use Cases. A mechanism for both parties i.e., a) Living Labs, and b) innovators, to provide feedback on the matching process will be established to refine the AccelUP platform process for future collaborations that will be achieved through a bidding process. Ongoing support and assistance to both parties during the collaboration will be offered by EVOLVE2CARE partners to address any challenges that arise and ensure a positive experience for everyone involved, while also informing and refining the design of the bidding process in the experimentation space of the AccelUP platform. Lessons learnt and best practices will be reported according to the standardised process defined in the Action Plan (T1.3) of AccelUP, along with the main research findings and reports on experiments, best practices, and explanations of the use case. Two knowledge sharing workshops will be held during the annual Open Living Lab Days, organized by ENOLL. In addition to showcasing the results of the project, these two workshops will gather stakeholders that have been engaged during the experimentation process and beyond and highlight the benefits of utilizing AccelUP.
PARTNERS
Our consortium is composed of five partners from five EU countries: Greece, Bulgaria, Belgium, Spain and Cyprus
The consortium partners count an already established community of over 480 Living Lab members in Europe and worldwide engaging with more than 500 innovators and researchers, 50 investors, and a massive reach of diverse stakeholders such as policy makers regulators and end-users, that can be a lever not only for the EVOLVE2CARE project but for the whole of EIC KIC communities.