EVOLVE2CARE at MIE 2026: Grounding Digital Health Innovation in Living Labs

The intersection of technological innovation and real-world clinical application is at the forefront of digital health. Marking a significant contribution to this dialogue, Dr. Evdokimos Konstantinidis, Assistant Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), is participating in the 36th Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) conference. Taking place from May 25-28, 2026, in the historic city of Genova, Italy, Dr. Konstantinidis presented a compelling paper during the final day, which has stemmed from the EVOLVE2CARE project, highlighting the critical role of Living Labs in health technology.

The MIE 2026 Landscape: Technology Meets Healthcare

Set against the scenic backdrop of the Magazzini del Cotone, MIE 2026 is organized by the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI), which is proudly celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The conference theme, “Opening the Personal Gate between Technology and Health Care,” aligns perfectly with the current digital health climate.

As noted in the conference proceedings, while artificial intelligence continues to generate immense global interest, it is crucial that these technologies are not overestimated. Technological solutions must be carefully integrated into the healthcare process to provide high-quality, contextualized data. Dr. Konstantinidis’s participation underscored the shared vision that meaningful knowledge arises from open dialogue among all healthcare stakeholders.

EVOLVE2CARE: Bridging the Implementation Gap

The paper presented at MIE 2026 stems directly from the research and real-world experimentation conducted under the EVOLVE2CARE umbrella. The project tackles the persistent challenge of integrating research into everyday clinical settings. Healthcare professionals frequently face critical obstacles, which EVOLVE2CARE aims to resolve through:

  • Overcoming Time Constraints: Addressing the heavy clinical workloads that leave little room for research activities.
  • Aligning Priorities: Ensuring that long-term research objectives do not conflict with immediate patient care needs.
  • Fostering Co-ownership: Engaging healthcare professionals directly in the innovation process through structured, multi-stakeholder partnerships.

By leveraging Living Lab methodologies, Dr. Konstantinidis emphasizes how EVOLVE2CARE supports transitional care innovation. These environments enable the validation of scalable, human-centered solutions within authentic care settings rather than isolated laboratories.

Dr. Evdokimos Konstantinidis’s presentation at MIE 2026 has been a vital step forward in advocating for evidence-based validation in HealthTech. By sharing the practical applications of the EVOLVE2CARE project, he reinforces the necessity of grounding digital innovation in realistic healthcare environments.

New EVOLVE2CARE Joint Webinar Series: “Connecting the Dots in Transitional Care”

EVOLVE2CARE is thrilled to announce our upcoming two-part webinar series, “Connecting the Dots in Transitional Care: Open, Trusted & Interoperable Care.” We are proudly co-organizing this initiative alongside our fellow Horizon Europe projects RAISE-SUITE and DataPACT.

As we continue our mission to standardize HealthTech experimentation practices and enhance the symbiotic relationship between Health and Wellbeing Living Labs and innovators, navigating the complexities of digital health is more important than ever. By subjecting innovations to real-world scenarios through Living Labs, we aim to uncover and address ethical considerations, interoperability challenges, and unforeseen regulatory barriers.

Upcoming Sessions

June 11, 2026, 01:00 PM (Athens Time): Impact and use of Open Science in Transitional Care. Co-led with the RAISE-SUITE project, this session will explore the importance of Open Science for the democratization of data and how this could be practically implemented into transitional care settings.

Featured speaker:
Demosthenis Natsos – Security R&D Engineer, Cyclopt

June 25, 2026, 01:00 PM (Athens Time): Trusted AI in Transitional Care: Ethics, Regulation & the EU AI Act. As AI-driven tools play an increasing role in transitional care—from risk prediction to care coordination—navigating the European regulatory landscape is more important than ever. This webinar will examine the interplay between the AI Act, GDPR, and the European Health Data Space. We will also showcase how DATAPACT project outcomes address these gaps by detailing tools and frameworks for trustworthy AI governance, ethical impact assessments, and regulatory compliance.

Featured speakers:
• Dr Paolo Pareti – University of Southampton
• Tobias Herb – SINTEF
• Sharon Xuereb – Malta IT Law Association (MITLA)

Who Should Attend?

Whether your focus is on Hospital Discharge Management, Remote Monitoring and Home-Based Care Optimisation, or Inclusive Technologies for Aging and Chronic Care, these sessions will provide actionable, evidence-based insights. We strongly encourage participation from:

  • Innovators (Startups, SMEs, Researchers): Learn how to navigate regulatory complexities, reduce your time-to-market, and fast-track your HealthTech solutions in real-world settings.
  • Living Labs: Discover new ways to standardize services, onboard to the AccelUP platform, and unlock new collaborative revenue streams.
  • Policymakers & Regulators: Utilize evidence-based insights from real-world experiments to inform future healthcare policies.
  • Accelerators & Investors: Witness the impact of compliant, real-life tested innovations to identify prime investment opportunities.
  • End-Users (Care units, hospitals, patients, caregivers): Share your experiences to help shape user-friendly innovations that truly enhance patient care and streamline workflows.

Register today to secure your spots at https://authgr.zoom.us/meeting/register/mgbILJS3SxCF_YwCcYs91Q#/registration

EVOLVE2CARE Presented at the Aristotle Innovation Forum 2026

EVOLVE2CARE was presented at the Aristotle Innovation Forum (AIF) 2026, a high-impact international conference hosted by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) that brings together academia, industry, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and society to explore innovation and artificial intelligence.

Held under the theme “Aristotle Meets AI”, the Forum examined how emerging technologies and ethical reasoning can shape future societies. Positioned as a landmark innovation event in Southeastern Europe, AIF provided a dynamic platform for dialogue, networking, and knowledge exchange across multiple sectors.

EVOLVE2CARE at the AI in Medical Education Session

On 19 May 2026, EVOLVE2CARE was featured during the “AI in Medical Education” session of the Medical Forum at AIF.

Representing the project, Evdokimos Konstantinidis, Assistant Professor in Digital, Technological and Open Innovation in Health at the Laboratory of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, presented EVOLVE2CARE and its contribution to advancing HealthTech innovation through Living Lab methodologies.

The session brought together researchers and healthcare professionals to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping medical education and healthcare systems, creating opportunities while also raising important questions regarding implementation, validation, and adoption.

Living Labs as Enablers of Health Innovation

The EVOLVE2CARE presentation highlighted the project’s mission to bridge the gap between technological innovation and real-world healthcare implementation.

A central message of the presentation was that innovation alone is not sufficient. Health technologies must be tested, refined, and validated within realistic healthcare settings involving the stakeholders who will ultimately use them.

Through Living Lab methodologies, EVOLVE2CARE supports this process by:

Real-world experimentation: validating solutions in authentic care environments rather than controlled laboratory settings.

Co-creation and stakeholder engagement: involving healthcare professionals, patients, innovators, and researchers throughout the innovation cycle.

Evidence-based validation: generating feedback and measurable outcomes to assess usability, feasibility, and impact.

Innovation support: connecting innovators with Living Lab infrastructures through the EVOLVE2CARE Open Call and experimentation framework.

These elements reflect the project’s broader vision of supporting transitional care innovation through structured experimentation and collaboration.

From Medical Education to Healthcare Transformation

The inclusion of EVOLVE2CARE within the AI in Medical Education session highlighted the growing recognition that innovation in healthcare extends beyond technology development alone.

Artificial intelligence and digital tools increasingly influence not only clinical practice but also how healthcare professionals are educated, trained, and prepared to adopt innovation responsibly.

By presenting at AIF, EVOLVE2CARE contributed to wider discussions on how HealthTech solutions can move beyond prototypes and research settings toward validated, scalable, and human-centered implementation.

A.R.I.A. in Berlin: Building the Infrastructure for Wearable Affect

The digital health landscape is currently defined by a paradox: while over 538 million wearables were shipped in 2024 alone, the data they collect remains trapped in incompatible silos. To address this “infrastructure challenge,” Anecoica Studio UG and the Good Tech Living Lab recently completed a successful real-world validation of A.R.I.A. (Affective Reasoning & Intelligent Adaptation). This collaboration, born from the EVOLVE2CARE Open Call, marks a critical shift in how we understand the body’s emotional context.

The API for Human Emotion

A.R.I.A. is not a consumer wellness app or a medical device; it is B2B infrastructure designed as a personalization API for wearable effect. It serves as a standardization layer that allows any wearable device to communicate with any application.

The core problem

The problem is the “labels problem”. Generic population models often reach high accuracy in labs (89.4%) but plummet to 56% in real-world conditions because biometric signals vary significantly between individuals. A.R.I.A.’s value lies in calibration, creating personalized models rather than relying on population averages.

Moving from Lab to Life: TRL 4 Validation

On May 3rd, 2026, in Berlin, the project reached a major milestone by moving from TRL 3 (lab accuracy) to TRL 4 (real-world validation). The Living Lab pilot involved 10 healthy adult volunteers in a non-clinical exploratory study.

Using a “Wizard-of-Oz” configuration, the team tested how participants perceived AI-generated soundscapes calibrated to three experiential states: Energetic, Meditative, and Focus. Key observations from this pilot include:

  • Emotional Safety: Participants consistently rated emotional safety at the highest levels, thanks to a neutral framing that eliminated discomfort risk.
  • Perceptual Coherence: High levels of absorption were reported, indicating that the calibrated soundscapes effectively matched the intended mental states.
  • Acceptability: Nearly all participants expressed a willingness to return for future sessions, a strong indicator of the system’s commercial viability.

The Roadmap to 2030

The Berlin pilot is just the first step in a multi-layered roadmap toward establishing a neutral infrastructure standard for the $25B biometric economy.

  • Layer 1 (Current): Focuses on 3-class arousal detection (Stress, Baseline, Amusement) with a 5-minute calibration.
  • Layer 2 (2027): Will introduce voice modality for richer emotional resolution.
  • Layer 3 (2028+): Will implement Per-User Embedding Spaces, creating continuous, longitudinal models that serve as a personalized “moat” for users.

Conclusion

The EVOLVE2CARE partnership has successfully bridged cutting-edge German deep tech with Romanian research expertise. By focusing on calibration as the primary product, A.R.I.A. is poised to solve the 80% churn problem in digital health, where static apps fail because they cannot adapt to the individual.

How could a personalized, real-time understanding of your emotional state transform the apps you use every day?

Driving Innovation: Key Takeaways from the EVOLVE2CARE Exploitation Workshop

The journey from a research project to real-world impact requires a clear map. Recently, the EVOLVE2CARE team gathered for an intensive internal workshop to define that very map. The goal was simple but ambitious: to identify the project’s Key Exploitable Results (KERs) and establish a robust sustainability strategy to ensure our innovations thrive long after the project concludes.

This session marked a pivotal shift from development to delivery, focusing on how our outputs, ranging from digital platforms to policy frameworks, will serve the Health Tech Ecosystem in the years to come.

Mapping the Path: Four Key Exploitable Results

Through a participatory analysis, the team identified four core KERs. These elements are not just standalone products. The EVOLVE2CARE KERs form a complementary pathway from innovation to scaling.

  • AccelUP Market Platform: Our most technical asset, this digital platform serves as the central hub connecting innovators with Living Labs. It is the primary engine for commercialization and long-term sustainability.
  • KPI Framework for Health Tech Evaluation: A structured methodology designed to measure the real-world impact of health tech solutions, providing the evidence-based validation that investors and healthcare providers demand.
  • Training and Capacity Building Program: A training program that equips Living Labs with essential skills in service design and experimentation, currently hosted via the ENoLL Academy.
  • Living Lab Experimentation and Validation Framework: A unified methodology for designing and implementing health tech experiments, ensuring scalability and replication across different healthcare environments.

Strategizing for Sustainability: Commercial vs. Open Access

A major focus of the workshop was classifying these results into Tiers to determine their commercialisation nature. We categorized them based on their primary value:

Tier 1: Commercial Excellence

The AccelUP Platform remains the core commercial asset. Future efforts will focus on dedicated workshops to refine its business model, ensuring it becomes a self-sustaining marketplace for health tech stakeholders.

Tier 2: Non-Commercial & Cross-Cutting Impact

For results like the KPI Framework and the Training Program, the team reached a consensus: Open Access is key. Additionally, it was agreed that the Training Program will remain free of charge to maximize reach among researchers, innovators, and policymakers.

Building for the Future

Sustainability is only possible if the work remains relevant. During the session, partners discussed the importance of keeping training materials “living” by exploring ways to expand content rather than just maintaining it. We also committed to a dissemination strategy that moves beyond traditional repositories like Zenodo to engage directly with scientific communities and European decision-makers.

What’s Next?

The work does not stop here. The team is currently refining the exploitation strategy and formalising the sustainability models, with the aim of presenting the Key Exploitable Results of EVOLVE2CARE in the near future.

By standardizing how we measure impact and build capacity, EVOLVE2CARE is setting a new benchmark for how Health Tech Innovation can be validated and scaled across Europe.

Stay tuned as we move into the final stages of the project, bringing these tools to the wider health tech community!

EVOLVE2CARE at ISPIM Connects Bangkok 2026

EVOLVE2CARE was presented at ISPIM Connects Bangkok 2026 (9–11 March), an international forum bringing together researchers, industry experts, and policymakers to exchange knowledge on innovation management and its real-world applications.

Addressing the Gap in Clinical Practice 

During the event, Evdokimos Konstantinidis from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) represented the EVOLVE2CARE through a presentation titled “Leveraging Living Labs to Integrate Research into Clinical Practice”, highlighting how Living Lab methodologies can support the adoption of digital health solutions in transitional care.

A central focus of the presentation was the persistent challenge of integrating research into everyday clinical settings. Drawing on findings from research involving Living Lab practitioners, Konstantinidis highlighted that while integration is essential, healthcare professionals face several critical obstacles:

  • Time Constraints: Heavy workloads often leave little room for research activities. 
  • Competing Care Priorities: Immediate clinical needs frequently take precedence over long-term research objectives. 
  • Misalignment: There is often a gap between research goals and actual clinical needs, coupled with a lack of aligned incentives for practitioners. 

The presentation emphasized that Living Lab methodologies are key to overcoming these barriers. By providing structured environments for co-creation and real-world testing, Living Labs act as enablers for transitional care innovation by: 

  • Improving Relevance: Ensuring research activities directly address clinical needs. 
  • Fostering Co-ownership: Engaging healthcare professionals directly in the innovation process. 
  • Enabling Collaboration: Facilitating multi-stakeholder partnerships between researchers and clinicians. 
  • Supporting Validation: Testing and validating solutions within real care settings to ensure they work in practice. 

These insights align with EVOLVE2CARE’s broader mission to bridge the gap between innovation and implementation within healthcare systems.

Integrating research into everyday clinical settings remains a key challenge in healthcare innovation. Healthcare professionals often face barriers such as limited time, competing care priorities, and misalignment between research objectives and clinical needs. 

The EVOLVE2CARE contribution addressed these challenges by presenting findings from research involving Living Lab practitioners. The results underline that time constraints and lack of aligned incentives are among the most critical obstacles to integrating research into practice. 

From experimentation to Real-World Impact

Moving beyond theory, EVOLVE2CARE showcased its practical approach to supporting innovators through its experimentation frameworks. Rather than just providing theoretical guidance, the project matches innovators with Living Labs through a dedicated Open Call.

Under this model, selected innovators receive specialized experimentation services from certified Living Lab infrastructures to test their HealthTech solutions. The costs for these services are covered by the project’s Open Call budget, ensuring that financial barriers do not hinder the validation of high-impact technologies. 

Participation in ISPIM Connects Bangkok 2026 highlights EVOLVE2CARE’s contribution to international discussions on HealthTech innovation, Living Labs, and the integration of research into clinical practice.

Advancing Regulatory Learning in HealthTech through EVOLVE2CARE Workshops

Behind effective HealthTech innovation lies not only strong technology, but also a clear understanding of the regulatory environment in which it operates.

As part of its work on transitional care, EVOLVE2CARE organised two dedicated workshops in February and March 2026, bringing together innovators, Living Labs, researchers, and policymakers to explore how regulatory learning can support the real-world adoption of digital health solutions.

Workshop 1: Understanding regulatory barriers in transitional care

The first workshop, “Understanding Regulatory Barriers and Enablers in Transitional Care”, took place on 25 February 2026, gathering 19 participants in an interactive session focused on identifying key regulatory challenges.

The session introduced the concept of regulatory learning and explored how Living Labs can contribute to navigating complex regulatory environments. Through a hands-on exercise using a collaborative Miro board, participants shared real experiences, highlighting barriers related to compliance, policy fragmentation, and implementation constraints.

Beyond identifying challenges, the discussion also focused on potential solutions. Participants exchanged strategies for addressing regulatory obstacles and proposed policy measures that could better support innovation in transitional care.

Workshop 2: From insights to ecosystem-level discussion

Building on these initial findings, EVOLVE2CARE contributed to the ENoLL Joint Working Group on Regulatory Learning, relaunched on 4 March 2026, which brought together 61 participants.

During this session, EVOLVE2CARE presented the first results from the workshop and the regulatory learning survey, contributing to a wider discussion involving the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Living Lab practitioners across Europe.

The workshop also featured best practice examples, illustrating how regulatory learning approaches are already being applied in real settings. Participants reflected on key questions around skills development, capacity building, and the role of collaborative frameworks in supporting regulatory adaptation.

Across both sessions, a clear message emerged: regulatory challenges remain a major barrier to scaling digital health solutions, but they can be addressed through structured, collaborative approaches. 

The Vital Role of Living Labs

Across both sessions, a clear message emerged: regulatory challenges remain a major barrier to scaling digital health solutions, but they can be adA recurring theme across both workshops was that while regulatory challenges are significant, they are manageable through structured, collaborative approaches. Living Labs are central to this effort because they enable: 

  • Real-world testing: Validating solutions in actual care environments. 
  • Early identification: Spotting regulatory constraints before they become roadblocks. 
  • Stakeholder collaboration: Building stronger ties between innovators, healthcare providers, and policymakers. 

Looking Ahead

The work continues with a third workshop scheduled for May 2026. This upcoming session will focus on translating workshop and survey data into actionable recommendations, capacity-building activities, and policy-oriented outcomes for the HealthTech ecosystem.

By fostering this ongoing dialogue, EVOLVE2CARE aims to bridge the gap between innovation and implementation, creating a more responsive regulatory environment for the future of healthcare.

EVOLVE2CARE in Athens: Aligning for Impact and Sustainability

On 17–18 February 2026, the EVOLVE2CARE consortium met in Athens, Greece, for its 4th Plenary Meeting. Held in parallel with Athens Digital Health Week 2026 (ADHW2026) at the Royal Olympic Hotel, the gathering offered more than just coordination updates, it created a moment to reflect, realign, and strengthen the project’s next phase within Europe’s rapidly evolving digital health landscape.

Across two intensive days, partners focused on consolidating the Open Call results, reinforcing the EVOLVE2CARE experimentation framework, advancing the positioning of AccelUP, and scaling outreach and sustainability efforts.

Day 1: From Open Call Results to Real-World Experimentation

The first day was dedicated to a pivotal transition point for the project: moving from Open Call completion to structured implementation in Living Lab environments.

Reflecting on the Open Call Impact

With the Open Calls now officially finalised, the consortium reviewed:

  • Key statistics and insights from the application and selection process
  • Improvements introduced through Deliverable D2.2
  • The shift from recruitment to real-world pilot implementation

Beyond numbers, the discussion focused on impact. How can the lessons learned from the Open Call strengthen communication materials and support the long-term positioning of project outcomes?

The emphasis is now clear: experimentation must generate measurable, documented value within Living Labs.

Strengthening the EVOLVE2CARE Experimentation Framework

Day 1 also included final roadmap presentations for three central deliverables shaping the project’s experimentation model:

  • D1.4 – Roadmap on navigating complexities enabling innovative technologies in transitional care
  • D1.5 – Stakeholder Needs Analysis and KPI Framework
  • D1.6 – EVOLVE2CARE Action Plan

Concrete decisions were taken to reinforce structure and comparability across pilots:

  • Each mini-project will submit a structured “initial context” (solution, target users, key assumptions) before pilots begin, enabling meaningful before/after analysis.
  • A Regulatory & Ethics Log will allow Living Labs to systematically record compliance and data-related issues during implementation.
  • The KPI framework will be disseminated beyond the consortium, engaging relevant European health clusters and sister projects.

Day 2: Connecting Ecosystem Dialogue with Strategic Planning

The second day blended external engagement at ADHW2026 with focused internal alignment on evaluation, outreach, and long-term sustainability.

Engaging the Digital Health Ecosystem at ADHW2026

On the morning of 18 February, EVOLVE2CARE hosted the workshop:

“Engaging the Value of Living Labs to Innovate Healthcare”

Chaired by Despoina Petsani (AUTH), the session brought together innovators, clinicians, researchers, and ecosystem actors to tackle a pressing HealthTech question:

How can promising digital solutions successfully transition from pilot testing to routine clinical practice?

The discussion went beyond technology development and addressed the structural realities of healthcare innovation, including regulatory complexity, GDPR compliance, interoperability limitations, integration into clinical workflows, and fragmented stakeholder collaboration.

Across contributions, Living Labs emerged as structured experimentation environments capable of reducing deployment risks while generating real-world validation.

🔗 Read the full workshop recap here.

Aligning the Next Phase of the Project

Returning to the plenary discussions, partners focused on shaping the next phase of EVOLVE2CARE.

The agenda centred on five strategic priorities:

  • Structuring the evaluation framework for mini-project experimentation
  • Aligning questionnaires and feedback tools for innovators and Living Labs
  • Strengthening AccelUP’s positioning beyond the Open Call phase
  • Expanding participation in European Commission and EIT-related events
  • Planning sustainability and exploitation activities for all project results

Key Highlights from the Discussions

  • Evaluation tools were aligned to ensure structured before/after feedback capturing both technical and market-oriented value.
  • Pricing perception and value-creation questions were integrated into experimentation surveys.
  • Complementary assessment mechanisms were coordinated to ensure systematic data collection.
  • The exploitation approach was further defined, combining questionnaire-based validation with market and competitor analysis.
  • Dissemination efforts will intensify in the “Global Outreach & Sustainability” phase, with stronger participation in European-level events, broader press outreach, and enhanced digital engagement.
  • Strategic planning began for participation in Open Living Lab Days and policy-oriented events to showcase the project’s KPI framework and experimentation insights.

Key Decisions Moving Forward

  • Mini-project evaluation will follow a structured, comparable methodology capturing both experimentation outcomes and market insights.
  • Two internal exploitation workshops will be organized. One dedicated to AccelUP positioning, and another focusing on the remaining project results.
  • Outreach efforts will prioritise European Commission–related events and EIT KIC engagement.
  • Communication efforts will intensify, with coordinated partner promotion and increased focus on subscriber growth and stakeholder engagement.

A Strategic Transition Point

The 4th Plenary Meeting marked a clear evolution for EVOLVE2CARE:

  • From Open Call recruitment to structured pilot implementation
  • From framework design to measurable evidence generation
  • From awareness-building to strategic European outreach
  • From experimentation to sustainability planning

With mini-projects underway, evaluation tools aligned, and exploitation strategy defined, EVOLVE2CARE moves forward with a clearer pathway toward scalable, validated, and ecosystem-integrated HealthTech innovation!

Bridging the Digital Health Innovation Gap – ADHW26 Workshop Recap

Organised by the EVOLVE2CARE project in the context of Athens Digital Health Week 2026, the workshop “Engaging the Value of Living Labs to Innovate Healthcare” took place on 18 February and was chaired by Despoina Petsani, Project Mission Coordinator (AUTH). The session convened innovators, researchers, and ecosystem actors to examine a pressing question in HealthTech: how can promising digital solutions successfully transition from pilot testing to routine clinical practice?

Rather than focusing solely on the generation of new technologies, the discussion addressed the structural and operational barriers that prevent digital health innovations from scaling within real healthcare environments. Speakers highlighted a persistent misalignment between technological development and clinical realities. Digital tools frequently struggle to integrate into established workflows, while regulatory complexity, GDPR compliance, interoperability limitations, and fragmented stakeholder collaboration continue to slow adoption . This creates tension between rapid technological advancement and the healthcare sector’s demand for rigorous validation and governance, often resulting in solutions that are technically robust but operationally stalled.

Spyridoula Trakaki emphasised that startups commonly face systemic barriers to market entry and underscored the importance of open innovation ecosystems in overcoming fragmentation and accelerating uptake. Complementing this perspective, Konstantina Kostopoulou, Chief Product Owner of the Healthentia App, shared practical insights into integration pain points during experimentation, particularly around stakeholder engagement and the initial reactions of clinicians and third parties to new digital tools . Her intervention reinforced the idea that adoption depends not only on technological robustness but also on early trust-building and alignment with end-user expectations.

From a service design standpoint, Thanos Loules and Ilias Rafail of IASIS AMKE explored the challenges of developing inclusive services while maintaining active citizen engagement throughout the experimentation process . They stressed that meaningful co-creation requires sustained involvement rather than superficial consultation. Dr. Angelina Kouroubali further addressed the delicate balance between thorough research and the urgency to bring solutions to market, suggesting that structured experimentation frameworks can reconcile scientific rigor with innovation speed .

Across contributions, Living Labs emerged as a strategic integration mechanism. By enabling structured testing within authentic care settings, they reduce deployment risks, strengthen collaboration among stakeholders, and generate the field-based validation required for broader adoption . Rather than positioning digital tools as external add-ons, Living Labs facilitate their evolution into embedded components of care delivery systems.

The workshop ultimately underscored that sustainable healthcare transformation depends on aligning fast-moving innovation cycles with the operational and regulatory realities of the care sector. Through open ecosystems and Living Lab methodologies, stakeholders can bridge this divide—ensuring that digital health innovations are interoperable, credible, and capable of delivering measurable value in real-world clinical settings .

EVOLVE2CARE Workshop at Athens Digital Health Week 2026

EVOLVE2CARE will participate in Athens Digital Health Week 2026 (ADHW2026) with a dedicated workshop titled:

“Engaging the Value of Living Labs to Innovate Healthcare”

📍 Royal Olympic Hotel, Athens
📅 Wednesday, 18 February 2026
🕙 10:00–11:30 | Kallirhoe Hall

About Athens Digital Health Week 2026

Taking place from 16–20 February 2026, ADHW2026 brings together leading experts, innovators, policymakers, and decision-makers to address critical challenges and showcase breakthrough advancements shaping the future of digital health across Europe and beyond.

Co-organised by IDIKA S.A., the National eHealth Authority (NeHA) of Cyprus, and HL7 Hellas, the event serves as a high-profile networking hub where European projects, governance bodies, and digital health stakeholders connect to accelerate healthcare transformation across Europe.

Workshop Overview

Digital health innovation often encounters significant barriers, including regulatory complexity, interoperability limitations, misalignment with real clinical and user needs, financial constraints, and fragmented stakeholder collaboration.

This EVOLVE2CARE workshop will explore how Living Labs and open innovation ecosystems can help address these challenges by:

  • Strengthening stakeholder engagement
  • Supporting user-centred design
  • Facilitating real-world experimentation
  • Accelerating the translation of innovation into clinical practice

The session will combine theoretical reflections with practical insights drawn from real-world experiences of innovators, clinicians, and ecosystem actors.

Panel Discussion

The workshop will feature short expert interventions from key stakeholders across the digital health ecosystem:

  • Spyridoula Trakaki, Co-Founder of Kakushin, will discuss the main challenges startups face in digital health and reflect on how open innovation ecosystems can create added value for emerging HealthTech ventures.
  • Konstantina Kostopoulou, Chief Product Owner of Healthentia App, will share practical insights on stakeholder integration challenges during experimentation and how clinicians and third parties initially responded to innovation adoption.
  • Thanos Loules & Ilias Rafail (IASIS AMKE) will explore service design challenges in health innovation and discuss how citizens can be meaningfully engaged throughout the experimentation process.
  • Dr. Angelina Kouroubali, Digital Health Expert, will address stakeholder engagement pain points and examine how innovators can balance rigorous research and validation with the urgency of bringing solutions to market.
  • Prof. Dr. Vassilis Vasilikos, Cardiologist, will provide the clinician’s perspective on innovation adoption, highlighting common barriers in clinical practice, nparticularly in cardiology, and attitudes toward integrating digital solutions into healthcare settings.

The session will conclude with an open discussion on how Living Labs can strengthen collaboration, enhance experimentation processes, and accelerate the translation of digital health innovation into sustainable real-world impact.

The workshop will be facilitated by the EVOLVE2CARE coordinator team from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).

🔗 Registration is required:
https://www.athensdigitalhealth.eu/registration