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.
