Behind every successful experimentation phase lies a carefully designed selection process.
For EVOLVE2CARE, the Open Call was not simply a call for proposals. It was the foundation of a structured pathway connecting HealthTech innovators with Living Labs across Europe. The Open Call marked the transition from interest to engagement, and from ideas to implementation.
This blog builds on insights from Deliverable D2.2 – “Living Labs, Innovators and Researchers Scouting and Selection Report”, which is publicly available on Zenodo and provides a transparent overview of the scouting, evaluation, and selection process behind the EVOLVE2CARE Open Call.
Designing an Open Call with Purpose
HealthTech innovation thrives when solutions are tested where care actually happens. With this in mind, the EVOLVE2CARE Open Call focused on identifying innovators and Living Labs ready to collaborate in three critical domains of transitional care:
- Hospital discharge management
- Remote monitoring and home-based care
- Ageing and chronic care support
The objective was not only to select promising technologies, but to ensure alignment between innovators’ ambitions and the real-world experimentation capacity of Living Labs.
A Structured and Transparent Process
The scouting and selection process was designed to be clear, fair, and impact-oriented.
Applications were evaluated against predefined criteria that considered:
- Relevance to transitional care use cases
- Technical feasibility and maturity
- Potential for measurable impact
- Readiness for collaboration within Living Lab environments
Beyond scoring, the process also focused on matchmaking, ensuring that selected innovators were paired with Living Labs capable of supporting meaningful experimentation.
This structured approach ensures that the experimentation phase is grounded in strategic alignment rather than opportunistic selection.
From Selection to Real-World Validation
With the Open Call phase completed, selected mini-projects have now entered Living Lab environments for real-world experimentation.
This marks a critical shift. The focus moves:
- From proposal quality to implementation performance
- From theoretical value to practical usability
- From innovation potential to measurable impact
Within Living Labs, solutions are tested in real healthcare contexts, involving professionals, patients, and ecosystem actors. This enables innovators to refine their tools, identify integration challenges early, and generate evidence that goes beyond technical feasibility.
Building Evidence for Sustainable Uptake
The Open Call was the first step in a broader journey toward sustainability and scalability.
By documenting the scouting and evaluation methodology, EVOLVE2CARE reinforces its commitment to transparency and replicability. The structured selection process lays the groundwork for credible experimentation outcomes, stronger positioning of project results, and future ecosystem adoption.
Readers interested in understanding the full methodology behind the Open Call scouting and selection process can explore Deliverable D2.2 – “Living Labs, Innovators and Researchers Scouting and Selection Report”, available publicly on Zenodo.
From applications to experimentation, EVOLVE2CARE continues to build a pathway where innovation is not only selected, but validated, strengthened, and positioned for real-world healthcare transformation.
