From Applications to Experimentation: The Journey Behind the EVOLVE2CARE Open Call

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.

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

EVOLVE2CARE Contributes to Open Science at the ManagiDiTH Winter School 2026

EVOLVE2CARE was featured during the ManagiDiTH Winter School and Innovation Bootcamp 2026, held in Finland from 26–30 January 2026, an intensive five-day programme combining innovation, entrepreneurship, and hands-on collaboration in the field of digital health.

The Winter School brought together students, researchers, enterprises, and academic partners to explore innovative health technologies through keynote sessions, teamwork, ideation, prototyping, and final concept presentations. Activities focused on bridging academic knowledge with real-world healthcare challenges, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and practical experimentation.

During the programme, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) presented EVOLVE2CARE as a concrete example of a European HealthTech project supporting Living Lab–based experimentation and Open Science practices. The presentation highlighted how EVOLVE2CARE contributes to transparent and responsible innovation in transitional care, while actively engaging with Open Science principles.

In particular, AUTH showcased the use of the RAISE platform for uploading and managing datasets generated through Living Lab activities, demonstrating how EVOLVE2CARE supports FAIR data practices and enables responsible data sharing across collaborative research environments.

Through its presence at the Winter School, EVOLVE2CARE strengthened its visibility within academic and innovation communities, while reinforcing its mission to support human-centred, data-aware HealthTech solutions that can be tested and refined in real-life settings.

From Testing to Adoption: What Makes HealthTech Solutions Ready for Real-World Deployment?

HealthTech innovation rarely fails because of a lack of ideas.
More often, it fails in the space between testing and adoption.

Many promising solutions perform well in pilot environments but struggle to scale, integrate into real healthcare settings, or gain long-term acceptance. The challenge is not proving that a technology works. The real challenge is proving that it is ready.

At EVOLVE2CARE, readiness is understood as a multi-dimensional journey, rather than just a final checkbox. Real-world deployment depends on whether solutions can respond to the practical, organisational, social, and regulatory realities of transitional care.

This blog builds on insights from Deliverable D1.2 – Stakeholder Needs Analysis and KPI Framework, which is publicly available and provides a deeper look into what makes HealthTech solutions ready for real-world deployment.

Why successful pilots don’t always lead to adoption

Testing a HealthTech solution in isolation can demonstrate technical feasibility, but real-world healthcare environments are far more complex.

Healthcare professionals operate under time pressure, fragmented systems, and strict accountability requirements. Hospitals must ensure that new solutions integrate smoothly into existing workflows without increasing workload or disrupting care delivery. Patients and caregivers need technologies that are understandable, usable, and supportive.

When these realities are not addressed early, innovations risk remaining “pilot-ready” but not system-ready.

Readiness starts with real-world relevance

A solution is ready for adoption when it demonstrates value where care actually happens.

Real-life experimentation helps innovators understand whether their solutions:

  • integrate into existing digital and organisational infrastructures
  • reduce administrative burden instead of adding complexity
  • support clinical decision-making in meaningful ways
  • improve patient experience, continuity of care, and outcomes

Living Labs play a critical role here by offering environments where innovations can be tested under realistic conditions, involving healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, and organisations from the outset. This early exposure allows innovators to identify gaps, refine features, and adapt their solutions long before large-scale deployment.

Scaling requires more than technical performance

Moving beyond pilots requires attention to scale, sustainability, and long-term viability.

Healthcare organisations increasingly expect evidence that innovations are:

  • cost-effective and operationally efficient
  • adaptable to different care settings and regions
  • supported by training and knowledge transfer
  • aligned with broader health system goals

Regulatory preparedness as part of readiness

Regulatory compliance is often addressed late in the innovation process, creating delays and costly redesigns. However, readiness for deployment also means regulatory readiness.

Testing solutions in real-world settings helps innovators:

  • understand how regulations apply in practice
  • identify compliance challenges early
  • align development choices with safety, privacy, and legal requirements

Human-centred adoption

Readiness is ultimately about people.

Patients and caregivers have highlighted the importance of preserving human connection, clarity, and trust when digital solutions are introduced. Healthcare professionals have stressed the need for tools that support their expertise. Care organisations seek solutions that align with their operational realities.

Real-life experimentation allows these perspectives to shape innovation, ensuring that adoption is not forced, but earned through relevance and usability.

EVOLVE2CARE’s work on stakeholder needs and experimentation offers further insight into how readiness can be approached systematically across the HealthTech ecosystem. Readers interested in the methodological foundations behind this approach can further explore our public Deliverable D1.2 – Stakeholder Needs Analysis and KPI Framework.

Experimentation as a Trust-Building Tool in HealthTech

Why Real-Life Testing Matters for Patients, Providers, and Regulators

Trust is one of the most underestimated barriers in healthcare innovation.

HealthTech solutions promise better outcomes, smoother transitions, and more personalized care. Yet patients hesitate, healthcare professionals remain cautious, and regulators demand extensive evidence before approving deployment. The question is not whether innovation is needed, but whether it can be trusted.

At EVOLVE2CARE, we approach experimentation not as a technical checkpoint, but as a human, ethical, and social process. Real-life testing in Living Labs allows innovation to be shaped with people and not simply delivered to them.

Our approach is grounded in the work carried out within the project to better understand what different stakeholders truly need from HealthTech innovation in transitional care. These insights have been consolidated in Deliverable D1.2 – Stakeholder Needs Analysis and KPI Framework, which offers a deeper look into how experimentation can align innovation with real-world expectations across patients, healthcare providers, Living Labs, and regulators.

Why patients hesitate

For patients and caregivers, trust is deeply personal.

New digital health tools often raise concerns around data privacy, usability, and the fear that technology may replace, rather than support, human care. When innovations are introduced without sufficient explanation or involvement, uncertainty quickly turns into resistance.

Real-life experimentation helps address these concerns by actively involving patients and caregivers in the development process. Living Labs create safe, supportive environments where individuals can test solutions, provide feedback, and influence how technologies evolve. When patients see that their experiences, preferences, and limitations are taken seriously, trust begins to grow.

Why healthcare providers resist

Healthcare professionals operate in demanding environments, balancing patient care with administrative responsibilities and fragmented digital systems. New technologies are often perceived as adding complexity rather than relieving pressure.

Through real-life experimentation, healthcare providers can assess whether innovations genuinely integrate into existing workflows, reduce administrative burden, and support clinical decision-making. Testing solutions in realistic settings allows professionals to identify what works, what doesn’t, and what needs refinement before wider adoption.

Why regulators are cautious

Regulators play a critical role in safeguarding patient safety, data protection, and ethical standards. Their caution is not a barrier to innovation, but a necessary responsibility in a highly sensitive sector.

Living Lab experimentation offers regulators early insight into how HealthTech solutions function in real-world conditions. By observing technologies as they are tested with users, regulators can better understand emerging risks, ethical implications, and compliance challenges. Early engagement reduces uncertainty, helps avoid costly redesigns, and supports smoother pathways to approval.

Living Labs as trust enablers

Living Labs sit at the intersection of innovation, care delivery, and regulation.

Beyond providing physical spaces or technical infrastructure, Living Labs act as trusted intermediaries that facilitate transparent collaboration among patients, healthcare professionals, innovators, and policymakers. Living Labs ensure that ethical considerations, data protection, inclusivity, and societal context are embedded throughout the experimentation process and not only addressed as afterthoughts.

Trust is not built through promises or pilot demonstrations alone.
Trust is built through real-life evidence, transparency, and shared responsibility.

For readers interested in exploring the methodological foundations behind this trust-driven approach, Deliverable D1.2 – Stakeholder Needs Analysis and KPI Framework is publicly available and offers further insight into how real-life experimentation can support responsible HealthTech innovation in transitional care.

 

EVOLVE2CARE at the 8th Health IT Conference 2025

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On October 30–31, 2025, EVOLVE2CARE proudly participated in the 8th Health IT Conference, held at the OTE Academy Amphitheater in Athens, Greece. This year’s conference, titled “Designing the Digital Healthcare Ecosystem in the Age of AI”, brought together industry leaders, innovators, Greek national authorities, and research communities to explore how artificial intelligence, data, and modern technologies can transform healthcare and strengthen the National Health System.

EVOLVE2CARE was represented by Despoina Petsani, Project Mission Coordinator, who joined the panel discussion “Innovative Digital Solutions and Modern Health Support Tools” alongside three synergy projects: COMFORTage, IRHIS, and SEARCH. In her presentation, “EVOLVE2CARE: Leveraging the Power of Living Labs for Innovation in Transitional Health Care”, Despoina Petsani highlighted how Living Labs act as enablers of real-world experimentation and multi-stakeholder collaboration, accelerating innovation in Transitional Care.

The conference served as a dynamic platform for open dialogue and collaboration, reinforcing EVOLVE2CARE’s commitment to building a sustainable and innovative future for digital health in Europe.

By presenting its approach, EVOLVE2CARE demonstrated the value of Living Labs as catalysts for innovation in Transitional Care, bridging the gap between technology and patient needs.

 

From protection to strategy: How HealthTech innovators can leverage IP

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The fourth session of the EVOLVE2CARE Training Series for HealthTech Innovators and Researchers took place on 24 July 2025, bringing sharp focus to one of the most essential, and often overlooked, aspects of innovation: intellectual property (IP).

The session, titled “Unlocking IP Value – Protection, Collaboration & AI Innovations,” was led by Yannis Skoulikaris, Founder and Managing Director of PatentMind Netherlands BV, and former Director at the European Patent Office (EPO). PatentMind offers expert guidance based on deep knowledge of software patents, AI innovation, and international patent law.

What is Intellectual Property, and what does it protect?

The session outlined the four types of IP and what they protect:

1. Patents – Protect technical inventions and unique processes or products

Patentable examples include:

  • Algorithms, software methods, if embedded in a technical solution to a technical problem

2. Copyright – Protects code, content, and creative works

Patentable examples include:

  • Source code
  • Manuals
  • Graphics

3. Trademarks – Protect brands, logos and names

Used for:

  • Product names
  • Company logos

4. Trade secrets – Protect confidential information, algorithms and know-how

Includes:

  • Source more
  • Formulas
  • Client lists

The instructor highlighted that Intellectual Property is the secret weapon of innovators for protecting, managing, and unlocking value from their innovation.

Why does it matter?
  • Competitive advantage
  • Company Valuation & Investment
  • Licensing Opportunities
  • Legal defence & Risk mitigation

In the fast-evolving world of tech and AI, strong IP protection is crucial for staying ahead, attracting investors, and safeguarding innovation.

Patents in focus

Patents are one of the most powerful tools to protect and commercialize innovation—especially in HealthTech and AI-driven environments.

What can be patented?

To receive a patent, an idea must be novel and solve a real problem. The specific requirements vary slightly by region:

  • In Europe, the invention must provide a technical solution to a technical problem.
  • In the US, it must offer a useful solution to a practical problem.
Why do patents matter—particularly in tech and AI?
  • They protect your innovations from being copied by competitors.
  • They increase your company’s valuation and attractiveness to investors.
  • They create new licensing and collaboration opportunities.
  • Importantly, patent rights are granted to the applicant, not necessarily the inventor—making early filing and clear agreements essential.
How does the patenting process work?

The pathway from idea to protection follows a clear structure:

  • Search: First, check if your invention is new.
  • Application: File with the relevant patent office.
  • Search/Examination: Patent office reviews your application in an interactive process, involving the applicant.
  • Patent Granted
The power and peril of collaboration in IP

Collaboration is a cornerstone of innovation—but when it comes to Intellectual Property, shared ownership must be managed with clarity and care. Navigating shared IP ownership—whether with co-founders, collaborators, or licensees—requires balancing benefits and risks.

Why collaboration pays

Working with co-founders, collaborators, or licensees can accelerate development and expand your market reach. Benefits include:

  • Shared expertise and resources, fostering deeper innovation
  • Faster time-to-market through increased development capacity
  • Broader visibility via partner distribution and co-marketing channels

The risks without IP agreements

  • Ownership disputes – unclear title can derail projects
  • Usage conflicts – unauthorized use or overlapping commercialization
  • Enforcement issues or gridlock – difficult to license or defend jointly

Key takeaways

  • IP is a critical asset: Proactively identify, protect, and manage your intellectual property
  • Testing Innovation: Know which aspects of your work are eligible for protection
  • Collaboration: Always set clear IP agreements at the start of any partnership
  • AI’s unique IP challenge: Data, algorithms, and AI-generated works require tailored IP strategies
What’s next?

The next session in the EVOLVE2CARE Training Series for HealthTech Innovators and Researchers is titled “Fundraising & Pitching Strategies – An Investor’s Guide for Innovators.” It will feature Adriane Thrash, Managing Partner at Anthology Ventures, as the special speaker.

The session is scheduled to take place on 4 September 2025 at 15:00 CEST and will offer expert insights on how to craft compelling pitches and navigate the fundraising process with confidence. Designed for innovators looking to connect with investors and elevate their ventures, this event is a key opportunity to gain strategic guidance from an industry leader.

Stay tuned as we continue to bridge the gap between innovation and market with practical knowledge for real-world success.

Register here

Founder’s lens: Building sustainable HealthTech solutions

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The third online session of the EVOLVE2CARE Training Series for Innovators and Researchers took place on 17 July 2025, offering a grounded and insightful look into the entrepreneurial path of a HealthTech founder. Titled “Building a Sustainable HealthTech Business – A Founder’s Journey,” the session was led by Panagiotis Katsaounis, Medical Geneticist and CEO of Metabio, a company pioneering IT solutions for biobanks. 

The session formed part of the six-part EVOLVE2CARE series From User to Market – Faster Validation and Commercialisation for HealthTech Innovators and Researchers, which supports HealthTech innovators working in Transitional Care and Clinical Pathways to accelerate their journey from research to real-world impact.

Why biosamples matter — and Why managing them is hard

Biosamples are a cornerstone of biomedical research and power medical R&D excellence, supporting advancements in diagnostics, drug discovery, genetics and environment.

However, IT systems to manage biosamples and associated data are often inadequate and problematic for researchers; unreliable, leading to poor data harmonization across sources; and limited, failing to capture the historical dimension of biosample usage. As a result, valuable data remains underutilized or inaccessible. 

This challenge laid the groundwork for the creation of Metabio, a next-generation IT platform designed to modernize and integrate the full spectrum of biosample data. By offering real-time access, harmonized metadata, and GDPR/HIPAA-compliant tools, Metabio enables biobanks, researchers and the entire research ecosystem to unlock the true potential of the biosample collections.

Key highlights

Identifying the real value

The instructor described how Metabio emerged from direct experience in the lab, where data quality gaps and outdated biobank IT systems conflicted with cost and time constraints.

Building the business model

Participants were guided through Metabio’s evolution from an idea to a revenue-generating SaaS platform. 

A breakdown of real startup costs revealed a balanced allocation:

  • 35% for team and operations
  • 30% for R&D and clinical validation
  • 20% for sales and marketing
  • 15% for regulatory compliance

This financial transparency highlighted the importance of lean spending, focused prioritization, and resource-efficient scaling.

Practical advice for HealthTech founders

Panagiotis Katsaounis shared several turning points, including a major shift from offering physical infrastructure to delivering modular, interoperable software. He emphasized that being responsive to market feedback and recognizing internal limitations were critical to navigating early-stage uncertainty.

The session closed with a set of key takeaways aimed at helping other innovators design more viable and resilient ventures:

  • Prioritize Speed and Iteration: Avoid over-engineering early on. Launch MVPs quickly rather than chasing perfection.
  • Cultivate deep customer and patient empathy: True innovation starts with understanding. Invest time in interviews, shadowing, and co-creation.
  • Build resilience and a supportive network: Surround yourself with a core team that shares the long-term vision. Replace doubt with determination.

What’s next

The upcoming session “Unlocking IP Value: Protection, Collaboration & AI” on Thursday 24 July, 2025, at 15:00 CEST, will explore how to protect intellectual assets, manage innovation in collaborative environments, and navigate new IP challenges in the age of artificial intelligence.

Stay with us as we continue to equip innovators with the tools to build, scale, and sustain meaningful healthtech solutions—from user to market.

Register here

Webinar on HealthTech impact with Design Thinking & Living Labs

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On June 19, 2025, the EVOLVE2CARE Training Series for HealthTech Innovators and Researchers continued with its second session, gathering over 20 participants for an engaging webinar on “Design Thinking in Action — A Living Lab Approach to HealthTech Innovation.” The session was led by Ioannis Poultourtzidis, Coordinator of the ThessAHALL Living Lab, a pioneering hub for health and wellbeing innovation, driven by the AUTH Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation based in Northern Greece since 2014.

This insightful session offered a practical look at how Living Labs, when combined with Design Thinking, can empower researchers and innovators to build HealthTech solutions that are ethical, inclusive, and truly responsive to user needs. It addressed one of the core challenges in health innovation: too many technologies are developed without real-world validation. Living Labs help address this challenge by involving real users in real contexts, enabling co-creation and testing that lead to more relevant and usable solutions.

The 3-Step framework for impactful HealthTech innovation

At the core of the session was a practical 3-step framework developed to accelerate HealthTech solutions:

  • Understand

Innovation begins with an in-depth exploration of user needs, challenges, and environments. This phase involves stakeholder mapping, needs assessment, and early framing of design hypotheses. Living Labs enable immersion into users’ real-life settings — homes, clinics, and communities — without artificial filters. Special attention is given to capturing gender-sensitive and inclusive insights, ensuring solutions reflect the full diversity of users.

  • Engage

This step focuses on co-creation with all relevant stakeholders — patients, caregivers, clinicians, policy-makers, insurers, and technologists. Rather than gathering feedback after development, Living Labs bring stakeholders into the design process itself through co-design workshops, design sprints, and digital collaboration platforms. This inclusive, participatory model ensures that the solutions developed are relevant, feasible, and widely accepted. Innovation thrives on collaboration!

  • Build for impact

The final step emphasizes rapid prototyping, real-world testing, and iteration. Living Labs allow innovators to trial functional prototypes directly with users in authentic environments. This accelerates learning, reduces development risks, and ensures technical and business feasibility. The process supports agile development by turning insights into measurable outcomes, such as improved health, increased usability, and meaningful adoption

Innovation journey – 4 Phases

Living Lab Networks guide innovators through each of the four phases: design, technology, business, and impact.

Design: Human-centered design frames the solution based on desirability and real needs

Technology: Prototypes are tested for technical feasibility within Living Lab environments

Business: Viable business models are validated, considering cost, sustainability, and market fit

Impact: Solutions are evaluated on outcomes such as improved patient care, usability, and long-term value

This journey ensures that innovation is not just about new technology, but about developing sustainable, scalable solutions that create measurable value for healthcare systems and the people they serve.

Why Living Labs matter in HealthTech?

Living Labs offer a unique environment to design with, not just for, users by:

  • Providing access to diverse populations in natural settings
  • Capturing real-time feedback and behavioral insights
  • Helping de-risk innovation by validating usability and integration early
  • Supporting ethical, GDPR-compliant, and inclusive research practices

What’s next in the EVOLVE2CARE training sessions series for HealthTech Innovators and Researchers?

The next session in the series, “Building a Sustainable HealthTech Business – A Founder’s Journey,” will take place on July 17, 2025, at 15:00 CEST. Participants will have the opportunity to hear from Panagiotis Katsaounis, CEO of Metabio, as he shares the real-world story of growing a HealthTech startup from idea to validated solution. The session will explore key business decisions, unexpected challenges, and the strategic pivots that shaped the company’s journey, offering a grounded look into the entrepreneurial side of healthcare innovation.

Register here