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.