Category: Uncategorized

CHERRIES pilot experimentations were officially launched in summer 2021, once the selection process was completed and three Solution Providers were selected to co-design and co-create innovative solutions responding to identified needs in the regional healthcare sector. Click here to know more about the three pilots.

The pilot actions aim at testing in three European healthcare ecosystems (Cyprus, Murcia, Örebro) the CHERRIES methodology combining demand driven and co-creation approaches with  RRI principles.

Local multi-stakeholders’ co-creation teams have been set up in each territory to carry out the CHERRIES transversal approach by involving the interested parties in the definition of needs (regional challenges) and further development of the solution. According to the nature of the challenge to be addressed in each territory, the co-creation teams are composed of the Solution Providers, the local partners and/or associated ones (e.g. challenge proposers, health professionals, patients or civil society organizations).

What is currently going on in CHERRIES regions? Time to get an update from the three territorial pilots!

CHERRIES Cyprus – DoctorsHello

DoctorsHello is the solution that was selected in Cyprus to meet the challenge “Provision of medical services to the Cypriot citizens that live in rural and remote areas and do not have easy access to healthcare services and prescribed medicines”.

DoctorsHello was initially developed as a peer-to-peer ecosystem, supporting real-world healthcare based on real-time distributed data. Being in close contact with the CHERRIES Project partners and regional pilot team in Cyprus – CyRIC EUBIC and Aretaeion Iatrikon Kentron (ΑΙΚ) Hospital – DoctorsHello managed to co-create a tailor-made solution specifically customized on the needs of the rural population that AIK supports. Questionnaires and exhaustive workshops led to a custom E-health system, considering all those societal and demographic parameters needed for developing and employing a truly inclusive solution for the needs of Cyprus healthcare ecosystem. The initial architecture of the system has been retained while custom features have been added to streamline with the specific needs of end users and services providers, as identified in the User Requirement Analysis performed during the first 2 months of the project. Questionnaires were created to be distributed both to healthcare professionals and end-users in order to assess the current state of services provided and any additional needs, and then receive feedback after employing the solution in order to evaluate the defined KPIs. The solution is expected to be used by more than 500 users within the first 2 months of the validation / implementation stage. The feedback will be used to guide the re-engineering process and increase the impact to the benefit of the broader population that may reach the developed solution.

Murcia (ES) – MSProgress “EARLY DETECTION OF PROGRESSION IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS”

MSProgress is the solution that was selected to answer the CHERRIES Murcia challenge “EARLY DETECTION OF PROGRESSION IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS”

In the Murcia region, the CHERRIES pilot experimentation has been launched in June 2021 following the co-creation demand-driven methodology to develop an ICT solution to detect the progression in multiple sclerosis (MS). This on-demand ICT solution named MSProgress integrates a smartwatch and a mobile phone to collect data onto an eHealth platform using a kinetic algorithm for real time and accurate patient movement analysis that may contribute to detect any progression of the MS. Within the first phase, Pulso Ediciones, as selected Solution Provider, has worked on the development of the prototype in line with the requirements and inputs shared by the different actors of the co-creation team, composed by healthcare professionals, researchers, a patients’ association, innovation and business experts or policy makers. Based on the first findings, upgraded versions of the ICT solution were developed to optimize its performance and stabilize and speed up the data transmission. The objective of the second phase is to test the solution with 30 patients over a period of 5 consecutive months.

Örebro (SE) – Seniors leading seniors to a more meaningful and healthier everyday life in Laxa municipality

Laxå Municipality was selected to run a programme answering the CHERRIES Örebro challenge “BREAKING AND PREVENTING INVOLUNTARY LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY”.

The pilot, started in June 2021, has now entered in its second phase, and is currently proceeding with the testing of various outreach activities to reach lonely elderly people.

Due to the COVID situation that has impacted the project in many ways, the activities with the target group have been postponed at the end of February and beginning of March. Nevertheless, the” meeting point” for elderly people in the municipality is remaining open.

A Webinar was held on the 31st of January to spread the word about the pilot and the work in Laxa municipality to  approximately 60 participants both from organisations within Örebro region and from other regions in Sweden.

This Webinar  included a presentation of the CHERRIES project, of the Örebro pilot, and promoted exchanges between the participants on success factors and barriers.

On behalf of the CHERRIES consortium the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN), is looking for providers to develop a short video (4 minutes max) in each of the CHERRIES pilot regions. The videos should feature the following contents:

• The process of implementing the CHERRIES methodology in each of the three pilot regions
• Key achievements
• Interviews and testimonials with local CHERRIES partners and the experimentation team

The final dates for recording will be confirmed together with local partners depending on the development of the pilots, yet these are the preliminary expected dates:

• Örebro (Sweden): April 2022
• Murcia (Spain): June/September 2022
• Nicosia (Cyprus): June/September 2022

Application Deadline: 2^nd of February 2022

Please see Terms of Reference –> CHERRIES TOR Videos

Should you have any questions or doubts on the process, please contact us at: covadonga.rayon@ebn.eu

Back in October 2021 in the framework of the European Week of the Regions, CHERRIES organised the second webinar series: “Shaping responsible healthcare ecosystems in Europe”.

Designed as a peer learning opportunity, the series aimed at showcasing the policy experiments in the healthcare sector held in the three CHERRIES regions: Murcia (ES), Örebro (SE) and the Republic of Cyprus (CY).

Over three sessions, the regional stakeholders presented their regional ecosystems, and the way CHERRIES methodology is implemented in each specific context.

If you missed the CHERRIES webinar series 2021, you can still watch them on the following links:

• Örebro
• Murcia
• Cyprus

Last 29^th of November, the CHERRIES Evaluation Committee selected the four Mirror Regions that will replicate the methodology of the CHERRIES demand-driven innovation methodology with their own resources and the support of the CHERRIES consortium The Committee, composed of regional representatives of each one of the pilot territories and the project coordinator, assessed the applications received under different parameters to choose the most suitable regions to carry out the whole process. The applications selected were proposed by: Burgos (Spain), Coimbra (Portugal), Nord East (Romania), and West of Ireland (Ireland).

The selected Mirror Regions gathered within their consortiums outstanding entities able to implement the different stages of the methodology: the need identification through a bottom-up process, the release of a call for solutions aimed at solving the identified challenge, and the co-creation process of the final solution. Hence, we are glad to give a warm welcome on board to the associations from Burgos: The Society for the development of the province of Burgos (SODEBUR) and the European Business and Innovation Centre of Burgos (CEEI Burgos); from Coimbra: The Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Centro (CCDRC), Instituto Pedro Nunes and Universidade de Coimbra; from Nord East: The North East Regional Development Agency (North East RDA), the North East Regional Innovative Cluster for Structural and Molecular Imaging (Imago-Mol) and the hospital PROVIDENTA; and from West of Ireland: The Western Development Commission (WDC), CISCO, the Health Services Executive Digital Transformation Group and the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG).

Those graceful regions will be rewarded with direct support from the pilot regions and the CHERRIES consortium to implement the methodology within their territories. In consequence, they will benefit from different services such as webinars and workshops to get to know in detail how to launch and set the stage for the different phases in their territories, one-on-one coaching support from a paired pilot region with the aim of sharing experiences, best-practices, know-how and to help to overcome common obstacles; or the possibility to widen their network through activities like face-to-face meetings in Brussels with the CHERRIES team and other experts.

On the 20^th of January 2022 will be held a kick-off event to launch the activities prepared for the Mirror Regions and to introduce them to the representatives of the CHERRIES pilot regions.

CHERRIES project promoted a panel discussion at the EBN Congress 2021: “Using challenge-driven approaches, co-creation and co-design methodologies for a green, digital and fair transition”.

A bottom-up approach is required to develop effective and tailored solutions to market and societal demands. The challenges we face are more and more complex and cross-sectoral. A demand-driven approach to innovation, following co-design & co-creation methodologies creates solutions that are lasting, sustainable, green, and in accord with the digital transformation in society. The panel explored how the EU|BIC community, with its business models and service offering, is ideally positioned to connect innovators and promote challenge-driven, co-created and co-designed innovation. With a focus on experiences addressing climate neutrality and health, the panellists shed light on:

• Why regions should invest in demand-driven innovation and how co-creating solutions can bring about change;
• Why we need to embed demand-driven innovation in incubation, and how co-creation methodologies can drive towards efficient, fair and sustainable responses;
• How to implement these methodologies in decision-make processes adopted by local authorities, incubators, start-ups, and business.

In this occasion Laure Raso from CEEI Murcia presented the CHERRIES methodology and activities in front of policy intermediaries, entrepreneurs, investors and researchers. The aim of the session was to discuss the importance and future co-creation and co-design methodologies to address regional challenges.

Moderated by Andrea Di Anselmo, META Group, the panel saw the participation of Laure Raso (CEEI Murcia Project Manager), Roberta Dall’Olio (ART-ER EU Policies International Territorial Cooperation Social Innovation Head of Unit and EURADA President), Tom Boyle (Climate Action Network Head of Network Development), Agnieszka Włodarczyk-Gębik (Krakow Technology Park Project Manager).

You can find the recordings of the panel at EBN Congress 2021 here.

CHERRIES, is a European project aiming at developing a model on which RRI, demand-side policy and territorial innovation models –such as S3 – are interlinked to support research and innovation policy within the territory. To validate this model, 3 partner regions, Murcia (ES), Örebro (SE), and the Republic of Cyprus (CY) have been selected to deal with 3 healthcare challenges identified in the region through a co-creation process.

In order to create sustainability and spread the model beyond the initial territories, CHERRIES aims to create a community of stakeholders engaged in similar approaches.

Under this aim, CHERRIES is conducting a call for mirror regions to replicate the model in other three regions from EU and associated states. The participants are expected to form a consortium of more than two organisations –public administration and private entities— This regional consortium will mobilise their own resources to identify and work with a challenge, not restricted to healthcare sector.

The Mirror regions will receive one-on-one coaching to exchange know-how, practices, resources and receive periodic follow-up on the CHERRIES’ learnings and its updates. Travel expenses covering and coaching support will be given only to these three chosen mirror regions.

As a second step, the call will remain open for further regions willing to replicate the CHERRIES model within their territories. The objective is to promote a pan-European Community of stakeholders interested on CHERRIES objectives. This Community will exchange know-how, promising practices, and resources; to become the natural place to receive personalised explanations and periodic follow up on the CHERRIES learnings and its updates.

Being member of the CHERRIES Community will allow the regions to

• To more efficiently utilise your regional funds to foster innovation within your region within the framework of RRI policies
• To implement a new co-creation and demand-driven model in your region to facilitate the uptake of the innovation, ensuring the application of RRI principles
• To foster the capacity of public entities to systematically identify and solve their needs while creating opportunities for private companies.
• To replicate the CHERRIES model under the close, advise of the three CHERRIES regions. CHERRIES Mirror Regions will benefit from a one-to-one support on how to implement the validated CHERRIES model in their territories, saving time, energy, and efforts to avoid failure and risk.

Candidate regions are to submit the proposal in a Consortium that replicates the same constellation of stakeholders defined in the CHERRIES model, this is stakeholder dealing with business support, regional development, public bodies with a sectorial approach, among others.

Submit your trial application sending this word document to the email ulises.pisano@ticbiomed.net

If you missed the webinar on how to apply to the Call for Mirror Regions and you want to become one of the 3 Mirror regions or/and member of the #CHERRIES community but you have questions related to the application?

DO NOT MISS IT!

We have recorded it for you.

We also added the presentation of the webinar so you do not lose detail.

This year, the CHERRIES project is putting together a brand new webinar series focusing on shaping responsible healthcare ecosystems in Europe. This series contains three webinars, each highlighting a different partner region. All sessions take place in October 2021. To find out more about each individual webinar, visit our events page.

What is the rationale of our webinar series?

Challenge-based innovation processes, used in e.g., open innovation, functional procurement, hackathon etc., have become increasingly popular during the last years and are also core of the experiments conducted in the CHERRIES project. The RRI experiments in CHERRIES are in fact based on demand-driven and open innovation approaches that should address the emerging and unmet needs of the health care sector at territorial level in order to build more equitable and more socially “porous” healthcare systems for the health and benefits of all the citizens within each territory. To discuss all these, CHERRIES, is organising a series of webinars highlighting the case of each partner region in the framework of the 19th European Week for Region and Cities, where the webinar series features as side events.

Why should you join?

“Shaping responsible healthcare ecosystems in Europe“ CHERRIES webinar series 2021 aims at showcasing the policy experiments in the healthcare sector held in three European territories of Murcia (ES), Örebro (SE) and the Republic of Cyprus (CY). Designed as a peer learning opportunity, the three sessions will focus on the CHEEIRES regions to present the territorial innovation ecosystems, their stakeholders and the way CHERRIES methodology is implemented in each specific context. We will also learn about some preliminary results and impact on the regional innovation policies.

These webinars are thought for a diverse audience, including academic players, innovation-active actors, intermediary organizations, and regional and health policy actors. Each session (1 hour) will see the participation of an expert on regional innovation policies and/or RRI to provide some general comments on the presented case.

How can you register?

By accessing the links below you can register to one of the sessions highlighting the respective CHERRIES partner region:

• Cyprus, 11^th October 2021
• Murcia, 18^th October 2021
• Örebro, 25^th October 2021

This webinar series also offers participants, particularly to stakeholders from other European regions,  the perfect opportunity understand and explore how the CHERRIES methodology could be applied in their specific context and consider the opportunity to apply to become a CHERRIES Mirror Region.

If you have any questions about the webinar series contact our team at events@ebn.eu. To find out more about each individual webinar, visit our events page.

If you missed the CHERRIES webinar Series 2021, we have recorded it for you.

DO NOT MISS IT!

Focus on Cyprus, 11^th October 2021

Focus on Murcia, 18^th October 2021

Focus on Örebro, 25^th October 2021

Exciting news from the Region of  Örebro! In the framework of the CHERRIES project, Örebro has launched a second call for solutions to their challenge of “Breaking and preventing involuntary loneliness among elderly”.  If you are interested, make sure you submit your application by the deadline of 25th November.

Following the CHERRIES model, the Region of  Örebro has identified involuntary loneliness among the elderly as a key challenge facing their healthcare ecosystem. As such,  they are now on the look out for projects using social innovation to apply themselves to piloting solutions that answer to this challenge.

The selected project will receive the support of the CHERRIES community and receive up to 31 500 € to develop their solution over a period of 8 months.

To find out more about this call for solution, visit our page outlining the call details & the application process.

Have you heard? We are looking for regions interested to uptake our validated co-creation CHERRIES model. Find out more about our Call for Mirror Regions!

Key information:

• Apply before November 12^th , 2021.
• Want a trial? Send us your draft before November 5^th , 2021.

What is CHERRIES?

CHERRIES is a new European project based on a model where civil society, healthcare organizations and companies co-create healthcare solutions. They receive the economic support of regional funds, and the business advice of eHealth experts Regions that are interested in this model can receive free coaching.

Open call at a glance:

• Economic support: The 3 selected Mirror Regions chosen will receive a session of coaching to be held in Brussels if the pandemic allows physical meetings. All travel expenses would be covered by the CHERRIES project.
• Application deadline: November 12^th , 2021.
• Who can apply?Regional consortiums integrated by territorial stakeholders involved or interested in embedding the RRI practices in territorial innovation policies and instruments – not necessarily in the health sector only. The Community will be open for R&I actors from outside Europe, so to facilitate a global exchange of practises
• Language: Application forms can only be filled in English.
• Evaluation criteria: commitment, motivation, representation and regional impact

How to be part of the CHERRIES community? Follow the steps below:

Candidate regions are to submit the proposal in a Consortium that replicates the same constellation of stakeholders defined in the CHERRIES model, this is stakeholder dealing with business support, regional development, public bodies with a sectorial approach, among others.

STEP 1: Build the Consortium

Identify in your region the key stakeholders that will be able a) to identify need in a concrete sector with the involvement of the civil society; b) to allocate the regional funding to work on the action and c) to support the cocreation process between solution providers and the organisations identifying the need.

STEP 2: Fill in the form provided in the call

Provide as much information as possible in the form designed to gather your proposal. Pay special attention to

• The Consortium’s capacity to mobilise regional actors covering the different aspects of the call with particular attention to civil society engagement and other RRI principles
• The feasibility to commit public funding to carry out the activities needed to identify and address the challenge (i.e., public funding, regional structural funds, etc.).
• The commitment to implement the CHERRIES methodology, to actively participate in both online and offline meetings and get implicated in the implementation process together with those activities developed beyond the project lifespan.

STEP 3: Submit your proposal in time

Send in your proposal before the 12 of November.

Interested? Then click here to find out more and apply by November 12^th , 2021.