European Union has more elderly population than ever and this is becoming a challenge in most of the European regions. At the same time it means a big opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises which are developing new services and products to help elderly to make their life as much convenient as possible. Within HoCare project partners from 8 European countries (Cyprus, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Hungary, Portugal and Czech Republic) cooperate with a goal to elaborate policy recommendations and action plans for generation of innovative solutions and services in the field of home care. The representatives of the project partners meet between 27-28th March 2017 in Budapest, in the capital of Hungary, and participated in the 2nd International Thematic Workshop titled “Generation of Innovation thanks to Public Driven Innovation Approach”. More than 60 participants attended the event which was organized by National Health Service Center (AEEK) from Hungary.
HoCare project follows “quadruple-helix” approach which is an innovation cooperation model where users, businesses, research actors and public authorities cooperate in order to produce innovations. Besides project partners, stakeholders from each country, representing one of the helixes of the quadruple-helix model participated in the event in Budapest. The workshop offered many opportunities to exchange experiences and good practices from the field of innovative solutions for home care.
On behalf of the organizers, opening speeches were made by representatives of the host country. The workshop was opened by István Csizmadia and Jozsef Gajdacsi from National Health Service Center, followed by Judit Tóth from Hungarian Ministry of Health and László Rásky from Association of Medical Devices Manufacturers, Hungary. Finally Eleftherios Loizou representing Nicosia Development Agency from Cyprus, the lead partner of HoCare project greeted participants and highlighted results of the HoCare project so far. Representatives of all 4 helix area participated in moderated panel on experiences with cooperation of different stakeholders in the process of innovation: Márton Kis from Health Services Management Training Center, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary, László Rásky, Barnabas Margitai from AEEK and Peter Keller from Hungarian Ministry of Economy.
Possible ways of delivery and transfer of certain projects, management and strategic focus of operational programmes were discussed in 4 interactive working groups. These workshop discussions focused on methods and ways of boosting innovations in healthcare, with special emphasis on public driven innovation approach. International thematic workshop on home care organized in Budapest brought many good practices from the field of innovative solutions for home care and exchange of knowledge and experiences among participants from different European regions. There will be 27 good practices identified during the HoCare project which will be transferable to other regions.
The next international thematic workshops will take place in Litija (Slovenia) from 7-9 June 2017.
