Friday, February 18, 2022
Testing, researching and further developing care innovations - with and by professionals, patients and care institutions: it happens in the dozens of health & technology 'living labs' in the Netherlands. The labs meet a need: they give innovators the opportunity to work with healthcare professionals and patients to look at their wishes and challenges, to conduct research into the effectiveness of the healthcare innovation and to find out whether the ultimate innovation offers the desired solution. But what makes a living lab a good living lab? Where are they in the product development chain and what is the benefit for healthcare?
Anyone who has been in healthcare long enough knows them: the new devices, the flashy innovations or the promising digital platforms that would change healthcare for good. After an enthusiastic reception, they soon end up in a cupboard or (digital) drawer: they actually cost care workers more time, the doctor couldn't use them or the patient didn't want them.
Then there are the care innovations that turn out to be unsafe and (fortunately) never reach the market, the innovations that have not been proven effective and the products or services that insurers, care organisations and/or patients are not willing to pay for. When steps are skipped in the development process, or something is developed in splendid isolation that simply does not work in practice, the risk of 'the broom cupboard' is high.
That is not only unfortunate for the companies and/or researchers who have sometimes worked on it for years. Above all, it is a shame for the Netherlands as a whole. Because with the increasing demand for care, rising costs and fewer and fewer hands available at the bedside, changes, innovations and technological solutions are necessary. Solutions that make it possible to do more about prevention and health, that make the work of a care professional easier, that make it possible to treat or rehabilitate in one's own environment, or that give users their own direction.
Living labs can bridge the gap between prototype and practice. They offer the chance to innovate and test from co-creation - not only whether the solution works, but also whether it works as a solution.
Blueprint for innovation
In a report published last year, the Rathenau Institute underlined the importance of living labs for innovation. According to the Rathenau Institute, living labs can play an important role in the mission-driven innovation advocated by the government. According to Dr Jasper Deuten, acting head of research at the Rathenau Institute, they are primarily concerned with components where social value creation is central. The institute distilled four lessons that initiators, participants and financiers of living labs and local experiments can use to give their results a broader and more sustainable follow-up.
"The first lesson is that it is important that living labs are not only used to learn about an innovation, but also about its social embedding," says Deuten. "Also, living labs must take into account from the start that after the local experiment ends, a lot of follow-up work is needed to make the solution suitable for other locations as well. In addition, it is smart to seek connection with a larger programme so that exchange and mutual learning between local initiatives becomes possible. And finally, intermediary organisations are needed to make connections between parties, locations and other initiatives."
Good embedding
Good embedding in healthcare practice, but also a bridge function to academic research and cooperation with private partners are conditions for a well-functioning living lab. It is not a blueprint for innovation or a guarantee of success, but by paying attention to these aspects, living labs create a good breeding ground for purposeful innovation.
An example of living labs built along this line are the Medical Delta Living Labs. Since 2017, ten field and living labs have become operational. Together with sixteen scientific programmes of this partnership, the labs help to achieve 'technological solutions for sustainable care', which is what Medical Delta stands for, faster in co-creation.
Lessons learned
In the years that these living labs have been operational, many lessons have been learned. And that is a good thing, because without friction there is no shine. In the beginning, insufficient attention was paid to the administrative support for the living labs, which is why some initiatives failed.
It is also important to start with the partners in the living lab: what are their starting points, goals, vision and values, how are they 'in the game'? Beneath the surface, values can lead to tensions in co-creation processes, with all its consequences. Once the tensions surface, it is often already too late. By making this clear from the start and investing time in it, a 'value(n)-full' cooperation is created.
Setting up a living lab also requires a lot of attention. A project developer who initiates, starts and helps implement public-private projects and who forms the link between the partners is indispensable. There are plenty of challenges for the future. For example, how can the field labs, with technology as the driving force, better connect the business community and knowledge institutes? But also: how can the living labs not only realise scientific and social but also economic impact?
The experiences will be used in the Medical Delta labs that were set up last year and the labs that have been operational for some time. For example, the focus will be on proper embedding in healthcare practice, building a bridge to the larger academic research and development programmes and actively seeking cooperation with private partners.
Rehabilitation? Peanuts!
The Medical Delta Living Lab Rehabilitation Technology, for instance, is involved in several innovation projects, such as the SenseGlove project that makes hand rehabilitation with virtual reality possible. Patients with a limitation in hand function form one of the largest groups within rehabilitation care. Exercises are monotonous, generic and progress is difficult to measure. The company SenseGlove developed a robotic glove that makes it possible to accurately measure the movements of the fingers and, by means of force feedback, to 'feel' them in a virtual reality (VR) environment, such as a kitchen where virtual eggs can be fried.
Together with SenseGlove, CleVR and Rijndam Rehabilitation, a VR environment with therapy-specific exercises has been developed. The effect of the solution on the (insured) care path is also being investigated. "We are investigating whether the SenseGlove solution actually speeds up and improves rehabilitation in practice and what effect that has on costs," says Dr Bram Onneweer, one of the coordinators of the Medical Delta Living Lab Rehabilitation Technology. "The great thing about a living lab like this is that it provides the opportunity to closely involve patients and therapists in innovations. You can therefore quickly see whether something works well and is effective. The input from practitioners is also very valuable for the developers of a solution. Innovation and care practice come together here."
Practice essential
And that is also true of any healthcare innovation: a successful innovation cannot be achieved without the input of practitioners. This starts as early as the design process and continues throughout the development: from collecting the demand and testing the first prototypes to need analyses and fine-tuning to ensure that wishes and needs are translated into the final solution. Living labs can provide this. They play a key role between prototype and practice.
From the knowledge institutes, UMCs and training institutes, Medical Delta knows the world of innovative research and groundbreaking development like no other. If you, as a care innovator, researcher or care organisation, would like to take your innovation further in co-creation and pick up the gauntlet to achieve impactful living labs, better care and/or a healthier society, please contact us via www.medicaldelta.nl/innovatiehub.
