International Digital Health Collaboration for Preventive, Integrated, Independent and Inclusive Living

Project Information

IDIH

Grant agreement ID: 826092

DOI

10.3030/826092

Project closed

EC signature date 17 April 2019

Start date 1 May 2019

End date 30 April 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being

Total cost

€ 2 437 771,11

EU contribution

€ 1 998 038,75

Coordinated by

STEINBEIS 2I GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - IDIH (International Digital Health Collaboration for Preventive, Integrated, Independent and Inclusive Living)

Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2022-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Industrialised countries and emerging economies are facing the common challenge of rapidly ageing populations and the sustainability of the healthcare systems will increasingly depend on how this challenge is tackled. Addressing the challenges of Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA) with digital health solutions based on mutual learning in a globally coordinated manner is vital for the benefit of society and industry.

The IDIH project was therefore initiated with the overall objective to promote and increase international cooperation to advance digital health in the EU and key strategic countries to support active and healthy ageing through innovation. IDIH operated as a catalyst for the international dialogue in digital health. Based on identified shared priorities and key opportunities for global cooperation in digital health, the IDIH project set up a Digital Health Transformation Forum as an umbrella and long-lasting, expert-driven mechanism to foster collaboration between the EU and five strategic partner countries, i.e. Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and the USA. Experts from the six regions have been gathered in a series of consultations and co-creation sessions to work on defining common priorities and identifying opportunities of mutual benefit and jointly developing a roadmap toward enhanced international collaboration in this field.

The IDIH project thereby considerably enhanced the international collaboration in active and healthy ageing through knowledge exchange and mutual learning schemes based on identified common priority areas. The project increased the awareness of relevant research and innovation initiatives by European and international stakeholders and enhanced the networking around these opportunities for international collaboration. This, in turn, improved the competitiveness of European industry by opening international open innovation possibilities and access to future markets.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

IDIH has created the Digital Health Transformation Forum (DHTF), which brought together experts, policymakers, and users from the six regions in a series of consultations and co-creation sessions to jointly develop a roadmap towards enhanced international collaboration in this field.
Funding agencies were thoroughly involved in the work of the DHTF through a Programme Level Cooperation group set among the relevant funding agencies, gathered to strengthen the international policy dialogue around digital health for AHA, while giving feedback and input to the development of the roadmap, and discussing concrete joint activities as the implementation of the experts’ and users’ recommendations.
Along its way towards creating the roadmap, IDIH has conducted several in-depth studies, such as an assessment of the international collaboration landscape in digital health and AHA contributing to building a basis for the experts’ work in the project and disseminated its findings in various formats as follows:

• IDIH Long-term Matchmaking Platform created as a long-lasting and expert-driven catalyst to foster collaboration between the EU and Strategic Partner countries with more than 400 participants registered, with project end, becoming part of the International Experts Forum for Health Innovation under ENRICH GLOBAL accessible via www.enrich-global.eu/thematic-groups/health-innovation

• IDIH Roadmap to enhance international cooperation in digital health for AHA – distributed in two different formats: long document and short visual version – presenting the three priority topics for international collaboration, main barriers as well as enablers for international collaboration, and an 8-year action plan until 2030 including concrete actions and recommendations for the implementation of the three priority topics at an inter-/national level

• IDIH Magazines informing about relevant policies and initiatives, publications, and funding opportunities in the field of Digital Health for AHA, focusing on news especially addressing the international landscape for research and innovation in the EU and the Strategic Partner Countries.

• IDIH Podcast “Future of Ageing Actively and Happily“ as a series of six episodes, in which episode explores with researchers, innovators and policymakers the frontiers of Digital Transformation for AHA, focusing on one of the following topics: Preventive, Integrated, Independent and Inclusive Living, and a strategic region of the world: Europe, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, and the USA accessible via https://idih-global.eu/outcomes

• IDIH Guidebooks as a compendium of current and upcoming funding opportunities addressed to RDI stakeholders, care providers and user associations supporting international cooperation in Digital Health for AHA.

• IDIH Helpdesk as ad-hoc advice to researchers and innovators from the EU and the Strategic Partner Countries on funding programmes and calls that offer opportunities for international cooperation in the field of Digital Health for AHA. After the project end, the helpdesk will be maintained by APRE.

• IDIH Week 2021 & 2022 as virtual four-days events dedicated to interconnecting researchers, innovators, care providers and users’ associations dealing with Digital Health for AHA with different networking opportunities. Presentations and recordings are freely available.

• IDIH Factsheets providing an overview of Digital Health for AHA in the five Strategic Partner Countries of IDIH (Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, USA) summarising research and innovation priorities as well as key funding programmes and agencies in place.

• IDIH Reports comprise three reports related to the analysis of the international collaboration landscape in AHA and 12 reports on stakeholder consultations, networking events, and dissemination materials.

Results will remain accessible through the IDIH website via https://idih-global.eu/ IDIH long-term matchmaking platform via https://health-innovation-community-platform.b2match.io/ and CORDIS via https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/826092.
The IDIH stakeholders’ ecosystem comprised of international experts, policymakers, funding agencies and users from the six regions active in the field of digital health for AHA will be sustained through FUTURIUM – a platform dedicated to Europeans discussing EU policies – and the Health Innovation Thematic Group under ENRICH GLOBAL – a profit not-for-profit association supporting innovation-related international collaboration. Core activities of the group foreseen include:

• International Experts Forum for Health Innovation: providing stakeholders from IDIH and beyond with a platform for exchange and collaboration.

• International Policy Dialogue Workshops: gathering policy makers and funding agencies in the health domain from all over the world to discuss global health challenges and compare health policies.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

IDIH designed a roadmap outlining a path towards enhancing international cooperation in digital health for AHA as proposed by experts, policymakers, funding agencies and users involved in the project. The roadmap presents three priority topics to be addressed to strengthen international cooperation in this domain between Europe and the strategic partner countries (Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, and the USA) and proposes a strategy with concrete actions for policymakers and funding agencies to implement the priority topics.

IDIH Poster

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