• Home
  • About
    • Governance & Structure
    • The AER Executive Board
    • The AER Secretariat
    • Statute & Strategies
      • AER Statute
      • AER Procedures
    • AER stands with Ukraine
    • The History of AER
  • Members
    • Who are AER’s members?
    • Member Directory
    • Join AER!
  • Mutual Learning
    • About Mutual Learning
    • The Knowledge Transfer Forum
    • Working Groups
      • Ongoing Working Groups
      • Past Working Groups
  • Advocacy
    • About Our Advocacy Work
    • The Bureau
    • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    • AER Political Priorities 2020-2025
    • Intercultural Regions Network
  • Projects
    • About Our Projects
    • Ongoing Projects
    • Look for Partners
    • Completed Projects
  • AER Programmes
    • AER Eurodyssey
    • AER SUMMER ACADEMY
    • AER Youth Regional Network (YRN)
    • AER Observatory on Regionalisation
  • Events
    • AER events
    • Other events

Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / Archives for Project Active and healthy ageing

This is the tag for all posts relating to Project on Active and healthy ageing.

AAL Call: Healthy Ageing with the Support of Digital Solutions

2 June, 2020 By Mathilde Perrier

Have you heard about the latest AAL Call for Healthy Ageing with the Support of Digital Solutions? If not, read this article to learn more!

The call was launched by the Active and Assisted Living (AAL) Programme. It aims to support better quality of life for older people and to strengthen industrial opportunities while ensuring the sustainability of our health systems.

The AAL Programme funds projects that work towards creating market-ready products and services for older people. Each project consists of SMEs, research bodies and end-user organisations.

The current AAL Call is titled “Healthy Ageing with the Support of Digital Solutions”. Applications must be submitted before 24th August 2020 at 17:00 CET. The call aims at supporting innovative, transnational and multi-disciplinary collaborative projects.

Project proposals should demonstrate a clear route to market and added-value for the different types of end-users. The wishes and aspirations of older adults in combination with the demands from the other stakeholders involved – e.g. providers and payers – will have a critical role in shaping useful and attractive AAL solutions with high market potential.

You can find national eligibility criteria here.

Two types are projects can be funded through this AAL Call: “Collaborative Projects” and “Small Collaborative Projects”.

Collaborative Projects must be carried out by consortia composed of at least three organisations from three different countries including an end-user organisation and a business partner. Projects must aim at developing and bringing to market ICT solutions. These solutions must be included in the following AAL domains: Active Living, such as in work & training, for vitality & abilities, in leisure & culture, for information & communication, as well as for Assisted Living, such as in health & care, living & building, mobility & transport, safety & security.

Proposals are expected to be user-driven through co-creation and address a specified challenge. Collaborative Projects will remain the main funding tool for this call. This type of projects has a duration of 12 to 30 months with maximum funding of €2,500,000.

Small Collaborative Projects must last between 6 and 9 months, have a maximum co-funding budget of €300,000, a leaner application and reporting procedures. The main objective of the small collaborative projects is the exploration of new ideas, concepts and approaches for ICT-based solutions for older adults. They should reach out to new stakeholders for inclusion in (future) development of AAL solutions, build strong collaborations with end-user organisations, support community building with new customers and create shared agendas.

You can read the full Call text here and visit the Call page here for further information.

In case you are thinking to apply for this Call, AER Project Unit can liaise you with potential partners that could join your consortium.

In addition, do not miss the opportunity to join the AAL Forum 2021, the annual event for the community of healthy ageing to discuss opportunities in health technology and reflect on the future of ageing well in the digital world. You could even be part of this event by applying to the call for workshops by 26 June 2020.


Photo by Matthew Bennett on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Active and Assisted Living Forum: Call for Workshops

2 June, 2020 By Mathilde Perrier

Do you work in the active and healthy ageing sector? Do you want to participate in the European discussion driving the future of healthy ageing?

Then the AAL Forum is the perfect opportunity for you to be involved in an ecosystem that promotes a new social and economic approach to grow a more inclusive silver economy benefiting individuals, society and industry.

The AAL Forum is the annual event for the community of healthy ageing gathers to discuss the existing opportunities in health technology and reflect on the future of ageing well in the digital world. It gathers more than 700 delegates from different fields and domains. The 2021 edition of the AAL Forum will be held in Trieste, Italy, from 10-12 May.

The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, member of the Assembly of European Regions and co-organizer of the 2021 edition of the AAL Forum, is glad to invite you to submit your workshop proposal to create discussions and promote new ways of approaching either of the four tracks of the upcoming AAL Forum in Trieste. Workshops should be interactive and motivational sessions and follow the below described thematic areas dedicated to the upcoming Decade of Healthy Ageing.

The AAL Forum will take inspiration from the Decade of Healthy Ageing launched by the WHO in 2020, in order to discuss and exchange on key active & healthy ageing priorities for a collective and collaborative approach in Europe.

The Forum will touch upon some of the main topics put forward by WHO, such as:

  1. Driving a platform for innovation and change;
  2. Adapting health and care systems to the changing needs of an ageing population & drawing on the emerging learnings from the Coronavirus outbreak in 2020;
  3. Promoting Intergenerational Solidarity;
  4. Make the socio-economic case for impact investment into healthy ageing.

Apply with your workshop by sending your application to: [email protected]
Deadline: 26 June 2020

For further information, please refer to the following website: https://www.aalforum.eu/about/programme/call-for-workshops/

Contact person in Brussels:
Luisa Poclen – Friuli Venezia Giulia Brussels Office
Email: [email protected]

Find out about AAL funding opportunity: AAL Call 2020 “Healthy Ageing with the Support of Digital Solutions”

Photo by Product School on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

AER to speak at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform first workshop

20 June, 2017 By Editor

The Assembly of European Regions has been a key partner for Interreg Europe in setting up and implementing its Policy Learning Platform. AER is invited for the first thematic workshop to share good practices on health and well-being.

Interreg Europe

The Interreg Eruope programme intends to reinforce economic and social cohesion in the European Union through the promotion of cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. It works also towards a balanced an sustainable development of the territory. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) finances the programme.

Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

The Policy Learning Platform is a space where policymakers can find solutions to improve the way they manage and implement their public policies.

It mainly targets four priority topics:

  • Research and Innovation
  • SMEs Competitiveness
  • Low-carbon economy
  • Environnement and ressource efficiency

Domains in which AER has always been very much involved in!

The main objective of the platform is to facilitate EU-wide policy learning and sharing good practices among stakeholders of regional relevance. In particular, it provides regional policy makers with the tools and information for them to improve the performance of regional development policies and programmes. Additionally, it offers relevant advice and support services to strengthen regional/local policies and enhance their impact mostly through interregional cooperation.

The Workshop

The 28 June, in Brussels, AER will take part in a first platform exchange on health and well-being. The intention is to bring various stakeholders together, to discuss the latest developments in the field and debate on what joint action could be beneficial for European regional practitioners. In the end, the workshop will engage into planning and preparing innovative collaborative activities.

Will be present: partners, managing authorities/intermediate bodies, platforms and the European Commission.

All participants are active in well-being, public health and active ageing. They may also work in the field of ecosystems and open social innovation. Health and well-being are currently their strategic priority.

AER on health and well-being

This workshop will be a great opportunity to share recent AER activities.

Through its Committee 2 on Social Policy and Public health, AER has been very engaged in the topic of health and well-being. AER took a special part in the eHealth services in Europe. Just last year we supported United4Health, participated in 2016 eHealth week, we co-organised with Brussels Capital “eHealth: How to find a common language? ” and continued to share good practices and experience to connect regions in e-health services.

Related Articles

Let’s be the frontrunner for eHealth services in Europe!

Connecting perspectives on e-Health: industrial, academic and institutional actors meeting up at the e-Health 360° Summit

AER at e-health week

E-health, connect the dots: connect people

ALEC 2017

Project on Life Balance of vulnerable youngsters: looking for a coordinator and partners

Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

What can the Investment Plan for Europe do for health?

27 February, 2017 By Johanna Pacevicius

Today, in Brussels, Member States and regional representatives, healthcare service providers, public and private investors, economists, and practice innovators, participate in a Seminar on strategic investments for the future of healthcare, organised by the European Commission.

A vital economic sector

Health is a vital economic sector representing 10% of the EU’s GDP and accounting for 8% of the total workforce in the 28 EU countries. Today’s seminar explores what the Investment Plan for Europe can do for health: What types of investments are needed in the health sector? Which funding streams can support these investments? How can we invest to ensure successful implementation of new care models? These are just some of the questions that will be raised.

The Seminar was opened by Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President of the European Commission and Ambriose Falloye, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank with closing remarks by Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, who points out that: “Health authorities in the European Union and beyond are looking at ways to transform healthcare delivery through innovative and integrated healthcare models. This requires smart investment and creative approaches. Indeed, it may be difficult, but not impossible. From the Commission’s side, we will continue to promote the opportunities offered by the Investment Plan for Europe. As far as I am concerned, two key words are: “collaboration” and “partnerships”. I thus welcome this event and encourage a continuous engagement. If there is political will and if all stakeholders – politicians, care professionals, patients, technology providers and investors – are committed to working together, then we can make our healthcare systems effective, accessible, sustainable and resilient so they can face future societal challenges.”

Working together for innovation

This was also the core of the message of the event AER organised last December “E-health: Let’s find a common language” to bring together stakeholders who are not always used to work together for health innovation.

The report from the Commission’s seminar on EFSI for health will be available on DG Santé’s website shortly.

The EFSI Fact sheet on mobilising funds for the health sector provides a  series of tips and examples on how the European Investment Plan for Europe can be utilised for
• Medical research
• Innovative products, services and delivery solutions (including
by SMEs, mid-caps and start-ups)
• New models of health infrastructure especially for primary and
integrated forms of care
• New technologies and e-health
• Medical education and training

EFSI will also be discussed during the joint AER-LGIU conference “Mind the gap: Sustainable financing for the regions” which will feature speakers on long term investing and impact investing”.

Finally AER is also cooperating with the High Level task Force on financing social infrastructure and maximising public value at the European Commission. AER regions interested in shaping the next Investment Plan for Europe should contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius

Useful links

EFSI fact Sheet on mobilising funds for the health sector

DG Santé Website

AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health

AER event “Investing in the future: new perspectives for the regions”

Related articles

Long term Investments, the EU and you

E-health: how to find a common language?

E-health, connect the dots: connect people

E-health: the future of healthcare!

Photo credits: Crew @unsplash https://unsplash.com/@crewFollow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

ALEC: a success story

10 February, 2017 By Johanna Pacevicius

The fifth edition of the Artic Light E-health Conference in Norrbotten is an opportunity to look back on one of the major achievements of the AER e-health network. The event brought together 300 participants from 16 countries in the world this year around the themes of digital transformation & health equity.

Scale e-health awareness

The AER e-health network was created back in 2006 to support the deployment of e-health solutions and enable experience sharing. It has since been involved in the preparation and implementation of Smart Care, the largest EU deployment project of integrated care e-services and Engaged, a mutual learning network of diverse stakeholders in the field of IT innovation and active and healthy ageing. Since 2010 AER has also been an organising partner of the Arctic Light E-health Conference (ALEC) in Norrbotten which brings each time over 200 participants together to raise awareness, engage professionals, informal carers and patients around the deployment of e-health. The conference itself grew over time to become the major international event it is now.

“Houston, we have a problem? Norrbotten, we’ve got a solution!”

The ALEC conferences have allowed to take stock of the evolution in e-health over the past 7 years and more importantly to share experiences, good practices, stories… and the bumpy road to successful deployment.

Mutual learning and meaningful networking are among the main benefits participants mention when speaking about the ALEC experience. Over the years, speakers have included President Ilves of Estonia, who used to lead the EU working group on e-health, Sweden’s Minister of Digital Development Peter Eriksson, Dr. Robert Wah, CSC’s Global Chief Medical Officer and many other representatives from the care sector, business, academia and patients.

A multiplier effect

While the AER e-health network is a place to share and develop projects, it is also a multiplier for regional initiatives. As Agneta Granström said during the opening session of the ALEC 2017 conference “Alone we can only do so much. Together we can do everything”. This is also an encouragement for other regions to follow and use the tremendous potential of the network, not only in the field of e-health but also any other topic relevant to AER members.

Links

2012 ALEC press release

2014 ALEC press release

Committee 2 pageFollow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

A recognition of excellence

15 December, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

The 2016 European Summit on Innovation for Active and Healthy Ageing was an opportunity to highlight the excellent initiatives from regions across Europe. The Summit brought together diverse stakeholders to boost Europe’s competitive advantage in the Silver Economy

The Silver what?

Europe is growing older and while this is a challenge because society has to adapt its strategies, products and services, it could also be an opportunity. Indeed in terms of world demographic trends, Europe will become older first. If Europe innovates first it will get a competitive advantage. If a large part of the population is getting older this means also a new market is being created, hence the reference to the Silver economy. the Silver Economy is believed to grow faster than the Green Economy, which says something about its potential.

The Silver Economy covers new market opportunities arising from public and consumer expenditure related to the rights, needs and demands of the (growing) population over 50.<br>Public spending on ageing in the EU accounts for 25% of GDP and 50% of general government expenditure and is projected to grow by 4% of GDP until 2060 (see the Commission’s 2015 Ageing report).

The European Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing

The Innovation Union strategy outlines the way the European Commission decided to support European competitiveness and tackle societal challenges. The focus is on research and innovation.

The European Commission has identified active and healthy ageing/ demographic change as a major societal challenge common to all European countries. It also presents considerable potential for Europe to lead the world in health innovation.

The Innovation Partnerships are one of the elements of the Innovation Union strategy. The Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA) brings together end users, public authorities, industry, all actors in the innovation cycle, and those engaged in standardisation and regulation.

The Partnership’s objective is to improve the framework conditions for uptake of innovation: Funding and investments in innovation need to be leveraged. But funding for research and innovation in European territories also needs to be more coherent and better coordinated.

Recognising excellent practices

Last year at the Conference of Partners of the EIP-AHA Günther Oettinger, EC Commissioner for the Digital Economy & Society announced a new Call for Reference sites. A total of 74 regional and local organisations have been awarded “Reference Site” status. The Reference Sites awards showcased the commitment of these local and regional organisations to invest over €4 billion in connected health and care for the ageing population until 2019 – an investment expected to benefit at least 4 million people across Europe.

8 AER member regions were among the winners: Catalonia (ES) ****, City of Zagreb (HR)*, East of France (FR)**, Friuli Venezia Giulia (IT)***, Ile de France (FR), Murcia (ES)**, Norrbotten (SE)***, Noord-Brabant Province (NL)***, Nouvelle-Aquitaine (FR)**.

Creating a shared vision

The European Innovation Partnership managed to engage stakeholders in the drafting of a shared vision on IT health innovation. This shared vision is known as the “Blueprint, digital transformation of health and care for the ageing society”. The Blueprint outlines how the journey of emerging digital “innovation to market” can be eased. It is also a manifesto for the alignment of innovation, economic and industrial policies with health and social care policies and with users’ and patients’ needs.  The Blueprint was handed over to Commissioner Oettinger by the Blueprint Champion and AER Member Encarna Guillen, Regional Health Minister from Murcia, ES.

This is also very much in line with the work AER carried out during its workshop on stakeholder engagement in health innovation ecosystems and the event it organised together with its partner networks “E-health: let’s find a common language”

Upcoming events

The ALEC 2017 event on 1-2 February will be an opportunity to further improve the dialogue between stakeholders. AER will, in particular, moderate a workshop on tapping into social capital and the engagement of carers and patients in integrated care systems.

 

ALEC 2017

Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

E-health: how to find a common language?

1 December, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

Regional governments and their stakeholders, in particular, companies shared experiences on 1 December 2016 at the “E-health: let’s find a common language” event hosted by Brussels Capital at the Committee of the Regions. The event aimed at providing participants with information on funding opportunities in the field of healthcare,  new connections, tested ideas to improve communication between stakeholders, inspiration and mutual understanding.

Genuine exchanges

cor-1E-health brings together stakeholders which are not always used to work together. While improving cooperation is on all lips, the consequences of miscommunication are often under-estimated. The so-called geek gap is costing millions to the economy. The cultural clash between different stakeholders prevents them from building trust and deepen cooperation.

The event, therefore, was designed with a strong focus on enabling participants to take an active role. Because purpose-driven networking is often more of a wishful thought than a reality, every single element of the event was aimed at facilitating the exchange of experience between participants from different stakeholder groups.

Engagement & openness

hob

AER President Dr. Hande Özsan Bozatli, welcomed guests and underlined the longstanding engagement of AER in the field of e-health, with in particular the creation of the AER [email protected] network in 2006. Expertise has grown over the years and shifted from rather technical discussions to the transformative power of e-health in the public service. Several projects have been developed within the network and carried out, in particular, the Smartcare ICT-PSP project, which was the largest EU deployment project on integrated care systems. Other projects such United4health and Engaged supported regions in the deployment of telemedicine and created mutual learning across Europe around smart health.

eric-v-merrienboerNorth Brabant Minister for Spatial Planning and Finances Eric van Merrienboer delivered an inspiring speech on the need for open cooperation as a sine qua non condition to achieve the desired results or realise innovations. This open cooperation is based on 4 main elements:  taking your own responsibility, knowledge, skills, respect for each other. “An organisation such as the AER is ideally suited to act as a role model and leader”, he said, because regions in and outside the European Union make it possible to identify and approach other stakeholders “to find a common language in the exchange of knowledge and skills, but also to actually do business with each other”.

Sharing the small things

Each delegate had the opportunity to explain how they work on a set of topics in small and rather informal discussion groups. Participants put across challenges they are confronted with, in particular, which stakeholders they find difficult to engage or even to communicate with and why they would like to see the communication with these stakeholders improve. Hearing from others what they find difficult helps to get new perspectives.

Participants enriched the discussion with examples which they have seen improve common understanding between stakeholders. Often examples can seem insignificant as such but as a group and through the discussion they can actually be illuminating.

It is often by sharing the small things that common understanding starts to emerge because it refers to the practical aspects and the “how do we start”

Discussion groups were organised around the following topics:

  • Public-private partnerships

Moderated by Marco D’Angelantonio from HIM SA, with contributions from Pieter van den Haak from ParkinsonNet, Kees Kools from the Care Innovation Center West-Brabant, Wil Philipsen from Fresh Idea Factory and several regional representatives.

  • Pre-commercial procurement / procurement for innovation

Moderated by Freja Hagsund from EUREGHA, with contributions from Lynda Jones and Jane Brady from the Welsh government as well as Dr. Ramon Maspons from the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS, as per the acronym in Catalan) and many other stakeholders

  • Translating Research and Innovation into practice through collaborative engagement

Moderated by Marc Lange from EHTEL, with contributions from Prof. Dr. Bart Neyns from UZ Brussels, Bas Goossen from MiBida and other participants.

  • Patient-centered innovation

Moderated by Lonneke Rompen from ParkinsonNet, with contributions from Nilofar Niazi, from TRAINM, as well as other organisations and regional stakeholders.

  • Capacity building in care system

Moderated by Olivier Naeyaert from UZ Brussels, with contributions from Paul De Raeve and Kostas Aligiannis from the European Federation of Nurses (EFN) and many other delegates.

Inputs were captured and synthesised by rapporteurs, who disclosed them in the plenary session.

Hands-on inspiration

A study visit to the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center in Brussels was an opportunity to discuss public-private partnerships. The visit provided insights on the latest technological  innovations and trends and was an opportunity to speak about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care. This video on the Seeing AI project showcases for instance how artificial intelligence is enabling blind people to “see” what happens around them, recognising people’s age and emotions or reading from a menu in a restaurant. Microsoft has also recently announced a quartet of initiatives aimed at “solving” cancer via artificial intelligence.

Cross-sectoral cooperation

Cooperation was probably the word most heard during the whole event. It all started with the cooperation between Jean-Luc Vanraes, President of the AER Committee on Regional development and Economy and Agneta Granström, President of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health, who decided to initiate a cooperation on e-health early 2016. Indeed while demographic change should be an opportunity to develop IT innovation and e-health technologies, SMEs are the backbone of the European economy and more than ever before regions need to support their companies in being able to take advantage of the growth potential of e-health & the silver economy. This is why the AER [email protected] network and the Working group on Business, SMEs and Investments held a joint meeting at the Timişoara Start up HUB on the occasion of the Spring plenaries this year and recently organised a workshop on health innovation ecosystems in Izmir.

Networks as facilitators and bridges

The event was designed and organised together with networks AER collaborates with regularly in the field of health. CORAL, EUREGHA and EHTEL played a significant role in the success of this event by providing their expertise, but maybe more specifically by acting as facilitators and as bridges between different stakeholders.

Related upcoming event

alec2017-comALEC, Accelerating Digital Health is organised for the fifth time in Norrbotten (SE) and will be an opportunity to discuss how to bridge health gaps in the age of digital everything. The conference is a place for meaningful connection with peers and experts from all over the world in an incredible environment where time and space seem to obey to different rules. These two days of inspiration, networking and skill development will enable participants to futher engage for the digital transformation of health and society as a whole and develop tools to design better health for all.

Once again ALEC will present a great line-up of top-level digital health thought leaders, policy makers and business innovators who will deliver inspiring and informative keynotes on The Digital Transformation of Healthcare and Health Equity in the Digital Age.

Regions, which would like to share their experience in change management for digital transformation should contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius.Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

European Week of Regions and Cities 2016: side event on smart cities and communities for all

20 September, 2016 By Agnese Pantaloni

AER is happy to share within our network a side event organised by our friends of Age Platform Europe together with other partners in the context of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2016. The side event titled “Smart cities and communities for all: How to become smart and age-friendly” will take place on 10th October and is hosted by the Fundación Galicia Europa in Brussels.

The debate will offer room for discussion on inclusive smart cities and communities and shed light on concrete examples from cities and regions. It will also make the link with the Urban Agenda for the EU, the EIP on Active and Healthy Ageing, the EIP on Smart Cities and Communities, the emerging European Silver Economy Strategy, as well as the European Covenant on Demographic Change.

More information for this interesting initiative are available here.

We encourage our member regions and partners to join it!

Registration is open here.Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Reference site status for AER regions

8 September, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

A recognition of excellence

A Call for Reference sites 2016 was launched in December 2015 at the Conference of Partners of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing.

A total of 74 regional and local organisations have now been awarded “Reference Site” status.

These organisations have demonstrated the existence of comprehensive strategies to advance innovation for active and healthy ageing, based on a “Quadruple Helix” model that includes stakeholders from industry, civil society, academia and government authorities at a regional and local level.

Investing in active and healthy ageing

Together these regions represent a commitment of over four billion € (2016-2019 period) to invest in innovative solutions that will lead to improvements in the quality of life of the ageing population, support efficiencies and sustainability of health and social care delivery and finally, stimulate economic growth and competitiveness. These investments will benefit an expected five million people in the next three years.

Scaling-up: IT innovation for the Silver Economy

The Reference Site status is granted to organisations, which have demonstrated excellence in: the development, the adoption of the scaling up of innovative practices for active and healthy ageing. All this being in line with the strategic objectives of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) and particularly the European Scaling Up Strategy for Innovation in Active and Healthy Ageing.

The Scaling Up strategy supports the European Commission priority of establishing a Digital Single Market to unlock online opportunities for digital products and services.

Stars for AER regions!

The European Innovation Partnership recognised 8 AER member regions with “reference site” status: Catalonia (ES) ****, City of Zagreb (HR)*, East of France (FR)**, Friuli Venezia Giulia (IT)***, Murcia (ES)**, Norrbotten (SE)***, Noorth Brabant Province (NL)***, Nouvelle-Aquitaine (FR)**.

Links

The official announcement and the full list of nominees is available on the Scale AHA website

More information on the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing

Upcoming events on e-health

“E-health: let’s find a common language”: AER event which will bring together companies & regional stakeholders on e-health and provide insights and free P2P meetings, information on funding etc to boost cooperation between stakeholders

European Summit on Innovation for Active and Healthy Ageing: Transforming the future of Health and Care in Europe: event organised by the European Commission

ALEC 2017 Accelerating Digital Health: the fifth Arctic Light e-Health Conference (ALEC), is a captivating event uniting digital health professionals from across the globe in the arctic region of Norrbotten for two days of inspiration, networking and skill development. Top-level politicians, digital health thought leaders, business innovators and ehealth professionals will meet to experience thought provoking keynotes on digital transformation.

 

 

 Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Horizon 2020 “Health, demographic change and wellbeing”: Work Programme 2017 and funding opportunities

19 July, 2016 By Agnese Pantaloni

With the principle of research for better health for all at its core, Horizon 2020’s Societal Challenge 1 (SC1) related to Health Demographic Change and Wellbeing focuses on personalised health and care.

Its updated Work Programme 2017 and related call for proposals have been presented in Brussels on occasion of a dedicated info day on July 8th. The overall budget is about € 400 million and covers calls on personalised medicine, including coordination activities, SME instrument and other actions (including InnovFin ID and Birth Day Prize).

The final version of the Work Programme 2017 is planned to be adopted by the end of July.

Regarding the participation of UK entities, the Commission ensured that before and during negotiations under Art. 50, the UK remains a full member of the European Union with all the rights and obligations in the Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation that derive from this, as any other organisation from an EU Member State in a call for proposals or call for tenders.

Agenda

List of participants

Presentations as well as video recordingsFollow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

AER at e-health week

15 June, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

Coalition of the willing

AER participated in a session organised by ECHAlliance on a new “Coalition of the Willing”. This digital health journey across Europe aims at speeding up the deployment of e-health in regions. Agneta Granström, President of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health and leader of AER ehealth network presented the issues faced by europeans regions. When it comes to using ehealth to build a new, sustainable and patient-centered health system, which supports health innovation, leadership is key. Mrs Granström emphasized the need for change management, change leadership and an increased focus on improving digital literacy among leaders.

A week focused on empowerment & trust

The 2016 eHealth Week was organised by the Dutch Ministry of Health as part of the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and HIMSS Europe. This year’s educational programme focused on three main themes: Empowering People, Trust & Standards and Social Innovation & Transition.

eHealth policies are changing. While policies have long mainly focused on institutions and IT systems, today the focus is shifting towards eHealth users. The people who are using eHealth are becoming increasingly involved in the discussion and being placed at the heart of eHealth policy-making.

Cooperation within AER

These are all areas in which AER regions have the opportunity to have impact and make change happen. This will enable a transformation of the health systems. In Amsterdam, representatives from the regions of Norrbotten and Noord Brabant discussed upcoming steps and actions within the AER [email protected] network.

Accelerating digital health

The e-health week was also an opportunity to announce the 2017 edition of the Artic Light e-health Conference in Norrbotten, which will take place on 1-2 February 2017 in Luleå. The event will gather digital health professionals from across the globe in the arctic region of Norrbotten for two days of inspiration, networking and skill development.

Top-level politicians, digital health thought leaders, business innovators and ehealth professionals will meet to experience thought provoking keynotes on digital transformation. Don’t miss your chance to connect with peers to discuss digital’s potential to bridge health gaps, and develop tools to design better health for all.

Presentations and videos from the last ALEC conference

Page of the SmartCare project for integrated e-care

Information on the United4Health project for telemedicine

Page of the Engaged project for health and IT innovationFollow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Join Noord-Brabant amongst the winners of the AER Regional Innovation Award

1 May, 2016 By Editor

In 2008, the Provice of Noord-Brabant (NL) was awarded the AER Regional Innovation Award (RIA) for their Innovative Actions Braban program 3 (IAB-3) which was regognised by the jury for stimulating innovation in the Province and finding smart solutions for the ageing population.

 

“This project targets one of the most significant social predicaments facing Europeans and citizens around the world: an ageing population. Noord Brabant suggests an innovative approach to proactively deal with a major societal challenge.”

Susanne Justesen
Innovation Advisor, Ph.D, Innoversity Copenhagen

About the Regional Innovation Award

Since 2006, the RIA aims at honouring European Regional Authorities’ actions which have stimulated, fostered and implemented innovation in their territory.

The RIA 2016 edition targets projects on the circular economy. The deadline for sending applications for the call is 15 June 2016 and the award ceremony will take place in Brussels (BE) on 1 December 2016.

Apply today for the 2016 award to promote your region’s action.

 

About the Noord-Brabant project

About the Innovation Award

 Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Call for reference sites now open!

9 February, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

Is your region leading in innovation for demographic change and the silver economy? Apply for the selection of “Reference sites” of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing!

Highly inspirational ecosystems

Reference Sites are highly inspirational ecosystems. They deliver creative solutions that improve the lives of older people. These solutions can be scaled-up and replicated across the EU.
For a more formal definition, they are “ecosystems which comprise different players, including regional and/or local authorities, cities, integrated hospitals/care organisations, industry organisations, SMEs and/or start-ups, research and innovation organisations, that jointly implement a comprehensive, innovation-based approach to active and healthy ageing, and can give evidence and concrete illustrations of the impact of such approaches on the ground”.

Benefits of becoming Reference Site

The benefits of becoming a Reference Site are manifold. For many of the Reference Sites the recognition of their leadership has been a catalyst in their region. It brought other stakeholders on board to work together in developing innovative solutions. The so-called “whole system approach”.
Reference Sites should showcase innovative components of their care systems that can be an inspiration for other regions.

Applications open until 15 April 2016

All regions, even those, which were selected as Reference Sites after the 2012 call, need to apply again to become the new Reference Sites. The following AER member regions were reference sites in the previous call: Northern-Ostrobothnia (FI), Ile-de-France (FR), Languedoc-Roussillon (FR), Alsace (FR), Friuli Venezia Giulia (IT), Catalunya (ES), Valencia (ES), Gelderland (NL) and Noord-Brabant (NL).

Page of the call for Reference Sites

Call document

Online self-assessment form

 

 Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Let’s be the frontrunner for eHealth services in Europe!

1 February, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

United4Health’s final conference took place on 19th and 20th January 2016 in Brussels. The two days offered plenty of opportunity for higher-level and policy messages.

Yet, they were also full of real-life experiences shared by the more then ten deployment sites. The sites presented practical experiences on subjects as diverse as stakeholder engagement, patient acceptance, organisational transformation, workforce adoption, health/information technology infrastructure, and electronic health records. It now appears that “Telehealth is here. It is happening!”

To complete the first day of the conference, Prof. George Crooks, United4Health’s project coordinator, introduced United4Health’s three key policy messages around:
• Ensuring a policy environment that promotes and supports telehealth deployment.
• Seeking national consistency with local adaptation.
• Empowering patients, carers and healthcare professionals to take full advantage of eHealth.
He also emphasised the project’s six further recommendations to policy-makers at European level. All of these are available in a succinct United4Health report entitled Upscaling Telehealth – the need for policy engagement.

Throughout its final 18 months of operation, the Assembly of European Regions (AER) has contributed consistently to United4Health’s user policy advisory board. It was therefore one of two associations to comment publicly on project’s key policy messages during the conference.
AER Committee 2 President, Agneta Granström, who also chairs the AER [email protected] network, supported the United4Health policy messages particularly around the needs for local adaptation and empowerment.
She emphasised the importance of available national, regional and local infrastructure: “We need infrastructure. We need broadband, and we need mobile connectivity.”
To leverage the benefits from constructive initiatives like United4Health, she proposed that: “We now have the opportunity! In Europe, we should take the opportunity to be the frontrunner for eHealth services, outside of hospitals too.”
Continuing linkage of the work of AER with on-going United4Health deployment sites, and regional telehealth activities, is warmly encouraged.

This article was written by Diane Whitehouse, EHTEL

Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Let’s develop a new project together!

25 January, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

The Province of Gelderland (NL) works on a fundamentally new approach to healthcare. Due to demographic, societal and technological developments the complexity of care is increasing while the number of healthcare professionals is decreasing.

The Foundation ParkinsonNet was created to tackle this challenge. It developed a new innovative approach and ecosystem to care for patients suffering from chronic diseases. ParkinsonNet was publicly initiated by Radboudumc, the medical centre in Nijmegen. Over the years, ParkinsonNet built a network and national infrastructure of specialized care in all 68 Dutch health regions and more than 3000 care professionals.

ParkinsonNet has derived working relationships with health insurance companies, sharing the objectives of an effective value based care. The network has an outstanding position also to create a public private ecosystem with health entrepreneurs.

Study visit & project development in Gelderland

Many of the products developed in the Parkinson project could be helpful also in the prevention and slowing down of other chronic diseases or in the quality and affordability of care. The same is true for methods and products developed in projects on other chronic diseases.

Following discussions in the AER [email protected] network, the region of Gelderland proposes to organise a two-day working meeting with AER members. The focus is on regions that have experience with projects on chronic diseases or are willing to implement a broader strategy.
This meeting is for you if:
– You have a health background,
– are a policy maker, a civil servant involved in health
– are a health cost representative
– are a private health care provider
– are an (e-)health entrepreneur working on self-management supporting tools or methodology
– …

The meeting will take place in Spring 2016 and in Nijmegen, Gelderland (NL). A number of regions have already indicated they were interested to participate.
Interested to join this event? Let us know!

Contact: Reinier Zweers

This text was written by Reinier Zweers, Gelderland (NL)

Follow AER!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Tweets by @europeanregions

AER Projects

  • Ongoing projects
    • EU-BELONG: An Intercultural Approach to Migrant Integration in Europe’s Regions
    • Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe
  • Partner search
  • Completed projects
    • SCIROCCO Exchange project
    • SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced Manufacturing: a coalition of transnational VET providers
    • CUBES – Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities
    • Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it
    • AMiD – Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities
    • AER Summer Academy 2016
    • Alcohol Prevention Peer Reviews
    • ECREIN+
    • Engaged
    • Joint Efforts to Combat Dropout (JET-CD)
    • Let’s REUnite! Together for cohesion project
    • MOCHA
    • MORE4NRG
    • PRESERVE
    • PYE – Promoting Youth Employment
    • PRO-I3T
    • REALM – Regional Adult Learning Multipliers and the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives
    • Regions4GreenGrowth
    • Road to the Future
    • SEED European Silver Economy Awards
    • Smart Care
    • Smart Europe
    • YES – Youth Entrepreneurship Strategies

Library

Statutory Documents
AER Strategies
Minutes
Media Kit
Activity Reports
Newsletters
European Regions Map

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Website map

Brussels · Strasbourg · Alba Iulia

A Network, a Partner and a Voice of European regions, since 1985 · Copyright © 2023 · Assembly of European Regions · [email protected] · Log in