The City of Almere leads European project TITTAN to reduce the gap between research and market in th

TITTAN aims to establish a network for exchanging good practices and experiences related to active and healthy ageing between seven European regions. Three Health related-Thematic Areas are being addressed in the project. Thematic Area 2 on Inside-Out Technological Innovation was studied in recent months.

The GezondheidFabriek (or HealthFactory) participates in the TITTAN project (Translation, Innovation, & Technology Transfer in Ageing Network) aiming to support the increasing number of people aged 65 and over in Europe. The project is funded by Interreg Europe.

The project has three different action lines. Recent activities were focused on ‘inside-out technological innovation’ issues. From May 29 tot 31, 2017, the City of Almere (The Netherlands) hosted a three-day Workshop for all partners and their stakeholders to share good practices that help to reduce the gap between research and market in the health sector.

The workshop consisted of three intense days of work with presentations of Good Practices from both TITTAN partners and local stakeholders. Besides, there were in situ visits prepared by the host, the City of Almere, as examples of innovative initiatives in both cities Amsterdam and Almere, as well as meetings for monitoring, coordinating and planning the TITTAN project agenda for the next months.

The first day was held at A-Lab Amsterdam, a coworking space where they mix creativity with technology equally. One of the renters is the Social Robotics lab with Robot Alice. The Amsterdam Economic Board presented how in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area innovation, collaboration and growth is organised via a triple helix regional innovation ecosystem built on regional health challenges.

Apart from best practices, the stakeholders presented various projects exchanging cutting edge technology and knowledge from their regions: e.g. innovation in the field of nutrition and healthy aging, technological solutions coming from Galicia, the Basque Country and Lower Silesia.

During the second day, more good practices were presented from Galicia (Pre-commercial development of research results PRIS), Scotland (Digital Health & Care Institute), Saxony (C3-Saxony) and Lower Silesia (medical massage as a medicine in geriatrics and an example of the first showroom apartment for the elderly in Poland, among others). Tuesday's work was completed by study visits to various innovative initiatives in Almere, such as the HealthFactory (including the Big Data Value Center and health tech partner Cinnovate), Senior-Live, and the Who Cares project, a contest for age friendly housing.

The Amsterdam DataLab was the place chosen for the last session of the workshop, to review the progress of the TITTAN project, as well as to plan the in situ visits for the thematic area. Led by the Italians and Dutch partners, TITTAN partners will carry out up-to-5-day stays in a region with relevant experience in the field of inside-out technological innovation. These individual visits complement the collective Study visits done during the workshop, by giving to the visiting partner the opportunity to address specific questions, in accordance with its own needs. The proposed in situ vitis were:

In addition to this workshop, all partners hold several meetings with their respective regional stakeholders such as research centers, Universities and private company clusters. All these initiatives will indirectly benefit the citizens of the regions involved, in particular, elderly people and patients with chronic illness.

All European partners are proud to be participating in the TITTAN project. They realize the significance of the project can be for their regions. And last but not least, they mention as a central point of the project success, the good cooperation, smooth communication and excellent working environment among the project partners, not only during the workshops but also at a distance.

Partners

The TITTAN project (€1,7 M) is lead by ACIS (Health Knowledge Agency from Galicia in Spain). European partners in the Interreg Project are: BIOEF Basque Foundation for Health Research and Innovation (Spain), DHI Digital Health & Care Institute from Scotland (United Kingdom), FRRB Regional Foundation for Biomedical Research from Lombardy (Italy), HS Health Saxony (Germany), LSVMO Lower Silesian Voivodeship Marshall Office (Poland) and City of Almere (The Netherlands) .

Related to the Amstedam metropolitan Aream, the City of Almere collaborates with the following organizations at a regional level: Amsterdam Economic Board, Age Friendly City Amsterdam, GezondheidFabriek (previously named Health and Wellbeing Innovation Center Almere) and Senior-Live