at.home, PBN’s smart senior care division, joins Reference Site Collaborative Network's event in Brussels

Pannon Business Enterprise (PBN) participated in the Award Ceremony organised by RSCN (Reference Site Collaborative Network) in Brussels on 10th October 2022.

The event took place in the Albert Borschette Conference Centre where more than 120 participants represented 65 European Reference Sites across EU.

at.home (PBN’s smart senior care division) was the only one candidate from Hungary and it was represented by Regina Rosta-Pethő in Brussels. As the Reference Sites are ecosystems in terms of health and social care, the participation on this event brought many new connections to the CONNECTINGHEALTH project as there are opportunities to get to know many other health ecosystems.

The network offers collaboration possibilities for their participants to exchange their experiences in health policies, innovative solutions, and good practices. The network and the experts, who PBN could speak to, will be very useful for the upcoming tasks in the CONNECTINGHEALTH project, especially for:

• WP.T3.2: Focus area: from traditional to digital health industry

• WP.4.: Analysis of gaps and opportunities in digital health sector

During the event, participants listened to presentations on the European insights from the different DGs of the European Commission and the World Health Organisation.

The most interesting EU projects were also introduced: 

• IN-4-AHA
• LEADERSHIP4SMES
• ICU4COVID
• project on IPR
• PROCURE4HEALTH 
• SHAFE.

Different good practices were presented by Spanish, French, Portugal and Greek AHA Reference Sites. In the final session a round table discussion was taking place with the representatives of the regional health ministries from Castilla y Leon, Algarve, Andalusia, Puglia, Veneto and Basque Country. The final part of the event was the awards ceremony where Marco Marcella from DG CNCT handed the certificate to the presented Reference Sites. 

at.home received a 3-Starts evaluation (out of 4-Stars) for its health ecosystem based on a quadruple helix model involvolving policy makers, public actors, health and care organisations, universities and R&D entities, as well as businesses. 

The event offered the opportunity to network among the RSs. at.home’s representative could talk with the following actors: 

• European Commission, Directorate-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology, eHealth, Well-Being and Ageing

During the discussion at.home and the Hungarian ecosystem was shorthly introduced and the main results achieved after the last meeting were overviewed. A possible online meeting was agreed to introduce our activities in detail. 

• SRIP Zdravje Medicina – Reference Site Slovenia EIP on AHA, Slovenia 3*

They introduced themselves to each other during which we got to know the Slovenian ecosystem in more detail. It was agreed to work on a joint project proposal due to the close connection of the geographical area in the future. 

• Medical University of Lodz, Department of Gerontology 4*

The activity of the hospital is focusing rather on highly professional activities than policy making therefore an optional HorizonEurope project could be a common point for further cooperation.  

• Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region, Italy 3*

The region is also focusing on active and healthy ageing. They are very open to work together in the future especially in the testing environment offered by at.home.

• City of Belgrade, Serbia 1*

The industrial representative of the Reference Site introduced its activity which is about software development especially focusing on integrating different devices into one platform. It was agreed to contact in the future to find common development opportunities and exchange experiences regarding the integration process. 

RSCN

The RSCN (Reference Site Collaborative Network) aspires to be continually recognized by the EC as the principal forum and authority representing all EIP on AHA RS, and to establish connections with and across the Actions Groups (AG) in order to promote AHA. Our vision is to help our members accelerate the development, deployment and adoption of innovative health and social care solutions, proven AHA delivery models and digital solutions that provide real impact and contribute towards sustainability of services.

EIP on AHA:

The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing is a pilot initiative launched by the European Commission to foster innovation in the field of active and healthy ageing. It brings together all relevant actors at EU, national and regional levels across different policy areas to handle specific societal challenges and involves all the innovation chain levels.

Active and Healthy Ageing Reference Site (AHA RS)

Reference Sites are inspirational ecosystems, delivering creative and workable solutions that improve the lives and health of older people. The Sites are regions, cities, integrated hospitals or care organisations that focus on a comprehensive, innovation-based approach to active and healthy ageing.