Press Release: June 25th, 2019
Galician delegation visits Slovenia and Serbia on a journey to improve health and social care by connecting across ecosystems
Cluster Saúde de Galicia, HealthDay.si and Health Tech Lab are three coordinating partners of the largest European multistakeholder network, the European Connected Health Alliance. They have just finished a Learning Experience trip to Slovenia and Serbia which was joined by public and private members from the Galician (Spain) health and social care ecosystem. During this study trip they have met over 30 different public and private organisations in Slovenia and Serbia with the objective of evaluating the future cooperation between the three countries.
Health and social care are two of the most complex systems in modern societies. Innovating within them requires inclusion of many stakeholders, a determination of the decision makers and a focus on the users (patients and caretakers). Galicia is a 2,7M citizen region in NW Spain whose health and social care system is seen as one of the best in the world*. Cluster Saúde de Galicia (CSG), the regional health cluster, is one of the key drivers of innovation in Galicia. Their programme “Impacting Health Services Through Innovation” that is co- financed by Igape, Xunta de Galicia and the European Regional Development Fund through operational programme 2014-2020 lead CSG to organise similar trips to Israel, from China and now also to Slovenia and Serbia. The decision to visit Slovenia and Serbia from June 16th to 23rd has proven to be the right one, as it has entailed a flow of ideas, knowledge, services, products and projects in both directions. The delegation and partners from the receiving ecosystems have identified at least 8 opportunities that will be explored further.
“We are very pleased with what we have seen in Slovenia and Serbia. We were prepared upfront and knew what to expect, but what we found out there are many excellent opportunities, including some world class products that we would like to use in Galicia. But not just that, Galicia will offer some institutions pilot projects in order to show where improvements can be made. We also see excellent opportunities for partnership with some leading organisations” is what Gisela Garcia Alvarez, the Managing Director of CSG said about the Learning Expedition.
*#1 in Europe and # 3rd in the world (according to Bloomberg Ranking). According to WHO ranking Galicia is #7 in the world.
Photo material including originals of above used pictures is available here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VNs39d9xuGbPYD8H7
