The ageing of the population together with the growing burden of chronic conditions and multimorbidity are steadily increasing demand for health and care. This means health and social care systems have to develop a different approach to enable more effective care delivery and to confront the complexity of different services which patients are now expected to navigate.
On the digital transformation of health and care, the European Commission has stressed that the utilisation of digital solutions, all of which provide the necessary means to deliver efficient and cost-effective care, is central to the success of this transformation.
One of the key challenges faced by the European community of actors working to promote Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA) is the implementation and scale-up of cross-border innovative solutions.
During last years, several initiatives and cooperation structures have flourished to address
demographic change and draw lessons on how the EU can successfully build an innovation ecosystem to tackle the ageing of the EU’s population.
Within the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Health Ageing (EIP on AHA), ECHAlliance is leading the design and implementation of the Innovation to Market (I2M) initiative.
The aim is to support the transformation of health and care in the Digital Single Market, thereby reinforcing the links between the development of solutions by companies, start-ups, and researchers – the supply side, and bridge a gap with the expectations and needs of care providers, policy-makers, insurers and other potential buyers of these products and services – the demand side.
The I2M will improve the match between the demand side and supply side in AHA, by engaging in a dialogue and organising a series of activities and services that involve the two sides of the market. These activities and services have been detailed in the Innovation to Market Plan published last 4th June 2019.
Over the years, the EIP on AHA has helped to build a strong and growing network of likeminded stakeholders, provided prominence to proven solutions, opened up new markets, and influenced both local, regional and national policies.
As noted in the recent European Commission Staff Working Document which is summarising the Partnership’s achievements and setting the basis for future actions[1], the EIP on AHA provides a valuable platform to work with leading innovators on the supply side who are developing new digital services and products and with pioneers on the demand side of health and care innovation, notably from the regional and local healthcare authorities that are responsible for health and care services delivering to citizens across the EU.
[1] European Commission (2018), Staff Working Document “Progress of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing” SWD (2018) 437 final.
