Development and validation of promising integrated eHealth applications combined with nanotechnology for hospitalisation of heart failure patients at home.

*This project is financially supported by the Interreg NWE innovation program

Background: Heart failure is a growing epidemic: in the European Union about 15 million people are now living with heart failure. Between 1-2% of total healthcare expenditure can be associated with this condition, of which 50% is due to hospitalisation. Digital health is widely recognised as one of the most promising solutions to this societal challenge: in the field of cardio vascular diseases, current eHealth tools are primarily focused on rehabilitation and monitoring after hospitalisation. Today, there is a transition taking place from dedicated hospital care to the home setting, with a combination of eHealth applications and miniaturised diagnostic and therapeutic devices. This is where the NWE-Chance project comes into play.

Goal: NWE-Chance is all about bringing stakeholders together to co-create the knowledge needed to get innovation in home care to happen in North-west Europe. The project will contribute to develop SMEs’ capabilities and to increase their involvement in cooperative projects in the NWE Interreg region. During the project, two SMEs and one larger company will collaborate with three hospitals and two universities to develop and test a prototype of a platform for home hospitalisation in which supportive (miniaturised) diagnostic and therapeutic devices are integrated. The prototype will integrate a real-time monitoring system with a nano-based test for measuring potassium and creatine, and a wearable patch to monitor vital functions.

Pilots will run in three different hospitals to test:

  • the technical feasibility of the developed technologies;
  • the organisational feasibility of home hospitalisation for heart failure patients.

Then, an Innovation-Hub will be launched to:

  • support the collaboration and knowledge exchange between SMEs and hospitals in the process of developing and implementing new digital health technologies;
  • ensure continuity and growth of the collaboration between industry and hospitals, leading to the development of eHealth products to support hospitalisation at home.

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