Constructing Healthcare Environments through Responsible Research Innovation & Entrepreneurship Strategies (CHERRIES)
Project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme
Grant Agreement: 872873
Duration: 36 months
Start date: 1/01/2020
The project official website
The CHERRIES project is aimed at supporting healthcare research and innovation policy and pilot actions by interlinking RRI, demand-side policy and territorial innovation models incl. smart specialisation. This pilot innovation process will be implemented and tested in the territories of Murcia (ES), Örebro (SW) and the Republic of Cyprus (CY).
A focus is set on demand-side innovation policy by training local stakeholders in the regions healthcare sectors to identify needs within their organizations. One need per region will be chosen and a responding call for solutions will be drafted to which entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply with tailor made solutions. After the selection of one solution per region the development of a pilot will be funded by CHERRIES and the entrepreneurs will co-create a solution with the need-owner. The sustainability and market creation of these innovations will be addressed. These processes, their outcomes and the policy frameworks the experiments are embedded in will be mapped, monitored, evaluated and serve as evidence-base for revision of sectoral policies, strategies and innovation support instruments. Thereby, CHERRIES will engage the territorial stakeholder ecosystems in participatory agenda setting, need articulation and institutional reflection processes. These will serve as starting point for collective approaches with shared responsibilities aiming to create more open, inclusive and self-sustaining territorial research and innovation (R&I) ecosystems.
Within the CHERRIES Project, K&I is in charge of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Assessment activities, aimed at securing the project’ overall impacts as well as to accompany and to study the policy experiments and the innovation pilots. K&I will also contribute to the process of reflection on territorial RRI implementation and future potential in the healthcare sector and in the training of key stakeholders at territorial level in RRI and need articulation processes.
The CHERRIES consortium consists of 12 renowned and EU-FP experienced universities, research organisations, SMEs, CSOs, healthcare organisations incl. a private hospital, business and innovation centres and regional authorities from seven European countries.
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News
On 29th of November 2021, the CHERRIES Evaluation Committee selected the four “mirror” Regions that will replicate the experimented methodology of the CHERRIES demand-driven innovation methodology with their own resources and the support of the CHERRIES consortium. The Committee, composed of regional representatives of each one of the pilot territories and the project coordinator, assessed, according to different parameters, the applications received to choose the most suitable regions to carry out the whole process. The 4 applications selected were proposed by: Burgos (Spain), Coimbra (Portugal), Nord East (Romania), and West of Ireland (Ireland). On the 20th of January 2022 a kick-off event will be held to ...
On November 4th and 5th 2021, the 3rd General Assembly of the CHERRIES project was held in Nikosia (Republic of Cyprus) hosted by the local partner Cyric. During the GA, a discussion session on the progresses from the three territorial experimentations and on the main challenges to address at this stage of the process, followed by a mutual learning session involving the three solution providers leading the local co-creation pilots were arranged (WP4). Furthermore, a Progress and prioritizing workshop on policies recommendations from the Cherries experience was implemented (WP5) and an update on main activities was provided from WP6 (monitoring&evaluation), and from WP7 ...
On 5th Novembre 2021 Claudia Colonnello (K&I) visited the Aretaeio Hospital in Nikosia and attended a meeting with the CEO of the Hospital (Michalis Papadopoulos) and the Aretaeio’s team in CHERRIES (Stelios Yiallouros and Katerina Georgiou). The meeting was aimed at a reflection on the on-going RRI-demand driven territorial experimentation and on the potential for an institutional change pathway stemming from the CHERRIES experience, related to the idea to establish a regional multi-actor Centre of reference for responsible innovation in health within the Hospital ...
During the second day of the GA, on 5th November 2021, a workshop was arranged by K&I (in the context of the WP6), in agreement with territorial teams, aimed at triggering the process of co-design of the “ex-post” evaluation on-site visits on the 3 local pilots. After a quick update on the latest and future activities of WP6, Claudia Colonnello (K&I) illustrated the Protocol for Onsite Visits (OVP), containing the elements of discussion to start the planning of onsite visits. Then 3 working groups were arranged (one for each local team) within which a preliminary exchange of ideas, expectations and ...
During the second year of activity the CHERRIES project has released a new webinar series focusing on shaping responsible healthcare ecosystems in Europe. This series contains three webinars, each highlighting the ongoing regional RRI/Demand-driven Innovation experiments. All sessions take place in October 2021. Claudia Colonnello (K&I) moderated the conversation around the Cyprus case in the webinar arranged on 2021 October 11th. To find out more about each individual webinar, visit the CHERRIES events page, where you can also find the recording of the three webinars ...
In the case of Örebro, a 2nd Call for solution was launched at a later time (September 2021), related to the same territorial challenge on “Breaking and Preventing Involuntary loneliness among elderly”. This was possible because only a part of the funds available from the CHERRIES project were allocated for the first proposal selected. The deadline for application to the 2nd Open Call for solution is 25th November 2021. The project that will be selected from this 2nd Call will receive up to 31,500 € to develop their solution over a period of 8 months. To find out more about ...
In order to spread the model beyond the project territories, CHERRIES aims at creating a pan-European community of actors involved in similar approaches, where it will be possible to exchange know-how, promising practices and resources. In this framework, CHERRIES launched on 6 September 2021 a call for "mirror regions" to replicate the model in three other areas of the EU and associated states. Participants will form a consortium that includes, not only public administration and private entities, but also other organizations. This consortium will mobilise its resources to identify and address a local issue, not limited to the health sector ...
CHERRIES territories launched 3 calls for solutions that will be open for applications till April 15th, 2021. Territorial partners in Cyprus, Murcia, and Örebro are looking for innovative solutions in the healthcare sector. 3 regions, 3 different challenges: CHERRIES Cyprus is calling European companies and organisations to solve the “Provision of medical services to the Cypriot citizens that live in rural and remote areas and do not have easy access to healthcare services and prescribed medicines” challengeCHERRIES Murcia is calling European companies to solve the “Early detection of progression in Multiple Sclerosis” challengeCHERRIES Örebro is calling European companies and organisations to solve the ...
The CHERRIES “RRI and Experiment Toolbox”, set up by K&I with the active contribution of all the CHERRIES partners during the first period of the project, is ready and is accessible (in pdf format) for the regional teams involved in the pilots and for those interested to implement in their local context the CHERRIES approach and methodology. It collects and adapts RRI-related knowledge, tools, and other resources to support stakeholders and territorial partners in the implementation of the three CHERRIES experiments. Based on the screening and selection of RRI promising practices in health, the Toolbox incorporates existing resources from European ...
On February 15th 2021, the CHERRIES project launched three open calls for recipients of financial support aimed at the implementation of co-creation pilots for the development of “responsible” innovation solution to the three territorial challenges identified during the first stage of the project. The process of evaluation of the applications submitted at local level was completed on April 2021, with the selection of a “solution provider” for each territorial pilot. In the Republic of Cyprus, a total of 12 applications were received eligible for funding, on the Call “Provision of medical services to the Cypriot citizens that live in rural and ...
From December 27th the third and the fourth issues of the CHERRIES newsletter are available online. The third number, presents the activities implemented between October and November 2020 by the project (the CHERRIES series of webinars on “Exploring Responsible Healthcare Ecosystems”; the CHERRIES Panel on “Mission-driven Health Ecosystem“ held in the framework of EBN Conference 2020) and in the three Regions (launch of the Calls for needs and implementation of Training workshops on territorial RRI in health, carried out in virtual mode). The fourth issue reports further insights from the preparation stage of the territorial pilots and presents the project ...
During November 2020, a “Calls for needs” (first step of the RRI/demand-driven pilots) have been launched in the three territories of Orebro (Sweden), Murcia (Spain), and Cyprus. These Call for needs are aimed at collecting unmet needs in healthcare, against which develop sustainable and responsible innovation solutions. The launch of the Calls for needs within the three regions has been accompanied by the implementation of training workshops, bilateral meetings with different stakeholders, and by specific dissemination and social media campaigns, aimed at involving, in the process of identification of such needs, a large number of stakeholders and key actors from ...
During the preparation stage of the pilots in Murcia (Spain), Orebro (Sweden), and Cyprus, in November 2020, the local teams promoted (with the K&I support) the implementation of Training workshops, aimed at preparing the local system of territorial stakeholders, at engaging them actively in the regional pilots and at promoting the establishment of possible territorial coalitions on “Responsible and Open Innovation” in health. In each region, the design of the Training workshops was adapted accordingly to local habits and organisational needs. In Murcia, the training workshop was implemented through three virtual sessions: on October 28th, on November 4th, on December ...
CHERRIES project organises a first series of four webinars to explore some aspects that can contribute to shape more responsible inclusive, accessible and sustainable regional healthcare innovation ecosystems. These are issues and speakers of the four webinars:• The role of need in open and user-led innovation approaches in healthcare – 22 September (h. 15:30-16:30). Prof Wouter Boon (University of Utrecht) and Myriam Martin (TicBiomed)• RRI practices in healthcare – 29 September 2020 (h. 14:30-15:30). Rosina Malagrida (IrisCaixa Barcelona) and Barbara Kieslinger (ZSI)• The role of procurement in healthcare innovation – 06 October 2020 (h. 14:30-15:30). Dr John Rigby (Bibliometica Ltd.) ...
From 16 to 18 June, the second General Assembly of the Cherries project was held in virtual mode. It was an important opportunity to verify the work progress of all the Project Work Packages, with special attention to WP2 and WP3, concerning, respectively: the mapping of stakeholders, policies, and the three territorial healthcare ecosystems (Cyprus-CY, Örebro-SE, and Murcia-ES); the preparatory activities of the RRI-based experimentations that will be implemented in such territories. In this framework, during the session of June 16, Claudia Colonnello, team leader for Knowledge and Innovation, presented the work carried out to set up the Cherries Toolbox ...
On the 16th and 17th of January 2020, the CHERRIES project (Constructing Healthcare Environments through Responsible Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategies), held a Kick-off meeting in Vienna organized by ZSI. The project partners from Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden met each other for the first time and discussed their contributions and how they will work together. Cristina Marcone, the Project´s Officer from the European Commission´s Research Executive Agency, held the initial presentation to explain how CHERRIES is embedded in the H2020 framework and welcomed the participants. Her presentation was followed by work package presentations and discussions from ...