Oulu Call for Challenges – search for development needs

A project called inDemand, which started in September 2017, has now entered the first phase that engages healthcare professionals. Participation in the development and innovation process provides these professionals with an opportunity to shape their job content and influence the choice of electronic services that will be taken into practice in the future.

Development needs for co-creation are currently being identified in the Oulu University Hospital. This process started on 9 January and it will continue until 28 January 2018.

The main goal is to identify development needs that can be answered with the right eHealth solution and solved through co-creation between healthcare professionals and health companies during the project. Especially the needs of the Future Hospital 2030 programme will be taken into consideration when identifying the development needs.

The most suitable development needs will be selected in February 2018 and published in connection with a call for startups and SMEs that will be launched in February-March by the Council of the Oulu region. The best company solutions will be selected and then developed in a co-creation process together with healthcare professionals. It’s expected that this will result in introducing better products and services into the healthcare sector.

The healthcare professionals from the Oulu University Hospital already participated in a co-creation model in 2016-2017 as part of the University Hospitals innovation platform project (YSI). Based on the good results that the YSI project provided, the international collaboration in InDemand project has also started well.

The OYS healthcare professionals’ comments on co-creation during the YSI project include the following examples: «It was great to get to know different companies and to be involved in this product development ”, “I’m pleased that those, who do practical work are listened to.»