Centre for Collaborative Innovation in Dementia

Research-innovation – co-creating sustainable solutions

Through a living lab approach, the Centre aims to generate sustainable solutions to the everyday challenges of living with dementia

Dementia is a long-term condition that adversely impacts upon a person’s everyday ability to function; this is above and beyond what might be expected from normal aging. With people living longer it is anticipated that the incidence of dementia will double by 2030 and by 2050 more than triple. There is an increasing drive to develop innovative and cost-effective dementia care strategies which focus on supporting people with dementia to live well. These innovative approaches will only work effectively if they meet real needs. Bearing this in mind the Centre works in partnership with people living with dementia and interested partners to provide an open environment in which to innovate and validate potential solutions to the real life challenges of living every day with dementia.

This open innovation environment or ‘living lab’ approach has been systematically developed through the Centre’s participation on the Innovate Dementia project, a European funded project. This involved the Centre working with partners from the UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, to explore ways of developing innovative approaches to dementia care. The Innovate Dementia project used a living lab approach to place people living with dementia, as co-creators, at the centre of the research-to-innovation-to-solution process.

Building on this work, the Centre’s ‘living lab’ is now accredited through the European Network of Living labs (ENoLL). Furthermore, the Centre is now widening its reach by working with co-creation groups across health and social care including working with people with specific needs which are not dementia-related to working with businesses who are committed to co-created product design and testing. Currently the Centre is involved in the HELIUM project which is Interreg Europe funded. The project aims to increase the efficiency of public funding dedicated to health innovation within partner regions from the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Hungry, and Portugal. To achieve this aim it will facilitate within each region the development of a large scale, accessible, attractive, connected and sustainable innovation space which harnesses the potential of the living lab approach; a city region living lab.

Using a living lab approach the Centre collaborates on the following:

• business innovation coaching within the health and social care space
• memory enabling technologies
• health and social care service design, delivery and evaluation
• product testing and evaluation including apps and online resources