Title: Towards sustainable business models from healthcare technology research

Authors: Maurice Mulvenna, Jonathan Wallace, George Moore, Suzanne Martin, Brendan Galbraith, Timber Haaker, Ferial Moelaert, Maria Jansson, Birgitta Bergvall-Kareborn, Ricardo Castellot, Anita Melander-Wikman, Johan E. Bengtsson, Lennart Isaksson, Chris Nugent

Addresses: TRAIL Living Lab, School of Computing and Mathematics, Faculty of Computing and Engineering, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, BT41 3HE, UK. ' TRAIL Living Lab, School of Computing and Mathematics, Faculty of Computing and Engineering, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, BT41 3HE, UK. ' School of Computing and Mathematics, Faculty of Computing and Engineering, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, BT41 3HE, UK. ' TRAIL Living Lab, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Research Institute, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, BT41 3HE, UK. ' TRAIL Living Lab, Department of Management, Ulster Business School, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, BT41 3HE, UK. ' Telematica Instituut, Brouwerijstraat 1, Enschede, 7523 XC, The Netherlands. ' Telematica Instituut, Brouwerijstraat 1, Enschede, 7523 XC, The Netherlands. ' Umea University, Umea, 90187, Sweden. ' Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, 971 87, Sweden. ' Telefonica, Parque Tecnologico de Boecillo, Boecillo, Valladolid, 47151, Spain. ' Centre for Distance-Spanning Healthcare, Lulea University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lulea, Sweden. ' Centre for Distance-Spanning Healthcare, Lulea University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lulea, Sweden. ' Intelliwork AB, Haggvagen 16, 954 41 Sodra Sunderbyn, Sweden. ' Computer Science Research Institute, School of Computing and Mathematics, Faculty of Computing and Engineering, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, BT41 3HE, UK

Abstract: As demographic ageing impacts across the world, health and welfare organisations are seeking new paradigms of care that address people|s needs as well as being inherently more scalable than the incumbent processes and services. The aim of this paper is to describe the current situation in Europe with information on service provision, before signposting some possible new ways to develop sustainable business models that support care models. The paper uses a case study approach to examine the issues in the introduction of such business models, from a perspective of the translation of research proof of concepts into business services and from the perspective of developing innovations from research that address unmet or poorly considered needs of user. The paper shows how several innovative European projects are anticipating the need for service change and are designing their research outcomes to match the needs of service commissioners more fully. The conclusion discusses several different approaches before drawing together strands of the work and providing tentative recommendations on the way forward to develop new inclusive technology-enhanced services in health and social care.

Keywords: inclusion; information technology; communications technology; ICT; health services; welfare services; business models; healthcare technology; service provision; Europe; innovation; social care; computers in healthcare.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIH.2010.034129

International Journal of Computers in Healthcare, 2010 Vol.1 No.1, pp.20 - 34

Published online: 15 Jul 2010 *