Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS joins new CoLAB

06.12.2021

The future is built with joined forces

To be in line with the European Standards of Development, in 2016, the Portuguese National Agency (ANI) started an investment to support and incentivize institutional diversification and innovation. The goal was to nurture social and economic knowledge and create qualified work.

The concept of Collaborative Laboratory (CoLAB) first came up as a step to create a denser institutional mesh that would generate qualified work and would increase collaboration between academia and industry, research and development, and business activities.

As the name says, a Collaborative Laboratory combines different institutions – universities, research centres, industry, municipalities, technology, and communication companies – to solve local and national problems with international relevance. By crossing scientific knowledge with the social, cultural, and economic fabric, there is a possibility to create a real impact in society by approaching problems in a holistic way.

Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS (FhP-AICOS)’ mission of developing research with practical utility is in line with the CoLABs purpose of bringing together industry and scientific knowledge to accelerate and capitalize research work created in Portugal. The proven business model operated by Fraunhofer and adopted by the CoLABs, ensures that the research produced by the CoLABs answers to the most pressing issues, and allows for foresight and exploration activities. CoLABs are close to this business model as its continuity allows to create qualified work and attract and retain talent.

FhP-AICOS is now part of three different CoLABs:

4LifeLAB

The most recent collaborative endeavour - the 4LifeLAB – aims to create an agile and competitive ecosystem for the development of medical solutions capable of, among others, giving a rapid response in an emergency or crisis.

Keeping in mind the changing world context – an ageing population, new technological trends, the increased risk of catastrophes due to climate change – the new consortium relies on a multidisciplinary team to do research, development, validation, and final certification in a fast and efficient way.

The 4LifeLAB project, of which Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS is a partner, had its first meeting on 29 October with its founding partners, namely the Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João (CHUSP), Centro de Engenharia e Desenvolvimento de Produtos (CeiiA), Centro Clínico Académico de Braga (2CA-Braga), Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde (ICVS), Grupo TMG, Wise Healthcare Solution (WISEHS), and IBMP/Atlantis – Tecnologias em Saúde.

VOH CoLAB – Value4Health

Created in May 2019, VOH CoLAB – Value4Health – was the first Collaborative Laboratory FhP-AICOS was part of, and it aims to create a paradigm shift where health is based on value. This means that by measuring outcomes with digital tools, analysing the human and economic costs in healthcare, and increasing patients’ literacy and engagement, healthcare professionals, citizens, and patients can make informed decisions, making the healthcare system more efficient.
VOH CoLAB is anchored on transdisciplinarity and digital transformation to bring to society innovative and valuable results to the healthcare market.

In this CoLAB’s context, Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS is part of the CardioFollow.AI project whose purpose is to improve the patient’s safety and remote surveillance of post-cardiothoracic surgery. FhP-AICOS’ team is responsible for developing the app for the patients’ telemonitoring, which will identify risks of complications throughout the follow-up process. The value assessment of the outcomes of telemonitoring patients has shown good results, with patients feeling safe and engaged in their own recovery and the estimated cost of post-surgery being half of the value.

AlmaScience – The smart paper Ecosystem

AlmaScience, also born in 2019, aims to revolutionize the cellulose market by developing smart and sustainable cellulose-based solutions. Due to the material’s potential, paper electronics hold the power to be integrated into everyday objects and in different application areas., such as security, environment, health, brand protection, electronics, logistics, food, or marketing.

In the scope of Alma Science, Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS has been working on the development of a digital paper prototype to support CoLAB’s industrial partners to understand the possibility, interest, and economic viability of such a product.