Health Innovation

Center of Expertise Health Innovation works every day to create a healthier future for all. Our goal is to make a positive impact on practice by responding to today's complex societal challenges.

We inspire by connecting practice-oriented scientific research with education and service.
Our strength lies in creating tangible, relevant and useful tools and methodologies that can be directly applied in healthcare. We do not do this alone: we work together with a broad network of partners, inside and outside healthcare.
As a knowledge hub, we share our knowledge, bring people together, provide advice and stand for open dialogue, leading to tangible benefits for the region and our society.

A healthier future for all is our goal. By responding to today's societal challenges and innovating together, we can have a positive impact on practice and make a difference.

Sandra Martin

Head Center of Expertise Health Innovation

Our target audience is broad: we target anyone who receives, provides or is involved in care. Although our approach is broad and inclusive, we pay particular attention to individuals with chronic conditions, the elderly and people with mental vulnerability.

What makes us unique is our approach that involves intensive collaboration with various stakeholders. We work evidence-based and tailor our approach to the needs of the field. We analyze practice challenges and develop innovative solutions. Our work is not done after we find a solution: we also take care of its effective implementation and evaluation.

Our work at center of expertise Health Innovation is organized into three thematic lines: Health Promotion, Purposeful Collaboration and Empowerment and two broad, supportive lines: Evidence-based Practice and Implementation. These structures define our approach and activities, and are at the core of our commitment to better health and care.

Purpose: We want to promote healthy lifestyles, with a particular focus on food temptations and environmental factors. Our approach focuses on education, raising awareness and developing hands-on tools that make a real difference.

Target group: Our focus is on the elderly, persons with chronic conditions, people with mental vulnerabilities and their environments, and healthcare professionals.

Activities:

Intervention and implementation research to develop and test effective health interventions;
Education and sensitization actions that make people aware of healthy choices;
Development of methodologies and tools to promote health;
Health Innovation Living Lab or Care Street and other events for hands-on support.

Purpose: We aim to reduce fragmentation in the care and welfare sector by raising awareness of the need for intentional collaborations. We help establish effective collaborations within and across practices, organizations, networks and caring neighborhoods. We focus on intentionally linking collaborative goals to the right forms of collaboration. That means we not only look at the direct collaborative relationships, but also identify and optimize the entire ecosystem in which those collaborations take place. In this way, we ensure that all parties involved can work together optimally.

Target group: Informal and professional actors from the care and welfare sector who are active in various practices, organizations, networks and communities.

Activities:

Ecosystem mapping;
Collaboration analysis;
Collaborative development through document analysis, interviews, participant observation, and focus groups;
Intervision processes in practice-based research and service delivery.

Purpose: We aim to empower both patients and healthcare professionals by sharing knowledge, developing skills and innovating healthcare processes. This leads to a better quality of life for patients and greater well-being in the workplace for healthcare professionals.

Target group: Patients, family caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Activities: We focus on strengthening self-management and both psychological and structural empowerment. Empowerment is an essential component of recovery-oriented mental health work because it empowers people to shape their own recovery process and take back control of their lives. We focus on various recovery support methodologies such as “Open Dialogue.”

Implementation Research;
Process innovation;
Development of workshops;
Customized service delivery.

Purpose: We strengthen the field by integrating the latest evidence into both practice and education. We develop innovative teaching methods to make EBP accessible and directly applicable to healthcare professionals. We focus on integrating guidelines and evidence-based practice into daily practice. This includes the development of indicators and innovative learning methods that help to effectively use and apply EBP in teaching and practice.

Target group: Dietitians, nurses, dental hygienists and health professions in general.

Activities:

Development of EBP resources, including guidelines;
Implementation research on the use of EBP resources;
Training and innovative learning tools such as EBP escaperooms;
Research on the use and needs around EBP.

Purpose: We focus on bridging the gap between research and practice by effectively implementing evidence-based knowledge and research findings. To do so, we create tools and strategies and develop expertise to provide both internal and external support in that process.

Target group: Researchers and healthcare professionals.

Activities:

In-service training and workshops on implementation;
Development and evaluation of implementation support tools;
Advice and consultancy on implementation.

Sandra Martin Head Center of Expertise Health Innovation	Evi Lemmens Point of contact Elderly care
Sam Pless Point of contact Deliberate collaboration	Carolien Schalenbourg Point of contact Mental health care
Leia Vrancken Point of contact Empowerment and Implementation	Erika Vanhauwaert Point of contact Health promotion and EBP
Anabel Wanzeele Point of contact Process guidance and Lifelong learning