Primary Care Academy

Innovation is critical to the sustainability and feasibility of Belgium’s health system and is the driver of
cost-effective and more efficient ways to address the challenges of cuts in public spending and
increasingly complex care needs. Through the foundation of the Academy, a neutral collaborative hub
for primary care innovation, knowledge creation and dissemination was created, which is the first of its
kind in Flanders, Belgium. The extensive state-of-the-art knowledge and network of the team members
ensures spillover effects in both research and teaching, which accelerates innovation in primary care on
the one end, and reinforces the interprofessional teaching and dissemination capacity in Flanders on the
other end. The Academy is aware of the common struggle of translating science into action and
therefore strategically decided on completing the life cycle by investing in operationalization and
implementation of tools and strategies in primary care practice. Although the co-design DNA and the
open innovation strategy sounds promising, the challenge lies in creating possibilities for synergetic
collaboration between team members and economical self-sustainability of the Academy