Research and development

Innovation in digital health often relies on a combination of new technologies and a solid foundation of research. By generating new knowledge, developing infrastructure and creating evidence on both impact and quality, research helps to make it easier to use and utilise data and digital technologies.

There is no shortage of digital technologies with the potential to contribute to better health. At the same time, the rapid pace of development requires a better understanding of the quality, effectiveness and impact of these services on the health system.

From a needs-driven perspective, research can help answer many important questions. From clinical evaluation of how well individual health applications fulfil their purpose – to how new payment and procurement models can create the conditions for innovation.

Highlighting both systemic and individual effects

Research is crucial to create proactive and personalised health and social care. Some key research areas that are central to digital health innovation are:

  • Methods and their impact: Different methods and approaches need to be researched to provide evidence of their value. The methods are used as the basis for the digital tool.
  • Digital health tools and their impact: Research on how digital influences work in health, care and social services, as well as the individual’s self-efficacy in relation to digital solutions, or behaviours. It can be about a single tool, or a digital context. An important issue is also how digital services affect access and equity in the health and social care system. Ethical considerations are also crucial to building trust in health and care applications.
  • Health data and quality assurance: Quality-assured health data is a prerequisite for creating personalised health and social care. The research focuses on ensuring the quality of health data, while addressing issues of cybersecurity and privacy.

Ongoing research collaborations

DigitalWell Arena collaborates with several leading research environments to foster the development of digital health innovation. Some current examples of collaborations include:

PREDEM

A national innovation environment for dementia prevention, focusing on preventing the development of dementia in people with incipient cognitive impairment. Within PREDEM, a number of research studies are being carried out, including on digital tools for dementia assessment in collaboration with primary care in Region Värmland.

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Health Data Sweden (HDS)

An EU-funded digital innovation hub focussing on increasing the availability and use of health data. Among other things, HDS prioritises knowledge transfer between research and business to simplify and accelerate innovation processes. HDS is coordinated by KTH and also involves actors such as Uppsala University, Stockholm University, Leap for Life, EIT Health, E-health Arena and STUNS Life Sience.

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The Arena Project at Karlstad University

This initiative is part of DigitalWell Arena’s core funding and aims to create a multidisciplinary research infrastructure for digital health innovation. It includes a total of six research groups, the DigitalWell Research Group, which promotes knowledge exchange with external stakeholders and interdisciplinary research.

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