Collaborating with stakeholders for low cost at-home rehabilitation

The Convergence Human Mobility Center has a compelling vision: to challenge the status quo in rehabilitation after stroke and beyond, benefiting all patients. They aim to advance low-cost, home-based rehabilitation solutions that are accessible to all, including vulnerable populations.  Achieving this ambitious goal requires alignment among all major stakeholders toward a common purpose.

That’s why they organized their first-ever network event, which took place on July 4th at Buitenplaats Rozenlucht in Rotterdam. More than 60 participants, including external stakeholders, gathered to lay the foundation for impactful partnerships that will benefit patients and the Dutch healthcare system.

Convergence Health and Technology

The Convergence Human Mobility Center is one of the first ten major research projects, or ‘flagships’ of Convergence Health and Technology. Convergence is the research collaboration between Erasmus MC, TU Delft, and Erasmus University Rotterdam. You can find more about our mission and vision here. 

Great step

Prof Dr Gerard Ribbers (Erasmus MC), the Convergence Human Mobility Center coordinator, emphasized: ‘We want to expand our dynamic community of experts, who are open for a long-term commitment to at-home rehabilitation solutions. Today was another great step in the right direction.’

Dialogue

The Convergence Human Mobility Center aims at low-cost technological solutions with remote or minimal supervision. Dr. ing. Laura Marchal Crespo (TU Delft) and prof. Jane Murray Cramm (Erasmus University Rotterdam) discussed the technical and social-medical perspectives. Jane Murray Cramm: ‘To optimize the adoption of this technology even by vulnerable patients, we must incorporate a sociomedical perspective in the design process. We need this dialogue to catalyse innovation.’

But how do you measure the impact and value of medical innovation? Dr. Geert Frederix, lecturer in Digital Transformation at the Rehabilitation Care University of Applied Sciences Arnhem Nijmegen, discussed the importance of value validation. ‘Validating value is done by setting the parameters of impact together. That’s quite fortunate because Convergence is all about collaboration.’

New generation of innovators

In 2023, all 9 PhD students began their projects within the Convergence Human Mobility Center, presenting and discussing their projects in monthly core team meetings and PhD meetings. The network meeting concluded with pitches from several PhDs, or as Gerard Ribbers likes to call the PhD students: ‘The new generation of innovators.’ What followed was an animated discussion on how to promote the involvement of  PhDs and their supervisory teams, healthcare insurers and members of the boards of governors in a research project.

Interested in collaborating?

Please feel free to contact us.