CONTEXT Our project focuses on the national priority of "Tackling skills gaps and mismatches" through delivering an education program, which engages students from across European countries to enable continuous innovation and entrepreneurship in the European eHealth sector. The main focus of the CONNECT project is on issues of eHealth innovation, state-of-the-art training and education of students necessary on the health market, in the form of a highly-and-systematically organized formal and non-formal educational program to improve knowledge, develop cross-sectoral skills and competences, entrepreneurship and support students' critical thinking required to improve health care. OBJECTIVES Objective 1: Develop an innovative multidisciplinary and cross-sectional curriculum for students from the computer and information, health and social sciences background, with the main focus on cooperation between sectors for improving the existing knowledge, skills, and entrepreneurship, in the first ten months of the project, by an international team of eHealth informal and formal educational providers within partner institutions. Objective 2: Provide one Intensive Study Programme (ISP) to 42 students from the computer and information, healthcare and social sciences background in mixed working groups in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in September 2022 in order to facilitate student's challenge-based learning collaborations by having students develop eHealth applications in the form of a project with real implication in the field of eHealth. Objective 3: Develop a transnational network of key actors from academia, industry, and NGOs to establish collaborations, exchange best practices and facilitate long-distance mentorship for students who graduated the Intensive Study Programme through an online platform "eHealth Community of Practice" by the end of the project. PARTICIPANTS The participants involved in the project can be divided into the following categories, depending on their level of involvement: Direct staff of the project- the management team and the steering committee (at least two members from each partner) Intensive Study Program Participants (ISP)- Students and Teaching staff (42 students from Health sciences educational programs (Public health, Medical, Nursing, Nutrition, Sociology, or Psychology) or IT educational programs (Computer engineering or Informatics) and more than five teaching staff and mentors Consultants - entrepreneurs, industry contacts, and staff active in education and training that are going to be involved in the development of the activities and outputs of the project Indirect participants: persons that will participate in our multiplier and dissemination events from academia, healthcare, industry and other related sectors Approach methodology and project activities We structured the activities related to the objectives of the CONNECT Project in 6 Work Packages (WPs) with specific plans of action supervised by a WP leader from each partner, as follows: WP1 - Development and evaluation of the Curriculum (coordinator Babes-Bolyai University) WP2 - Design and web development of the eHealth Community of Practice (coordinator European Initiative for Education) WP3 - Training and long-term mentorship of the project through Intensive Study Programme (ISP) (coordinator INIT association) WP4 – Dissemination Work Package (coordinators INIT association and University of Porto) WP5 – Evaluation and Innovation Work Package (coordinator University of Porto) WP6 – Management Work Package (coordinator Babes-Bolyai University) LONG-TERM POTENTIAL BENEFITS The sustainability of the project will be ensured firstly by integrating the open-source Curriculum that will be developed by the partners into the course of eHealth at the Department of Public Health, from BBU, as part of their educational program at the Bachelor and Masters level. Therefore, one of the intellectual outputs of the project will be transferred to them and other interested higher education institutions in order to create a long-term use for our product. The ISP, with the use of new pedagogies, formal and non-formal methods and challenged-based teaching and training offered by our partners, will create the perfect enhancement for the students to be creative, innovative and collaborative and develop digital healthcare prototypes that are feasible to be implemented in the real-life environment in eHealth. The "eHealth Community of Practice" online platform will be available for at least three years after the project completion period constituting a transnational network of members from academia, industry, and healthcare and as a mentorship platform for future health innovators. Another activity that will ensure the continuity of the project will be the "Connect the eHealth Innovation Ecosystems" Conference, which will be organized every two years to increase further and sustain our eHealth network.
The CONNECT project aimed to address the challenges in eHealth education and facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship in the eHealth community. Our objectives were threefold. Firstly, we sought to develop an innovative multidisciplinary and cross-sectional curriculum for students from computer and information, health, business and social sciences backgrounds, focusing on cooperation between sectors to enhance knowledge, skills, and entrepreneurship. Secondly, we provided an Intensive Study Programme (ISP) for 47 students from diverse backgrounds with the help of 21 mentors, facilitating challenge-based learning collaborations and enabling them to develop eHealth applications with real implications in the field. Lastly, we aimed to establish a transnational network of key actors from academia, industry, and NGOs, fostering collaboration, exchanging best practices, and facilitating long-distance mentorship for students through an online platform called "eHealth Community of Practice" and our multiplier events. Our goal was to improve healthcare through innovative pedagogies, methods, and digital technologies.
We applied for the CONNECT project to address the challenges in the rapidly evolving eHealth sector. The primary needs we aimed to address were the skills gaps and mismatches, along with enhancing the competence, literacy proficiency, and qualifications of future health professionals and IT engineers in eHealth. We focused on integrating eHealth training into medical and social health education curricula, promoting eHealth innovation and technology adoption, and bolstering the competencies of informatics professionals engaged in eHealth development. Our project emphasized innovative pedagogies and methods for teaching, learning, and assessment. We developed an eHealth Community of Practice online platform and an eHealth Interdisciplinary Curriculum, which upskilled students through open access to cutting-edge techniques and materials. This initiative facilitated creative, collaborative, and efficient use of digital technologies by educators and learners, fostering synergy between research, entrepreneurship, and innovation activities. Our goal was to improve healthcare at local, regional, and global levels by enabling better networking, global thinking, and efficient utilization of information and communication technology.