This presentation will introduce the results of the joint Nordic PROTECT project (“Proactive health and welfare technology for Nordic users and societies”, 2021-2023) and discuss them with a future-oriented perspective. 

The PROTECT project and its Nordic workshop series synthesize and advance Nordic research-based knowledge of proactive health and welfare technology (HWT) with a user and societal perspective at three levels: (1) end-users, notably older clients/patients and people with disabilities and their informal caregivers; (2) implementation; the perspective of professional caregivers, and (3) the societal level.

The new knowledge co-created in PROTECT contributes to understanding the specific contexts and life situations where proactive HWT is expected to be increasingly applied in the Nordic countries. The new knowledge also encourages and enables further research on the topic. The novelty of the project lies essentially in the multi- and transdisciplinary approach, the focus on proactive HWT, and the combination of the three levels’ perspectives within this focus. The project covers diverse groups of users – end-users (older clients/patients and people with disabilities, and their informal caregivers) and professional users – in a nuanced way.

PROTECT has brought together a large group of Nordic researchers from several fields as well as stakeholders (altogether nearly 200 workshop participants from four countries), creating a unique platform for discussing proactive HWT and developing novel frameworks and long-term research collaboration. The activities build on particular strengths of Nordic researchers. Sharing research-based knowledge about the similarities and differences in proactive HWT services, implementation, and policies – including challenges in proceeding from piloting to implementation – across the Nordic societies enables better overall understanding of the experiences and expectations of diverse users in the individual countries and in the region. This, in turn, will help improve policy interventions and innovations to enhance proactive and resilience-supporting HWT use and the quality of life and work of Nordic citizens and caregivers.

Broad collaboration with stakeholders from the three levels and supporting early-career researchers are key issues for PROTECT. The project is implemented by Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT (Finland; the coordinator), Mälardalen University (Sweden), Norwegian Centre for E-health Research and Danish Dementia Research Centre. It is funded by NOS-HS (The joint committee for Nordic research councils in the humanities and social sciences) via NordForsk and supported by Nordic Welfare Centre and the Nordic Research Network on Health and Welfare Technology.