The Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre, Moray Rural Centre of Excellence (RCE) for digital health and care innovation will support the remobilisation of health and care services and the economic recovery of the Moray region, by investing in research and innovation activities aligned to the digital health and care agenda. With £5M from the Moray Growth Deal, the RCE is the first of the Moray Growth Deal projects and a transformational investment in research and development.
The online (soft) launch of the RCE took place on 23 March 2022 where we presented our vision, launched our Living Lab challenge areas and invited everyone to participate in our centre activities, which include, R&D, supporting business innovation and developing the skills base needed for a digitally enabled health and care sector.
Janette Hughes, DHI’s Director of Planning and Performance, opened the event with an overview of the journey for the development of the centre concept and the overall aspiration of the RCE, as well as the potential for the citizens of Moray, rural residents beyond the local area and the key activities that are planned.
Janette’s introduction was followed by perspectives from Madeline Smith, Director of Strategy at Glasgow School of Art who has a campus in the Moray area and are strategic DHI collaborators. Madeline focussed on the importance of design-led innovation and the skills base needed to support digital health and care transformation.
DHI’s Commercial Innovation Lead, Karim Mahmoud, then gave a presentation on the centre’s key objectives and proposed activities and summarised the Living Lab theme areas, the approach to engagement and the citizen-focused research and development opportunity. Karim also issued an open invitation to reach out to the RCE for collaborative opportunities which could include twinned Living Labs, skills development, knowledge exchange/transfer, and innovation projects.
Those interested in keeping up to date with the RCE are invited to join DHI’s network and select the "Moray Rural Centre of Excellence" checkbox.
The virtual event gathered more than 40 attendees and raised the interest of the audience who actively asked questions and shared their thoughts and comments in the chat.