In this project we present a solution to restore balance and prevent falls through vestibular implantation and electrical stimulation of the otolith organ. Worldwide, about 684.000 individuals die from falls each year and 37.3 million falls require medical attention. The medical cost for treating falls in the EU is approximately 25 billion euros each year. This number can be expected to go up since the elderly population is growing. One of the most important causes of falling is vestibular dysfunction. Therefore, restoration of the vestibular function may revolutionize this field because it offers a whole new treatment paradigm. The foundation of vestibular dysfunction treatment was laid during the Bionic\VEST H2020 FET-OPEN project funded by the EU. This FET-OPEN project obtained spectacular results and showed that the successful restoration of vestibular function through electrical stimulation of the otolith organ is possible. Where there was no suitable treatment before, balance improvement and even restoration is feasible. The result of this first Bionic\VEST FET-OPEN project was a proof-of-principle on humans with a prototype otolith vestibular implant. To unlock the full commercial potential of this vestibular restorative therapy, the new Bionic\VEST-2 project will focus on the path to commercialization of the Bionic\VEST implant. This requires improvements in the implant technology to achieve its full potential on the market. A pivotal clinical trial will have to be run with the new device to provide evidence for the safety and efficacy of the final implant, as well as gather data for health economics. Further, novel diagnostic clinical tools will be developed to identify the patients that can benefit from this technology promptly. In-depth market research and an elaborated business case should confirm that the vestibular implant will bring the long-awaited solution for vestibular disorders and ameliorate the enormous societal impact of this problem.

Vertigo of vestibular origin has a global prevalence of 38% in the elderly and deserves special attention because of the high risk of falls and permanent functional disability, and even death. This seriously handicaps their lives, disabling them of doing routine daily activities, such as driving and even walking. The associated total costs are around 60.000 million euros in Europe. It is estimated that at least 100 million people worldwide could benefit from a vestibular implant as an effective solution to this disease. Restoring the function of the vestibular labyrinths was not possible until now. Current devices, under research, detect change in angular velocity of the cephalic movements through gyroscopes and use this information to stimulate the semicircular canals. However, they do not code vertical and horizontal accelerations, used to sense gravitational forces, keep a stand up position and restore the sense of self-position. Linear accelerations are detected by a different set of structures which are a more complex and harder to access: the saccule and utricle. This project will develop the first system to electrically reproduce linear accelerations in the otolith organ by stimulating their neural ends. The project will have three phases: Device design, fabrication and clinical trial. Therefore, the objectives will be: 1) to study, for the first time, vestibular pathways through electrical saccule-utricle stimulation; 2) to develop a vestibular response telemetry system to analyse the evoked action potential of vestibular nerve; 3) to design, manufacture and test the first vestibular prosthesis that restores the sense of linear accelerations. The main objectives are to demonstrate the safety of a vestibular implant for human, to determine its efficacy in restoring vestibular function by measuring the improvement in objective and to objectify the improvement in Quality of Life of patients.

ProgrammE in Costing, resource use measurement and outcome valuation for Use in multi-sectoral National and International health economic evaluAtions (PECUNIA) addresses the call SC1-PM-20-2017 Methods research for improved health economic evaluation. The consortium brings together 10 partners from 6 countries with complementary methodological expertise. It represents differing health care systems with varying feasibility and acceptability of economic evaluations in evidence-informed decision making. Some countries have established national unit cost programmes (DE, NL, UK), some early stage initiatives (AT, ES, HU). Availability of health utility value sets for outcome evaluations and requirements in terms of the primary analytical perspective of economic evaluations (health & social care vs. societal) also differ. Over 36 months, PECUNIA will develop standardised, harmonised and validated multi-sectoral, multi-national and multi-person methods, tools and information for 1) self-reported resource use measurement, 2) reference unit cost valuation, 3) cross-national health utility assessment, and 4) broader wellbeing measurement. To achieve the widest impact possible and exploit its disruptive innovation potential for end users, decision makers, payers and the industry, the work will be executed in close collaboration with 5) external scientific advisors and broad outreach to all relevant stakeholders. Considering feasibility and relevant societal challenges in the European health systems, selected mental health disease areas (depression, schizophrenia, PTSD) will be used as illustrative examples for cost assessment. PECUNIA will lead to better understanding of the variations in costs and outcomes within and across countries, improve the quality, comparability and transferability of economic evaluations in Europe, and support the feasibility of broader economic and societal impacts measurement and valuation in multi-sectoral economic evaluations also for HTA.

The overall aim of the H2Heat project is to demonstrate the full value chain for green hydrogen (H2) heating for commercial building heating. 40% of total energy consumed and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in EU correspond to buildings, with 79% of that energy used for heating of water and air conditioning. H2HEAT, in exciting alliance with the Canary Health Service (SCS), wish to create a full demonstration of Green H2 for heating (and later energy). This will serve as the replicable model to be rolled out across the SCS hospitals enabling the SCS fulfil its ambitious ‘Health Zer0 net Emissions Strategy’ delivering deep decarbonization. H2HEAT will use offshore wind renewable energy (RE) to produce H2, from Esteyco 6MW EU funded WHEEL project. The centralised onshore H2 facility, will produce H2 initially with a 1MW electrolyser, to be used to substitute conventional fuel by the large end-user hospital CHUIMI with substantial heating requirements (>0.5MW), using a novel combination of an advanced combustion technology burner specifically designed for H2 operation H2-CHP, and a heat pump. The H2-CHP will produce heat and energy and the energy will power the heat pump for substantial heat provision to the hospital with no waste. Full end-to-end infrastructure for H2 transport and use will be planned, installed and commissioned. Comprehensive and complementary mixture of expertise and know-how provided by the consortium partners will ensure an efficient realization of the technical objectives of the project, reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) of H2 fuel for consumers, and develop replicable business models for wide-scale commercial usage of H2 as a direct heating alternative across Gran Canaria. H2Heat will contribute to enabling Gran Canaria become part of the H2 valley economy through locally produced H2 from RE.

Digital healthcare may prevent poor health. Personalised early risk prediction by artificial intelligence can empower citizens to adopt healthier habits and a better lifestyle. This project aims at defining a general personalised early risk prediction model that will be used to support individual preventive measures as well as early intervention. New digital tools are designed to empower both citizens and patients. Furthermore, the impact of the new digital tools on health and care pathways are investigated. Three main scenarios are included: 1. Chronic sun damage and the fight against skin cancer, 2. The late complications of diabetes mellitus and 3. The four main lifestyle risk factors in noncommunicable diseases. In scenario 1, a smartphone application estimates a person`s risk for sun damage and skin cancer. Both healthy persons and skin cancer patients are included. The analysis is based on user-collected data indicating previous and current sun exposure, skin type including a computer-based naevus classification and the family history of skin cancer. Persons at increased risk are educated on healthy sun exposure behaviour including sun screen use. In addition, they are asked to see their doctor for a total body skin examination. In scenario 2, a smartphone application estimates a person`s risk for late complications of diabetes. General lifestyle measures as well as blood sugar levels collected by the patient are used as input for the analysis. Persons at increased risk for complications are given specific advice and are asked to see their doctor. In scenario 3, a web-based tool to collect general lifestyle data in healthy populations is tested, emphasising the four main risk factors: Unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol. All data in the project are analysed in a multidisciplinary approach including medical, sociological and behavioural outcomes.