Open Innovation process in the INNOVAL cross-border project

The main objective of the Innoval open innovation process was to provide innovative, sustainable and practical tools and product concepts to support the well-being of elder people of the society. Open Innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology. The project was based on the initial challenge that the SMEs of the bordering regions are "simple suppliers" if bigger companies and cannot provide a sustainable own development, a competitive own product. On the other hand, there is an increasing tendency that the society is becoming elder. As this is an AT-HU cooperation, teh main challenge was to deliver development services on cross-border basis. A cross-border facilitator network was established which supported the setting up of Working Groups were feasibiltiy studies were delivered by the end of the project. Thematic focus areas were: Active Ageing; Smart Home and Healthcare at Home.
Concrete examples proposed by the feasibility studies:
- a tool which helps elder people to be able to leave the tube without any accidents
-a tool which measures the water temperature to reach the optimal result and avoid wasting water.