The fund provides healthcare projects with a financial injection of 35,000 euros and guidance from THINK³, the innovation and simulation lab of UHasselt. Thus, the service center for people with disabilities, Sint Oda, embarks on a project aimed at more efficient organization of night care.

“Healthcare institutions face significant challenges in terms of personnel, technology, and processes,” says Tom Vandeput, Deputy for Economy and Chairman of POM Limburg. “They must constantly adapt to changing needs while innovating. We aim to implement these innovations in practice as quickly as possible, and we want to accelerate this process with the Health Campus Healthcare Innovation Fund.”

Lab
Central to this process is the THINK³ lab at UHasselt, part of the innovation center at the Health Campus. In this lab, healthcare organizations can work together to innovate their systems and processes. With the support of the provincial government, a fund of approximately 200,000 euros is associated with this, with POM acting as coordinator. “Limburg healthcare institutions have submitted projects to innovate their processes. We have selected the top five and offer them financial support and substantive guidance from the UHasselt THINK³ team for two years,” adds Tom Vandeput.

Night care
The selected projects include that of the service center for people with disabilities, Sint Oda, under the umbrella of Stijn vzw, and the residential care centers Integro, who jointly submitted a project on night care. Leen Hulshagen, Director of Innovation at Sint Oda, explains: “To maintain care quality and prevent unnecessary disturbances of sleep, we are exploring innovative methods for staffing during the night. We are doing this also in light of reduced nighttime care staff and labor market shortages.”

Health Campus
At the Health Campus, POM Limburg and UHasselt are working on the future of healthcare. Roeland Buckinx, manager of the Health Campus, emphasizes: “Health Campus Limburg serves as a beacon where companies, knowledge institutions, and healthcare organizations come together to improve our healthcare. We are now promoting this with the Health Campus Healthcare Innovation Fund. We combine specific questions from the healthcare sector with the scientific expertise of the university and the support of POM Limburg. This collaboration has a direct impact on improving our healthcare. Within our future gateway building – which also receives support from Europe – an open healthcare innovation center will be established, integrating this interaction sustainably into the operation of the campus. Healthcare innovation starts here.”