On 15 June, the final public event of the HoCare2.0 project took place. Over 80 participants and speakers gathered virtually to spend an afternoon sharing results and gaining insight into the methodology of co-creation applied in the field of home care.
István Hegedűs, representing the Central Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency Nonprofit Ltd., presented the overall concept of the project to the audience, outlining the main objectives, activities and results. He was followed by four speakers who shared their experiences in the field of co-creation, gained during the development of their own products and services within the framework of the HoCare2.0 project: Evelin Krajnc and Simona Brezar representing Caretronic, d.o.o. (Slovenia), Lorenzo Di Natale from IDEGO – Digital Psychology (Italy), Jan Schneider from the Prague 4 Institute of Social Services (Czech Republic), and Ulrike Sobczak from the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital of Dresden (Germany). Katarzyna Ociepka-Miąsik from Social Impact in Poland then presented the general aspects, benefits, challenges, key steps and sociological contexts of co-creation in our daily lives to the audience. The first part of the conference was concluded by Katarzyna Kielanowska from the Rzeszow Regional Development Agency and Magdalena Klimczyk from the Malopolska region (both from Poland), who summarised the key lessons learned from the pilot projects implemented during the HoCare2.0 project.
The second part of the afternoon was dedicated to a panel discussion on topics relating to co-creation and its future prospects. Alongside István Hegedűs and Katarzyna Ociepka-Miąsik, Ferenc Weigl from the Hungarian National Directorate-General for Hospitals and Matteo Donelli from the Chamber of Commerce of Cremona in Italy exchanged views on questions such as “What are the benefits and challenges of co-creation in the field of home care?” or “What would you recommend to SMEs and public service providers interested in co-creation?”.
As the project is nearing its end, the entire conference provided an opportunity to conclude and summarise the activities, as well as to present the achieved results to a wide audience. During the conference, numerous questions were raised by the participants, which indicated that co-creation, particularly in the field of home care, is a topic of interest to many. Katarzyna Ociepka-Miąsik highlighted: “I believe that the conference was valuable and well demonstrated the practical aspects of co-creation, which is always valuable for the audience. We can all read books about co-creation, but what matters most is practical knowledge.”.
About the HoCare2.0 project
The project supports the implementation and rollout of customer-centric home care solutions by applying the method of co-creation. The project is funded by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme and implemented by 11 partners from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Slovenia.
As the lead partner of the project, the Central Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency coordinates the international cooperation and is responsible for implementing the SME pilot project in Hungary.