Healthcare systems worldwide face major
challenges. An increasing proportion of elderly people and migration create a
demographic shift, changing the needs for health and care at society level. The
requirements and expectations from inhabitants and society are also changing,
and the systems for health and care are often forced to deliver more with the
same resources. Technical and medical developments enable more diseases to be
treated successfully, and increasing numbers of previously fatal diseases can
now be lived with, albeit as chronic and often complex conditions. To address
these challenges, systems must be overhauled to adopt a comprehensive approach
and combine services, organisation, technology, infrastructure and built
environments in new integrated ways.
Several of Chalmers’ departments are
conducting research that concerns innovative and sustainable development of
systems and environments for health and care. The work is based on a tradition
of needs-oriented and multidisciplinary research in close collaboration with
practice. This may involve engineering, architecture, urban planning,
organisation and management – often collaboratively and in the span between
health-promoting and preventive initiatives in everyday life to highly
specialised hospital care.
Joint themes in the research are:
1. Design of systems and environments based on the needs of individuals
and society.
2. A system-based approach that includes several levels and parties.
3. How to drive innovation in health and care and implement existing
solutions so that they benefit society.
The goal of the profile area is to
establish a multidisciplinary research agenda for innovative and sustainable
systems and environments for health and care. We want to establish a platform
for research, development and innovation in close collaboration between
practice and research.