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Careables - sharing open healthcare

21. Jun. 2018

Enabling citizens to co-design and deliver people-centered health products through means of digital fabrication

We recently launched the Careables platform to enable citizens to co-design and deliver people-centered health products through means of digital fabrication.

Digital fabrication labs and maker spaces have emerged across the globe in recent years to become local community hubs for a wide range of Do It Yourself­ activities. In parallel, open source information and tools have triggered grassroots solutions in healthcare. Patients, their families, carers, health professionals and designers started to create personalised ‘open’ healthcare solutions in a bottom­ up way. Within Made4You, an international innovation project, we aim to link local communities of citizens with disabilities, their families, and healthcare professionals with makers/designers to establish collaboration between these separate communities to develop open­source interventions: Careables.

Careables are driven by a methodological commitment towards co­design of ‘open’ healthcare solutions, involving all relevant stakeholders. Key to co­design is that people become creators, not only users of innovation. In our case, patients, their families, healthcare professionals and designers are involved in the co­ design process as experts in their specific environments, together with makers, who are experts in the use of digital tools, such as 3D printers, laser cutters, etc.

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Tags: health, open innovation