SHIFT-HUB Memorandum of Understanding

I. The SHIFT-HUB project

SHIFT-HUB (https://shift-hub.eu/) is a European project, funded under the Horizon Europe scheme. It aims to establish a pan-European Smart Health Innovation Hub bringing together a rich network of multidisciplinary stakeholders across the dimensions of the quadruple helix, with the mission to facilitate the development, ensure the promotion and foster the uptake of Smart Health technologies and services. SHIFT-HUB aims to leverage the expertise and support of emerging digital technology providers, practitioners, and healthcare institutions to empower patients and citizens. Through raising awareness, enhancing digital literacy, and inducing behavioral changes, SHIFT-HUB strives to drive a paradigm shift towards a proactive and personalized healthcare system that prioritizes maintaining good health rather than solely managing diseases. To foster technology development and experimentation, SHIFT-HUB will design and implement a patient-centric and community-driven pilot offering secure access to anonymized data for applications development and paving the way towards the future federated European Health Data Space. SHIFT-HUB aims to act as a gateway facilitating access for practitioners, patients and citizens to European Smart Health technologies through its infrastructure and by leveraging the dense network of EU Digital Innovation Hubs that will be targeted as partners to foster an intersectoral cross-fertilization. By the same token, the SHIFT-HUB ecosystem will foster cultural change between stakeholders from various backgrounds, inducing a process of peer-learning, skills enrichment and transfer of know-how - globally enriching the community.

The present MOU has been validated by all the SHIFT-HUB consortium partners.

II. The Official Partner Organization (OPO)

Specific information about the signatory the OPO can be added at the final section (section VIII) of this MOU, to be filled in by its Contact Person (informal OPO representative).

OPOs are selected organizations, chosen both due to their specific contributions to the Smart Health field, and because consortium partners believe they can benefit from, but also contribute to SHIFT-HUB’s activities and outputs. A win-win approach is the basis of the relationship between the two aforementioned parties. By signing the present MOU, it is expected that both organizations cooperate to achieve common goals, grounded in the realistic number of resources they can dedicate to each activity. The cooperation is voluntary, and can be terminated at any time, by any of the intervenient, by informal contact and a request to be removed from the OPO’s directory. The cooperation is also based on trust and good-will, hence, all information on the OPO provided by its Contact Person will be considered as valid until any correction is requested by the part of the signatory organization. This MOU is a non-binding document and serves as a declaration of interest in working on upcoming activities by SHIFT HUB and the OPO.

III. Background

The partnership between SHIFT-HUB and the OPO singing this MOU is essential in achieving the mission of SHIFT-HUB, which is to bring together public and private knowledge and technology providers and practitioners in the health sector to foster the emergence and uptake of Smart Health products and services. This partnership will enable both organizations to leverage each other's strengths and resources to create a more comprehensive service offer and an extensive coverage of the European territory. Efforts will also be made to enroll multidisciplinary stakeholders from the Healthcare value-chain across different EU Regions as replicators of the project activities, to ensure the sustainability of the services and the uptake of the project results. 

IV. Purpose

The partnership will also provide a gateway towards competences, resources, and external services, answering the needs of the technology providers and practitioners. By signing the MOU, the partner organization will join the SHIFT-HUB's partners network and act as a dissemination node, benefiting from the services provided by SHIFT-HUB and offering its services to the Hub's network based on a “mutual benefits” principle. The SHIF-HUB Official Partner Organizations will be able to:

• Present and promote the profiles of their companies, the solutions they develop and their business needs;

• Look for profiles of potential technology or business partners and service providers across Europe, and have access to tailored matchmaking services;

• Have access to the online services and tools developed by the consortium: self-assessment, scouting, training/webinars, self-monitoring, value-chain analysis and mapping, registering to events, etc.

• Organize workshops to foster collaboration and identify research, development and innovation project ideas that will be recommended funding opportunities;

• Recieve guidance from the community members to identify relevant investors and public funding sources for the implementation or upscaling of their projects;

• Discover and test Smart Health solutions answering their patient management, healthcare and decision-making process related challenges (test before invest);

• Access training and educational offers made available by the consortium partners, parallel initiatives and partner organizations allowing community members to strengthen their skills;

• Access an interactive process based on the Living Lab approach to raise awareness and allow experimentation for patients and citizens, consequently stimulating the adoption of Smart Health monitoring and prevention solutions;

• The Partner Organisation will be added to SHIFT-HUB's Catalogue of Official Partners which will be published on the project's website;

V. The above goals will be accomplished by both parties agreeing to undertake the following activities:

• Sharing and disseminating each other’s activities, if they are relevant to their organization/project's objectives and work plan;

• Providing feedback on relevant activities, developed by both partners, in the form of surveys, surveys, or informal insights;

• Participating in each other’s activities, when appropriate and mutually beneficial;

• The Official Partner Organization agrees to appoint a member to represent the institution in SHIFT-HUB’s Board of Stakeholders. By default, such member will take the form of the Contact Person, until  OPO representatives requests otherwise. The Board of Stakeholders (BoS) is a panel of selected EU businesses, projects, networks, governmental agencies, patient associations, among others, that work in the field of health technology. The Partner organizations will be encouraged to share their expertise and will be invited to present their services and access conditions to the SHIFT-HUB community members, as well as to be active participants in the peer collaboration and co-creation process. Participation in the BoSs is voluntary and based on online means. Each BoS member can be expected to be contacted on a bi-yearly basis for feedback, surveys, interviews, participation in events and activities;

VI. Funding

This MOU is not a commitment of funds. It only entails the establishment of a non-onerous working relationship between SHIFT-HUB and the Partner Organization.

VII. Duration

This MOU is at-will and may be modified by mutual consent of authorized officials from SHIFT-HUB and Partner Organization. This MOU shall become effective upon signature by the Contact Person from the Partner Organization (part VIII) and will remain in effect until modified or terminated by any one of the partners by mutual consent. In the absence of mutual agreement by the authorized officials from SHIFT-HUB and Partner organization, this MOU shall end on the 31st of December 2025.

VIII. OPO description

By providing valid data to the following questions, SHIFT-HUB will add the OPO and its Contact Person to a database that will be used to invite its members to the BoS and other relevant activities.