Leap for Life Explores Mobility as a New Area for Innovation

For several years, Leap for Life has brought together academia, municipalities, regional government, businesses and civil society to drive innovation in health. Now, a new feasibility study will explore whether a similar approach could support innovation in mobility in Halland.

Halland has considerable expertise in mobility, but no collaborative arena that brings the field together. This raised the question of whether Leap for Life’s experience in health innovation could also be applied to mobility.

“We have spent many years developing our ability to bring together academia, the public sector, businesses and users to tackle complex innovation challenges in health. Now we want to explore whether some of the structures, methods and experience we have developed could also be applied to mobility,” says Emma Börjesson, Head of Operations Leap for Life.

New Perspectives Create New Opportunities

There are similarities in how innovation happens in the two fields. The public sector plays an important role in both, and collaboration between academia, businesses, the public sector and civil society is key to turning new ideas into practice.

Halland also has a strong foundation to build on. Future Healthcare and Health and Innovative Mobility are both identified by Region Halland as areas of smart specialisation, and Halmstad University has strong research expertise in both fields.

Health and mobility may seem separate, but there are clear connections. Access to healthcare, work, education and public services affects health, equality and people’s ability to live independently.

“We see opportunities to broaden our perspective and explore what we could contribute to mobility more widely, beyond its clear links with health. At the same time, health and mobility intersect in many ways, and over the years we have been involved in several projects that bring the two fields together. I believe there is still a great deal to explore at that intersection,” Emma continues.

An Arena for Collaboration and Innovation

The feasibility study will explore needs within innovative mobility and identify gaps in the current innovation ecosystem.

It will also examine what role an innovation arena could play in areas such as collaboration, testing, project development and funding. There is, however, no predetermined model for what such an arena might look like.

“We need to understand the needs, what role an arena like this could play, and how it could complement the organisations and initiatives already in place.”

A Possible Next Step for Leap for Life

The study could also be a first step towards applying Leap for Life’s innovation capacity to other fields.

“In the longer term, Leap for Life could potentially develop into a broader umbrella for innovation collaboration, with, for example, one branch focusing on health and another on mobility, while sharing methods, communications, project development and other support functions. This could give us greater critical mass and create better conditions for building long-term innovation capacity in Halland.”

The feasibility study will help explore what such a development could look like.

“First, we need to understand the need. The feasibility study will give us the evidence we need to determine whether this is the right direction and, if so, how it should be developed,” Emma concludes.