NEW CHALLENGES

FOR HEALTH
AND BUSINESS
The importance of investing and correctly assess the health
sector to contribute to enrich the local economy

NL4
March 2015

INVESTING IN HEALTH
3rd LEG: BUSINESS, CLUSTERS, SCIENCE PARKS, LABORATORIES...

INTRODUCTION
You have in your hands the third thematic
newsletter of the 4D Cities project. This document
analyses the business sector from the point of view
of Health Innovation and puts in relation with other
agents that interact in this field. The aim is to make
it an engine for the social and economic growth of
cities.
This time we have talked to the specialist in
measuring the impact of Social Return on
Investment (SROI), Peter Scholten, who has
accompanied us in the final stretch of the project
advising us to correctly assess the respective Local
Action Plans. The newsletter also presents the latest
reports and includes the agenda of the 4D Cities
Final Event that will take place in the Lead Partner
st
city of Igualada on March 31st and April 1 2015.

INDEX
2

Introduction

3-4

A business with future

Actions and interactions

New documents

7-10

Interview

11

Gallery

12

Contact

A BUSINESS WITH FUTURE

THE CITY AND THE COMPANIES HAVE TOOLS TO CREATE A USEFUL AND
PROFITABLE HEALTH INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM

The health-related private sector plays an important role in the development of

Health Innovation. This role can be specified in a series of actions that can be
implemented by two types of local actors namely local authorities and health
agents. Both of them must be aware of their role in jointly planning a fruitful and
encouraging roadmap.
On one hand, the local government should be
proactive with the business sector, interacting and
understanding companies needs and helping them
in making decisions. On the other hand, the
business sector should support development in the
Healthcare Innovation field offering trading
opportunities to other companies and creating a
solid platform of business.

Now we are going to specify the main actions that

should be undertaken to achieve the implementation
of this mutually beneficial interaction.

ROLE OF THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATION IN

CREATING THE CONDITIONS TO PROMOTE
BUSINESS
IMPLANTATION
OF
HEALTH
RELATED COMPANIES

PROMOTE
BUSINESS
STAKEHOLDERS
COLLABORATION AND ECOSYSTEM FOR THE
HEALTH INNOVATION ECONOMIC SECTOR

1.-

Meet the right person at the company and

keep open and regular communication to monitor
and understand their requests.

Support companies, especially SMEs, by

offering opportunities for networking, meeting and
interacting among entrepreneurs from the Health
sector and related industry (technology, software,..).
Help companies meeting the right partners for
business synergies through regular gatherings and
focused meetings.

3.-

2.-

1.-

Customize the message to each company

according to the profile of investment to attract.

2.-

Offer an added value for the companies, the

city government has to have an international
perspective and position. Participate in fairs,
international forums and seminars.

4.-

Patents policies and intellectual property

agreements
with
companies
can
favour
implantation. Mind differences between new and
existing companies: work on remuneration for the
clever things that companies have developed,
protect research results in an open research
context.

5.-

Identify what companies look for: beyond tax

incentives, the business sector looks for
knowledge, skilled workforce

6.-

Promote a unique interlocutor for companies

that coordinates all the procedures and paperwork
needed. Create the profile of a municipal technique
that provides business assessment and support to
the creation of companies, facilitating information
about the procedures and steps to be done, grants
available for companies, etc.

7.-

Develop a promotional campaign to attract

companies. Fund a commercial job to look for
foreign and inward investment.

8.-

Create the post of a prospector at the

municipal level to visit companies and collect their
profile and needs (professional profiles needed,
present and future training needs, etc.) and at the
same time present the services provided by the
municipality (job bank, business assessment, grants
for hiring unemployed people, etc).

Facilitate access of SMEs to meaningful

information from health-care providers and
knowledge institutes to understand and develop
meaningful products that fit in the Health system. In
the same way, facilitate contacts and cooperation
with consumers, users and patients to understand
the need for acceptance of the innovation by the
market and develop patient-friendly products and
technologies.

3.- Support services and training of SMEs in the

development of new business models, products and
services and to support them in getting investorready in the healthcare sector.

4.-

Coach companies, especially SMEs to go

through project implementation.

5.-

Create conditions for cluster development

with a wide range of stakeholders to interact and
complement.

6.- A business ecosystem may consist of a number

of public and private sector stakeholders can be set
to stimulate economic activity related to the health
sector. They interact and complement to offer
services
and
products
for
the
business
development:
Innovation labs
Local and Regional Business Development
Agencies
Local Government Department on Economic
Development
Business Advisory Centres
Business Associations
Business Incubators
Innovation and Research Companies
Scientific Parks, Biotechnology Parks, etc.
Chamber of Commerce
Social Enterprises
Clusters

BUSINESS HELIX: ACTIONS AND INTERACTIONS

5

CITIZENS

KNOWLEDGE

-Inform of Corporate Health Management programs

for companies to reach healthier working conditions
and habits
-Inform about fiscal benefits or other advantages
(such as the improvement of the public image of the
company) for companies hiring disabled people
-Implement local family friendly policies to retain
skilled professionals and prevent University graduates
from leaving to other cities
-Offer local activities with an aim of making a healthier
city attractive and enlarge the population
-Experience new devices or technology in a real life
context
-Stimulate social enterprises in the Health sector
through legal or fiscal incentives
-Create a job bank, a job notice board and/or job fair
locally to facilitate companies the search for
professional profiles
-Support day/night care remote surveillance with new
technological systems and software that allows
monitoring people with health condition and
dependency
-Facilitate contacts and cooperation with consumers,
users and patients to understand the need for
acceptance of the innovation and develop patientfriendly products and technologies
-Build relations with patients' associations, relatives,
careers, to facilitate interaction with e-health
companies and services
-Promote occupying disabled people in a
productive/commercial activity to alleviate social and
healthcare costs and increases wealth and wellbeing
of citizens

-Inform companies about curricula plans at local

level, number of students in different disciplines
and the existing labor force profile of the city
-Develop indicators to understand trends and
estimate future requirements of professionals in
the private health sector and industry
-Assess the availability of the actual trained
workers to meet Health Services needs
-Implement policy measures involving different
Municipal services to attract young people and
students to local universities and training centers
-Facilitate interaction between companies,
specially SMEs, and research institutions so they
can develop meaningful products
-Manage intellectual property through contracts
with companies to protect their good work within
an open source context
-Set local research agreements and incentives
-Design a local policy around patents and
intellectual property
-Foster the entrepreneurship from the University
and other training centres
-Enable vocational training agreements with the
business sector for students to be trained in
companies
-Invest in Health science parks
-Promote new training centers and appropriate
curricula in areas in which companies need work
force
-Provide the right professional retraining and
lifelong learning through the educational offer to
match the health sector needs in the city

HEALTH SYSTEM
-Facilitate understanding of health procurement regulations for a better interaction with providers and SMEs
-Create a signpost system to ease navigation through Health services and support for business
-Designate a key account manager to ease relations between companies and the municipality
-Enable the appropriate technology to establish single electronic patient record
-Regulate treatment of patients' data to develop useful ITC on the principle of patients being the owners of it
-Set data platform and protocols governing the information architecture (open standards, sources, interoperability)
-Involve end-users in the development of companies' health products, devices or software
-Remove obstacles to healthcare innovation to make collaboration with the private sector
-Recreate scenarios facilitating an interdisciplinary work and the test of new products and technology
-Help business creation with financial structures and services in support of start-ups

NEW DOCUMENTS
VIDEOS AND REPORTS OF PROJECTS DEVELOPMENT

Disseminated the 4 Output Thematic Reports

The Output Thematic Reports are some of the key documents of the project since they go in depth into the
areas identified as crucial in promoting Health Innovation as local growth for cities. All of them are available
on the library website and are the result of the transnational meetings held throughout 2013.
Focused on the four project dimensions of Business, the Citizens, the Health Sector and the Knowledge,
they collect results and examples shared among the eight members of the 4D Cities network. The information
is organized in a 360 perspective that places the patient at the center of the health system and proposes
policies for local government to be taken to promote the various proposed actions.

Specific reports on methodology to produce better Local Action Plans

The two reports which contain specific skills to produce better Local Action Plans
are already available on the website.
The second one, published at the end of last year, is entitled Communication &
Fundraising and includes the minutes of the meeting, the main conclusions,
lessons learned and feedback from the experts who participated in the meeting in
Tartu.

2 new videos Actors operating in Health Innovation

We have also launched two new videos from the series that explore the four
dimensions of the project. Therefore, concurrently to the newsletters
dissemination, they are focused on Knowledge, the Health System and the
Business world.
They include the interventions of the Project Lead, the Thematic Expert and the
Lead Expert who explain the fundamental aspects of the thematic issue and
analyses each cities set of interactions. At the same time, they pick up statements
of all members and pictures of meetings and working visits. You can watch them
on Youtube and Vimeo channels.

PETER SCHOLTEN, CONSULTANT AND DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR. EXPERT IN PERFORMANCE

MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

WORKING ON PERFORMANCE
MEASUREMENT, ASK YOURSELF
WHAT YOUR OBJECTIVES ARE
Peter Scholten is an international expert on social performance measurement.
Consultant and developer for organisations and enterprises with a financial,
social/cultural and ecological bottom-line, Scholten has co-introduced the SROImethodology in Europe and invented the 'ValueGame'. Here he answers some
of the questions related to Health measurement and Health Innovation
development in global terms and applied to the 4D Cities network.
We have detected that, in general, Health is only
seen as a spending stream, but we think that it
also can be a loophole that generates wealth. Do
you agree?

Sure! I think the main reason for this is that

nonprofits like healthcare get paid on the basis of
their costs and not on the basis of their value
created (like many for profits). Since nonprofits are
not meant to make profits, we tend to pay them on

the basis of cost. And therefore treat them as

expense centers.

8
Do companies really realise that the Health
Sector is a valuable economic sector?
Yes, I think so. Everybody will agree that health is
an important part and driver of our economy. But it
is not only an economic issue. It is also about value
creation for people, which is often not seen as an
economic issue. Health care organizations can
improve their outcome statements by adding this
customer value to their reports.

Many organizations keep focussing

on cost savings and thus keep
pushing the idea of health being a
cost-issue. These organizations do
so, in order to attract funding from
governments. But if they would look
at it from the perspective of citizens,
they will need to do more research
on value creation for citizens. Like
willingness to pay for services,
valuegames, conjoint analysis, etc.

What are the evidences that companies need to

invest in health?

Is health assessable? How can we prove the

benefits of social investments?

Unhealthy people will create huge business and

societal costs. I do not think we have to prove that; it
is common knowledge. The problem is not in
investing itself, but in investing in regions, where the
costs of healthcare due to the limited scale and
small populations is not feasible in pure financial
terms.

Nowadays, there are quite a lot of methods to

measure the impact of social investments. However,
many organizations keep focussing on cost savings
and thus keep pushing the idea of health being a
cost-issue. These organizations do so, in order to
attract funding from governments. But if they would
look at it from another perspective the perspective
of citizens they will need to do more research on
value creation for citizens. Like willingness to pay
for services, valuegames, conjoint analysis, etc. But,
as said, we tend to keep measuring cost savings
because they seem more convincing for
governments, although cost savings are not really
the main mission of most health care organizations.

Therefore, the example of Baia Sprie one of the

participating cities in your project is so great. It is
pretty simple and straightforward, but it proves that
people are willing to invest, not only on financial
impacts, but also on personal impacts. This is a very
great example of what people are willing to invest, in
order to have a hospital in their own city.

Health is an important part and

driver of our economy. But it is not
only an economic issue. It is also
about value creation for people

Health care organizations can

improve their outcome statements
by adding this customer value

Baia Sprie is a very great example

of what people are willing to invest,
in order to have a hospital in their
own city

Is extended, in Europe, the performance

measurement in the healthcare sector? And in
the rest of the world?
It is increasing, we have to take a longer
perspective. About 20 years ago hardly anyone
asked
the
question
about
performance
measurement; now it is quite general and accepted.
There is also a shift from proces-management to
performance measurement. Not as two different
issues, but two types of measurement that should
be alligned.

About 20 years ago hardly anyone

asked the question about
performance measurement; now it is
quite general and accepted

Healthcare could use a bit of that more value-driven

spirit! Not (only) to make money, but to keep adding
value in the future!

Why is Health Innovation so hard to develop?

Is it? Pharmaceuticals invest a lot in innovation;
there is also a lot of innovation in treatments, etc. So
I am not sure if that is so hard. The question maybe
more, that innovation is pretty expensive, and
businesses make their business cases: is it feasible
to invest in specific types of innovation. So they are
very focused on specific types of innovations and on
results.

Which is nowadays the role of the local

administration in creating the conditions to
promote business implantation of health relates
companies?
I am a bit less positive about local administrations
as such. They still keep on creating massive
bureaucratic systems; collecting mainly output data
about activities, worked hours (or better: worked
minutes). All information, that is not telling much
about the quality and impact of healthcare.
Local administrations have to much the role of an
accountant of output-numbers; they often (not
always!) lack the vision to separate relevant and
irrelevant informations.

Local administrations still keep

collecting information that is not
telling much about the quality and
impact of healthcare. They have to
much the role of an accountant of
output-numbers

But many innovators in the public sector are funded

with public money. And that leads in some cases to
pretty lofty visions about innovation. Very general,
pretty vague Public money for innovation is not
always targeted or focussed on specific changes,
specific needs.

Innovation is pretty expensive, and

businesses make their business
cases. They are very focussed on
specific types of innovations and on
results

Public money for innovation is not

always targeted or focussed on
specific changes, specific needs

Specifically focusing on 4D Cities, which would

be good objectives for project partners to
execute impact measurement?
Not costs and activities, but outcomes; not the
service itself, but the impact of it.

And the most applicable methodology? Why?

What do you think this role should be and what
is needed to capture business in this field?
For businesses it is not only turnover that is
important;
also
questions
about
returning
customers, customer value perception, retention,
margins, etc.

There is not something like the most applicable

methodology. It always depends on the objectives
for the research. Customer value? Cost saving to
society? Quality of life? Is it done for decision
making, reporting or internal learning processes?
There are too many factors that influence the choice
of methodology. I think there are about 200 methods

10

available these days. Maybe also because many

consultancies develop their own tools and methods
in order to attract customers. Performance
measurement nowadays is a business!
My recommendation to everyone interested in
working on performance measurement is: ask
yourself what your objectives are. What do you
expect the measurement should deliver to you? If
you have no clear expectations about where you are
going, every method will bring you there.

Which is your opinion about the contribution

that 4D Cities can offer to promote the local
investment in the Health sector?
Being more specific about what is the problem and
what needs to be changed, and why. And to whom
that is really an important and urgent issue.
Keep things simple. Like the bicycle lane in
Lithuania: you are not selling bicycle lanes, but
health improvement through your facilities and
activities. It is not about the number of cyclists, not
about the number of activities or offerings. It is about
the change you are creating to your customer: the
local people.

PETER SCHOLTEN, biography

Peter Scholten obtained an MBA at the Erasmus
University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In 2002,
he studied Performance Measurement at the
Harvard Business School.
For the last decade, he has been working as a
consultant and development advisor for
organizations and enterprises with multiple
objectives, ranging from financial and social. His
areas of expertise include
Performance
Measurement and Management and Social
Entrepreneurship. He co-introduced Social Return
On Investment (SROI) in Europe and further
developed this method and related tools.
Scholten has broad international experience. He
carried out various assignments in different
countries in Asia, Africa and Europe, as well as in
the US. Clients vary from small-scale developing
businesses to a wide range of non-profit
organizations, private foundations, governments
and educational institutions.

PUBLICATIONS
2013

I think there are about 200

methods available to execute
impact measurement these days

2012

2009

Ask yourself what your objectives

are. What do you expect the
measurement should deliver to
you? If you have no clear
expectations about where you are
going, every method will bring you
there

2008

2007

2007

2007

It is not about the number of

cyclists, not about the number of
activities or offerings. It is about the
change you are creating to your
customer: the local people

2005

2003

M.v.d.Meij, P.Scholten. Dan ga ik liever op

vakantie (On social market research and
valuation)
A-M. Harling, L. Hehenberger,P. Scholten,
A Practical Guide to Measuring and
Managing Impact
B. Franssen, P. Scholten, M. Altink.
Handboek Cultureel Ondernemen (Guide
to Cultural entrepreneurship)
B. Franssen, P. Scholten. Handbuch fr
Sozialunternehmertum (Guide to Social
entrepreneurship)
B. Franssen, P. Scholten, Handboek voor
sociaal ondernemen in Nederland (Guide
to Social entrepreneurship in the NL)
P.
Scholten,
J.Nicholls,
S.Olsen,
B.Galimidi. Social Return on Investment A guide to SROI analysis
G. Rebergen, P. Scholten. Caseboek - De
gebruikswaarde van SROI (Case-book on
SROI)
P. Scholten (eds.). Handboek Social
Return on Investment (Guide to Social
Return on Investment)
P. Scholten. Maatschappelijk Rendement
Gemeten (Social return measured)

THE GALLERY
11
NEWS, EVENTS, CURIOSITIES... ABOUT THE PROJECT

4D Cities Final Event

Citizen focused Health Innovation as a local growth driver
31st March 1st April 2015, Igualada (Catalonia, Spain)

Venue The Leather Museum, Igualada (Catalonia, Spain)

Programme
st

Tuesday 31 March
9.00-9.30 Welcome and accreditations
9.30-9.40 Official welcome by Mr. Marc Castells, Mayor of Igualada
9.40-10.30 Health Innovation: What and Why
st
10.30-11.00 1 Round of partners presentations: Leeds & Plunge
11.00-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-12.15 Project findings
nd
12.15-12.45 2 Round of partners presentations: Eindhoven & Baia Sprie
12.45-13.30 Press Conference
13.30-15.00 Lunch
rd
15.00-15.30 3 Round of partners presentations: Jena & Novara
15.30-16.30 Cities investing in Internationalization
16.30-17.30 Visit to the Igualada 4D Health Innovation Simulation Center
21.00-23.00 Dinner
st

Wednesday 1 April
9.00-9.30 Policy Recommendations
th
9.30-10.30 4 Round of partners presentations: Igualada & Tartu
10.30-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-12.00 Implementation of Local Action Plans
12.00-12.30 Key outcomes and future expectations for 4D Cities partners
12.30-13:30 Closure
13.30-15.00 Lunch and farewell

12

CONTACT
Subscribe for the 4D Cities
Newsletter: send an email to
communication@4dcities.eu

THE LEAD PARTNER TEAM

Project Lead
ngels Chacn chacona@aj-igualada.net
Thematic Expert
Dr. Enric Macarulla thematicexpert@4dcities.eu

More information:
www.urbact.eu/4d-cities

www.facebook.com/URBACT4DCities

Lead Expert
Mireia Sanbria leadexpert@4dcities.eu
Technical Officer
Raquel Garcia garciar@aj-igualada.net
Financial Officer
Elisa Carbonell carbonelle@aj-igualada.net

www.twitter.com/URBACT_4DCities
@URBACT_4DCities

www.youtube.com/URBACT4DCities

www.vimeo.com/URBACT4DCities

Communication Officer
Nria Caamares communication@4dcities.eu

URBACT is a European exchange and learning

programme promoting sustainable urban development.
It enables cities to work together to develop solutions to
major urban challenges, reaffirming the key role they
play in facing increasingly complex societal challenges.
It helps them to develop pragmatic solutions that are
new and sustainable, and that integrate economic,
social and environmental dimensions. It enables cities
to share good practices and lessons learned with all
professionals involved in urban policy throughout
Europe. URBACT is 500 cities, 29 countries, and 7,000
active participants.
4D Cities is an URBACT project that aims to develop
cities through the interaction of the actors which operate
in the fields of Health and Innovation such as the
knowledge, the healthcare system, the business and the
citizens. It involves 8 European cities that would like to
create a new productive sector which contributes to the
diversification and enhancement of the economic
activities and social cohesion of their territories. The
partners are Igualada (Catalonia, Spain) as a leader,
Leeds (United Kingdom), Novara (Italy), Tartu (Estonia),
Plunge (Lithuania), Brainport Eindhoven Region
(Netherlands), Business Development Corporation of
Jena (Germany) and Baia Sprie (Romania).

www.urbact.eu/4d-cities

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