02 December 2024
Bilbao Campus
Many inland rural areas face the challenge of revitalizing their economic and social fabric. This is the priority of Revital, a project that seeks to revitalize rural areas of low population density in Castilla y León (Spain), Beira Baixa (Portugal) and Pays Basque (France), through the introduction of telecare and clinical tele-rehabilitation services, taking advantage of advanced technologies. This will improve the quality of life of the people who live in these areas, promoting social cohesion and territorial balance.
Promoted by a consortium of public and private entities from Spain, France and Portugal, of which the University of Deusto is part, Revital will demonstrate its viability in the three pilot cases with differential characteristics chosen: Castilla y León, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Beira Baixa. If the results are positive, the model will be replicated in other rural areas with the same need.
The project, which at the University of Deusto corresponds to the research team of the Faculty of Engineering, Evida, with Begoña García Zapirain as principal investigator, will promote employment opportunities that solve social challenges from the perspective of innovation. Specifically, Revital's social challenge is to meet the need for specialized health care and physical and neurological rehabilitation services through technological tools, especially for dependent and elderly people.
Public-private collaboration and university-industry connection
The project, which is part of the European interreg SUDOE program and is financed with its funds, began in February 2024 with a meeting of the consortium members at IDEVA, the Innovation and Economic Development Agency of the Valladolid City Council, which plays a key role in promoting public-private collaboration and the university-industry connection to retain and attract talent. Since then, the objective has been to improve healthcare and long-term care for the elderly and/or chronically dependent people in low population density areas, introducing technological tools that make it possible to provide advanced healthcare services of specialized telecare and tele-rehabilitation in the three selected areas.
For the implementation, the consortium has recruited staff and trained physiotherapists at Gogoa Mobility Robots (Bilbao) for the use of state-of-the-art exoskeletons together with complementary devices such as the 'Hand of hope' robotic arm and stabilometric platforms.
The objectives and results of the Revital project are considered to be of great interest for the pilot areas and for other SUDOE regions facing the same challenge. The project is now in the phase of raising awareness among the social entities in the pilot areas, defining the most appropriate business models for each area and launching the pilot initiatives for clinical care and neurorehabilitation. It is expected to be completed in December 2026.
For more information, please read the following newsletters on the project.
English - Newsletter 1 REVITAL - 01/07/2024
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English - Newsletter 2 REVITAL - 01/11/2024
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Consortium entities in Spain
Cluster SIVI (Valladolid), University of Deusto (Bilbao), Gogoa Mobility Robots (Bilbao), Gerencia de Servicios Sociales (Castilla y León), San Cebrián Foundation (Palencia).
Consortium entities in France
EPS Garazi (Ispoure), ESTIA (Bidart).
Consortium entities in Portugal
IPCB Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, AEBB (Castelo Branco).
SUDOE Program
It is a program of Territorial Cooperation of the Southeast European Space (SUDOE) that supports regional development through the co-financing of transnational projects by means of ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).
