Description

The Heart Consortium has been formed under the leadership of The Swedish Handicap Institute to prepare and perform the TIDE Study on Rehabilitation Technology in the Single Market Framework. The Consortium has 21 participants and several subcontractors spread all over Europe. All participants are active in the field and many have a long experience of different aspects of rehabilitation technology as well as international cooperation.

The study will cover six areas of importance for the creation of a Single Market in rehabilitation technology. They are:

• Standards, testing and certification/specification of rehabilitation technology
• Coherence between and among rehabilitation technology industrial sectors
• Rehabilitation technology service delivery
• Legal and macro-economic factors impacting rehabilitation technology availability
• Rehabilitation technology training
• Emerging areas of potential rehabilitation technology research and development.

In the six lines of the study, a total of 20 workpackages will be prepared. The general direction of the work will be to survey the present situation, to assess and analyze problems and needs and to propose actions and changes in forms that may be used to reach important actors and decision- makers. The perspectives of all actors in the rehabilitation technology field, in particular the end users of the technology, will be taken into account.

The output of the study will be: reports containing data, analyses, conclusions and recommendations; some field work; printed publications for wider dissemination; workshops and seminars.

The overall aim of this study is to facilitate the creation of a Single Market in rehabilitation technology in Europe.Specifically, this is:

to survey, analyse and assess the current situation regarding six key areas
to spread information about the current situation
to create communication channels between actors in Europe
to show routes to facilitate the creation of a Single Market by proposing directions and priorities.