From Innovation to Real-World Impact
As the European-funded DIGILUNG project approaches its conclusion on 31 August 2026, we reflect on a journey marked by important collaboration and technological advancement in COPD innovation. We highlight our recent activities, including our participation in the HLTH conference and our final webinar held in June 2026, which showcased the project’s core objectives and key results.
The project is funded by the European Union. The expressed views and opinions belong solely to the author(s) and may not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the funding institution can be held responsible for the expressed views.
DIGILUNG at HLTH Europe 2026
Our team recently spent three inspiring days at Europe’s largest health innovation event – HLTH Europe 2026 in Amsterdam, a pivotal opportunity to showcase our achievements alongside partners including ATRIDE, moveUP, Cognuse, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
DigiLung project manager Loora Salurand represented DIGILUNG in the panel “Beyond the Pilot: Turning Digital Health Innovation into Real-World Impact,” focusing on how to scale successful solutions for actual clinical adoption.
Maarten Gijssel (founder and COO of ATRIDE), demonstrated the ATRIDE digital shirt—developed within the project—during the Global Health Connector Ecosystems Pitching Competition.
Julien Lebleu, PhD, Clinical researcher at moveUP: “AI, remote monitoring, and real-world data platforms work. They’re clinically validated and proven. The hard part is no longer building the tools—it’s building the new care models around them: new pathways, new reimbursement frameworks, and new ways of organizing care across hospitals, patients, and life sciences companies. That’s where the real innovation is happening today.”
June Webinar Recap: Future Directions
Our final webinar “Redefining Standards in COPD Innovation: Best Practices from the DIGILUNG Ecosystem” brought together the consortium and external experts to reflect on the project’s journey and future sustainability. Key discussions included:
Here is the link to the recording of the webinar.
While the formal project concludes this August, its impact will continue through the partnerships built and the lessons learned, supporting innovation and collaboration in healthcare across Europe.
Reflections from DIGILUNG Partners
Loora Salurand, DIGILUNG Project Manager, Tehnopol, shared her reflections on the project’s three-year lifespan:
“After 3 years of collaboration, challenges, growth, and innovation, the DIGILUNG project is reaching its final milestone. DIGILUNG is one of the first I3 Instrument projects and it has been a valuable learning experience in European collaboration, health innovation, and supporting SME growth with European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA).
DIGILUNG’s value shows well how digital innovation can support better care for people living with COPD. Throughout the project, we explored how technology can empower patients, enable more proactive disease management, and strengthen collaboration between patients and healthcare professionals. DIGILUNG has shown that creating impactful digital health solutions requires much more than technological excellence – it requires trust, multidisciplinary collaboration, and a deep understanding of real-world healthcare.
While the project is coming to an end, I believe its impact will continue through the partnerships we have built and the lessons we have learned together.”
Maarten Gijssel, Founder and COO of ATRIDE, emphasized the leap forward in respiratory care enabled by the project:
“Through the DIGILUNG project, ATRIDE has taken a massive leap forward in respiratory care by scaling our dedicated smart shirt for COPD patients.
By moving monitoring out of the clinic and into people’s daily lives, we are opening a brand-new window into real-world physiology.
We are incredibly grateful to the European Commission; it is the vital support of the Interregional Innovation Investments instrument that has made this cross-border, breakthrough work possible.
This technology allows us to capture critical health data in real time, giving health professionals the insights they need to step in early, personalize treatments, and ultimately help patients live better.”
Maria Kontogiorgou, CEO & Co-Founder of ATRIDE, commented: “Participating in DIGILUNG has been an exceptional opportunity to contribute to a shared European vision for the future of healthcare. The investment made through the I3 Instrument and EISMEA has enabled innovative companies like ATRIDE to collaborate with leading clinical and research partners, accelerating the translation of breakthrough technologies into real-world healthcare solutions. This type of support is essential for building a stronger European innovation ecosystem, bringing transformative technologies closer to patients and shaping a more connected, preventive, and data-driven healthcare system for Europe.”
Andres Mellik, CEO at Cognuse noted: “Cognuse enabled an integrative approach for unified and normalized data exchange between the various DIGILUNG partner solutions. As a secondary outcome we were able to experience and validate on a 3-year time scale an ongoing shift in software development ranging from custom solutions, to cloud service based to finally approaching a generative AI architecture. All of this has strengthened the Cognuse team and solutions portfolio in an engaging in further developments and state-of-the-art health tech projects.”
As we reach our final milestone, we thank everyone who visited us at the HLTH Europe conference, participated in our webinar, and contributed throughout the three-year DIGILUNG project. While the formal project ends, the partnerships and care models we have built will continue to shape the future of respiratory care, supporting innovation and collaboration across Europe.