Launch of the Brain Resilience Living-Lab

What is a Living Lab?

A Living-Lab is an innovation approach carried out in real-life settings, as close as possible to people’s needs.

It is based on collaboration between a wide range of stakeholders:

• citizens and service users
• healthcare professionals
• researchers from various disciplines
• public and institutional organisations with a health-related mission, as well as businesses

The aim is to co-design practical solutions tailored to everyday life.

This model is supported internationally by the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), which defines several key principles:

• active user involvement
• multi-stakeholder collaboration
• co-creation
• real-world experimentation
• use of multiple methodologies

What is brain resilience?

Brain resilience refers to the brain’s ability to resist, adapt and recover in the face of damage, such as:

• neurodegenerative diseases
• cerebral small vessel disease

It plays a key role in delaying or mitigating the consequences of such conditions, particularly the risk of:

• stroke
• dementia (major cognitive impairment)

Why a Living-Lab dedicated to brain resilience?

Despite growing knowledge in the prevention of stroke and dementia, implementing effective large-scale interventions remains challenging.

Such interventions must:

• be adapted to local contexts
• involve multiple stakeholders
• reflect real-world conditions

The Brain Resilience Living-Lab aims to address these challenges by enabling the

• design,
• testing and
• evaluation

of prevention strategies directly in real-life settings.

In this context, the VBHI has made this Living Lab a strategic priority, in line with its missions in research, care, prevention, training and innovation.

Objectives and missions

The VBHI Brain Resilience Living-Lab aims to test new approaches to preventing stroke and dementia in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, while ensuring that social health inequalities are not exacerbated.

Its main missions are:

• testing interventions in real-life conditions
• fostering partnerships across sectors
• assessing the impact of interventions on brain health
• producing recommendations for public policy

These missions are expected to evolve as the Living Lab develops and as partners become more involved.

Operating principles

The Living Lab’s activities are guided by the following principles:

• involving target populations at every stage,
• mobilising a wide range of stakeholders,
• building on existing knowledge,
• coordinating initiatives,
• proposing practical and applicable solutions,
• relying on robust scientific data,
• disseminating useful and actionable results.

Organisation

The VBHI Brain Resilience Living Lab is structured around four levels of governance:

Strategic Committee

Defines overall directions, develops partnerships and identifies funding opportunities.

It is composed of:

• Dr Vincent Bouteloup, Bordeaux Population Health, PHARes team
• Isabelle Cameleyre, Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Council
• Professor Geneviève Chêne, Health Evaluation Methods Unit, Bordeaux University Hospital, VBHI member
• Professor Thierry Couffinhal, cardiologist, Deputy Director for “Biomedical Innovation” at VBHI
• Delphine Devars, Health Insurance Nouvelle-Aquitaine
• Dr Carole Dufouil, Bordeaux Population Health, PHARes team
• Dr Kamal Farouki, Health Insurance Nouvelle-Aquitaine
• Dr Fiona Gedeon-Achi, Bordeaux Population Health, PHARes team
• Valérie Guérin, Bordeaux Population Health, PHARes team
• Professor Thibaud Haaser, Bordeaux Population Health, PHARes team
• Béatrice Jacques, Centre Émile Durkheim
• Marie-Pierre Janalhiac, representative of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Gérontopôle
• Dr Jean-Philippe Joseph, General Practitioner
• Professor Vincent Planche, neurologist at Bordeaux University Hospital
• Dr Kevin Rabiant, representative of France Alzheimer
• Professor François Rouanet, representative of AVC Tous Concernés
• Dr Florence Saillour-Glénisson, Health Evaluation Methods Unit, Bordeaux University Hospital
• Richard Salives, representative of Inserm
• Dr Matthieu Sibé, Bordeaux Population Health, PHARes team
• Professor Igor Sibon, Acting Director of the VBHI Institute
• Dr Clémence Thébaut, Bordeaux Population Health, PHARes team
• Professor Rodolphe Thiebaut, Director of the Bordeaux Population Health Centre
• Dr Fabien Xuereb, hospital pharmacist at Bordeaux University Hospital
• Representative of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Health Agency
• Representative of the University of Bordeaux
• Representative of Bordeaux University Hospital

Executive Committee

Oversees projects and ensures overall coordination.

It is composed of:

• Dr Carole Dufouil, Coordinator of the VBHI Brain Resilience Living Lab
• Professor Geneviève Chêne, researcher at the Bordeaux Population Health Research Centre (University of Bordeaux–Inserm)
• Valérie Guérin, Project Manager of the VBHI Brain Resilience Living Lab
• Florence Saillour-Glénisson, Head of the Health Evaluation Methods Unit (UMES), Bordeaux University Hospital

A Steering Committee and Project Teams

They provide operational support for each project (development, monitoring and funding applications).

What’s next?

The first projects of the Brain Resilience Living Lab are currently emerging.

 

Further information :

• The webpage for the “VBHI – Brain Resilience Living Lab” flagship programme
• European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)

EM