IGTP launches MOSAIC, a transformative project to advance more preventive, participatory and sustainable community health
The Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) will launch the MOSAIC project (Models in Community Health and Collaborative Innovation), an institutional initiative aimed at promoting new forms of health research and innovation, firmly rooted in the local area and focused on generating tangible benefits for the population. The project is part of the Government of Catalonia's Regions del Coneixement program and is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the RIS3CAT 2030 strategy.
MOSAIC aims to address some of the major health challenges facing society today, particularly in the areas of community health, ageing and planetary health. To achieve this, it adopts a research model that combines scientific knowledge, citizen participation and collaboration between public institutions, healthcare professionals, social organisations and local communities.
The initiative will focus primarily on the Northern Metropolitan Region, an area characterised by considerable social diversity and the coexistence of social, environmental and health inequalities that require innovative and coordinated responses.
Two initiatives to address priority health challenges
The project will develop two main lines of action. The first will involve creating a community network for health surveillance and promotion in vulnerable urban settings. This initiative aims to improve the early detection of sexually transmitted infections and environmental risks through an integrated model combining epidemiological surveillance, environmental monitoring and active public participation.
The second initiative will establish a participatory observatory for the detection and prevention of age-related diseases. The observatory will combine genomic, environmental and population data with local knowledge to identify risk factors associated with frailty, chronic diseases and the exposome, and to support new preventive and personalised approaches.
Both initiatives will incorporate co-creation, citizen science and transformative innovation methodologies, promoting the direct involvement of healthcare professionals, public administrations, social organisations, students and members of the public in designing and evaluating the solutions developed.
A new structure connecting research and the local area
One of the project's central elements will be the creation of LIST-IGTP (Laboratory for Social and Transformative Innovation), a unit that will serve as a coordination space between the scientific community and local stakeholders.
The laboratory will facilitate the identification of shared challenges, provide methodological support to research teams, promote participatory processes and foster partnerships between institutions, public administrations and civil society. It will also be responsible for monitoring results, transferring the knowledge generated and supporting the scaling up of initiatives that demonstrate a positive impact.
The aim is to consolidate a permanent infrastructure that enables transformative innovation to become an established part of research practice, placing the needs of people and local areas at the centre of scientific processes.
Impact beyond research
The expected outcomes of MOSAIC include the development of replicable community health surveillance models, participatory monitoring tools, prevention protocols, recommendations for public policy and new methods of collaborative working between research and society.
The project will also help strengthen the capacity of institutions and local communities to address challenges related to sexually transmitted infections, healthy ageing, environmental quality and the effects of climate change on health. It also aims to encourage more active public participation in generating knowledge and defining solutions to collective challenges.
Through this initiative, IGTP is reinforcing its commitment to research focused on social and territorial impact and contributing to the development of a more participatory and sustainable health innovation ecosystem that is closely connected to society's needs.
The MOSAIC project has an overall budget of €500,000, of which €200,002 is provided through ERDF co-funding under the Knowledge Regions program.