ESTHER Lab – Living Lab for social innovation in Care

The Geriatric Health Centres of the City of Graz (GGZ) are a non-profit, public service organization operating in the public health and social services sector as a municipal enterprise and a competence center for geriatric medicine and care in Austria. The Albert Schweitzer Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology (ASIGG) is the R&D department of GGZ and operates the ESTHER Lab as part of its R&D activities.  

As our ESTHER Lab is focusing on improving the quality of life for older adults, we work closely with seniors, informal caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, companies, and start-ups. Our projects follow a participatory approach, where products, services, and prototypes are co-developed and tested directly with end users. A key priority is ensuring that developers truly understand user needs and integrate their feedback into the innovation process. Through the work of the Living Lab, we expect to create benefits for our target group. Benefits arise in three ways: 1) Research and development leads to new solutions. 2) Communicating research results builds bridges to the scientific and public communities. 3) Implementing research results anchors the new solutions in society. 

Areas of work:

• Education and/or Vocational Training
• Health and Well-being
• Social Innovation and Inclusion