ETH Zurich’s RESC and RELab join SwissNeuroRehab Consortium, a Flagship project funded by Innosuisse
The ETH Competence Centre (RESC) and the Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory (RELab) are pleased to announce that SwissNeuroRehab, a collaboration across industry, clinics, and research leaders in neurorehabilitation, has won an Innosuisse Flagship grant. SwissNeuroRehab's goal is to develop and validate an effective and efficient model of neurorehabilitation with new digital and technological methods along the continuum of care, from hospital to home.
The project is financed for a total of 11.2 MCHF over 5 years, with 5.9 MCHF from the Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse and the rest from the implementation partners.
SwissNeuroRehab brings together an unprecedented collective of the leading companies and institutions across Switzerland with the goal of developing and validating an effective and efficient model of neurorehabilitation with new digital and technological methods along the continuum of care, from hospital to home. In the first phase, the project will focus on stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury.
Neurorehabilitation is provided by multidisciplinary teams of medical, care, and occupational professionals. After a period of intense neurorehabilitation in a specialized clinic, patients return home. However, the care is predominantly disconnected from the in-patient programs, due to organizational and reimbursement issues. This contrasts with the scientific evidence and international guidelines underlining the fundamental value of tailored rehabilitation programmes along the continuum of care for maximizing patients’ recovery.
To address this challenge, SwissNeuroRehab connects a collective of leading players within the neurorehabilitation landscape in Switzerland. Initiated and coordinated by the CHUV in Lausanne, the project brings together four university hospitals (Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich), collaborating with key rehabilitation clinics (the SUVA Bellikon, the SUVA Clinic romande de réadapation Sion, Lavigny Hospital, Valens Clinics and RehaKlinik Zihlschlacht); clinics’ association (Plateforme-Reha); inpatients (Cereneo center for Neurology and Rehabilitation, in collaboration with Zurich University Hospital) and outpatient (Swiss Rehabilitation, Physio Clinics, and EMS Le Marronier) clinical providers; the two federal technical schools EPFL and ETHZ; the Universities of Lausanne, Geneva and Bern, the University of Applied Science of Western Switzerland (HES-SO) and the School of Engineering and Management of the Canton Vaud; leading companies in neurotechnology (Hocoma, Lambda, MyoSwiss, Onward) and digital therapies (MindMaze) for neurorehabilitation; industrial partners working on digital solutions for data management and protection (CARA and Pryv); educational providers for healthcare professionals (Espace Compétences) and patients (Medicol).
About RESC and RELab
The ETH Competence Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering and Science is a nexus of expertise from academia, hospitals, industry, government, healthcare, disability organisations, and other NPOs. Its mission is to improve the quality of life and participation of people with physical disabilities; thus, contributing towards a more inclusive society. RESC promotes exchange, interdisciplinary research projects, innovative education programmes, and knowledge transfer.
The Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory is an interdisciplinary research group with competences in mechanical and biomedical engineering, movement science, neurorehabilitation, and neuroscience. Established in December 2008, the RELab applies robotics, wearable sensor technologies and non-invasive neuroimaging to explore, assess and restore sensorimotor function in neurological patients. The goal is to develop novel technologies that promote sensorimotor recovery following neurological injury and to develop assistive technologies to compensate for remaining deficits, restore independence and quality of life.