DUCAH @ HIIG

The Digital Urban Center for Aging and Health (DUCAH) is an initiative of the Internet and Society Foundation and the Einstein Center for Digital Future. Within the framework of DUCAH, the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) implements an accompanying research that focuses on the topics below.

Digital innovations in the health system

The focus of DUCAH-related research interests at HIIG is the development of framework conditions that enable digital innovations in the health system. The healthcare system is characterised by a complex ecosystem of different stakeholders (e.g. cost bearers, service providers and suppliers). In order to tap the potential of digital technologies for improved care of the population, it is therefore essential to integrate their different perspectives into innovation and research processes. An action design research (ADR) approach is adopted, in which the research team and representatives of the stakeholder groups work closely together to develop practice- and research-relevant design knowledge.

Regulation and governance of Health Data

The digitalisation of healthcare is generating more and more data – and thus a host of ethical, legal and social challenges. Who is allowed to use which data under which conditions and for what purpose? In addition to these data-related problems, the IT-driven transformation of medicine and care presents further challenges in various areas such as the doctor-patient relationship, medical research or in the field of telemedicine. Our research combines legal, sociological and technical expertise. It designs governance processes to successfully resolve the competing interests of all stakeholders, protect the rights of patients and ensure compliance with applicable regulations. At HIIG, two research projects are dealing with these topics as part of the BMBF funding measure “Making Repositories and AI Systems Usable in Everyday Nursing Care” (Repositorien und KI-Systeme im Pflegealltag nutzbar machen). You can find more information here.

More information on the DUCAH network can be found at www.ducah.de.