Communities of Practice for Healthy Lifestyle

<< Background >>Promoting Healthy Ageing, and specifically an Active & Healthy Lifestyle, is one of the biggest societal and economical challenges the EU is facing. A paradigm shift from health care and cure to prevention is essential since the traditional ways have proven to be insufficient to solve this complex problem. An impact-driven multi-sector approach is necessary to develop innovative products and services to change this for the better.<< Objectives >>The Knowledge Alliance for Communities of Practice for Healthy Lifestyle aimed at developing and sustaining communities of practice (COP) in order to stimulate innovation and socio-economic development in the area of Healthy Ageing.<< Implementation >>The Consortium comes from 7 EU Member States and in 5 countries Local COP were developed. A European COP Support Lab and a European COP Alliance were developed that facilitate the set-up and sustainability of COP. An open access Community Knowledge Hub provides pilot-tested formal and informal blended learning material for managing COP and implementing interventions; whilst an entrepreneurship competition lead into an intensive program to develop entrepreneurial skills and stimulate innovation.<< Results >>In total 6 local COP were fully established who all defined their shared interest, organized learning opportunities, meetings and effective local activities that contributed to a common agenda setting for Healthy Lifestyle. Furthermore, the Alliance between businesses and HEI was extended exponentially and over 30 businesses, 18 HEI and 73 public authorities were involved. All 6 COPs are still running beyond the project funding period and supported by an open online platform www.yanuz.eu.