AUTONOMIA, Île-de-France's first research and innovation center dedicated to people losing their independence

Hello Christine, could you tell us about AUTONOMIA?

One third of technologies marketed to compensate for reduced autonomy due to age, illness or disability are abandoned within 3 months, due to difficulties for healthcare professionals and patients in identifying their real needs and testing solutions in a secure, standardized way. In addition, application of the new European regulations on medical devices represents a major challenge for companies, with the introduction of clinical evaluations now mandatory.

To tackle the complex issues surrounding autonomy in a radically new way, Sorbonne Université and Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) have joined forces for the first time to create a joint service unit: the UMS AUTONOMIA.

These two pillars of French research are launching this open structure, placing people suffering from loss of autonomy at the heart of the system, for all types of loss of autonomy, regardless of age, illness or disability.

AUTONOMIA brings together researchers, healthcare professionals, users, start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), intermediate-sized enterprises (ISEs) and large corporations (LSEs) around Research and Innovation (R&I) projects, to create the solutions of tomorrow. AUTONOMIA's strength lies in putting the "user-subject" at the heart of research, whatever their age or the origin of their loss of autonomy, to challenge the ergonomics and expected benefits of high-impact solutions.

AUTONOMIA offers this international platform for technological innovation research projects, located in Ivry-sur-Seine, within the Charles-Foix Hospital of the AP-HP.Sorbonne University GHU, on a 1,600 m² surface area, renovated thanks to €6.1M in regional funding under the State-Region Contract for the Île-de-France region.

AUTONOMIA is the first joint service unit to be set up by Sorbonne Université and the AP-HP. What innovative features does it offer?

Placing people suffering from loss of autonomy at the heart of research and innovation is the platform's major asset. Researchers will be able to rely in particular on AP-HP patients who volunteer to be an integral part of the research work, and move towards the "patient researcher" status that AUTONOMIA wishes to promote.

The two partners are joining forces within this UMS to offer innovators from all horizons the inclusion of AP-HP patients, in keeping with Research Involving the Human Person (RIPH). Expertise in this field will be a real innovation gas pedal and facilitator for public and private researchers, enabling them to listen to the future users of this innovation, immersed in the reconstructed living environments proposed by the platform. The site offers test beds such as a home, a hospital room (with an information system enabling test games), a "connected" staircase equipped with sensors, an 80m² motion analysis platform, a telemedicine area, as well as the possibility of reconstituting different environments à la carte, such as a doctor's surgery for example, or a connected outdoor street. Another original feature is that AUTONOMIA handles the logistics of transporting volunteer subjects from the Paris region (AP-HP patients or healthy volunteers) identified by the researchers, to carry out investigations on the AUTONOMIA site during the day.

AUTONOMIA, winner of the SESAME "filières France 2030" award, has just been awarded 2 million euros in funding. What are the areas in which you will be working?

Recently awarded the SESAME Filières - France 2030 prize for the emergence of innovative projects in the Paris Region, AUTONOMIA, the first research and innovation center in the Paris Region dedicated to people losing their autonomy, is considered a structuring project for the healthcare sector by the Prefecture and the Île de France Region. This has enabled us to launch a Appel à Manifestation d’Intérêt (AMI - Call for Expressions of Interest) among innovators, with a view to receiving the first projects on the platform as early as 2025. The research areas are open-ended, and may focus on "ageing better", of course, but also on "getting around better", "recovering better" and "breathing better", for example, as well as on any needs identified by disabled people. The platform addresses all the causes of reduced autonomy for people, whatever their age.

Autonomia will soon be opening its doors. How will patients and researchers be welcomed?

AUTONOMIA offers à la carte spaces, high-tech equipment and support services during the research and development phase of innovative projects. The aim is to collectively create and evaluate the autonomy solutions of tomorrow, with a view to making technological innovations available to users as quickly as possible. The platform is located at the very heart of the healthcare ecosystem, at the crossroads between the hospital, the city and the home, in an open public-private space that enables synergies and collaboration under real-life conditions.

The research platform is made up of 2 platforms, each measuring 800m².

The first floor is reserved for the reception of patient-subjects, offering the above-mentioned test beds. Each test bed is backed by a technical control room which provides the necessary equipment for researchers, such as cameras and sensors for motion analysis, computer equipment, etc., so as to offer researchers a genuine "plug and play" solution. It should be noted that the test beds are all equipped with medical fluids (O2 and vacuum) and that a biological sampling area is also available. We have taken great care in designing the reception, preparation and support areas, which are designed to be safe and user-friendly.

The upper level is reserved for researchers: work spaces and meeting rooms, all equipped with video-conferencing facilities, a conviviality and lunch room. An 80m² Health FABLAB equipped with various tools is available to innovators.

The platform is currently in the process of installing all this equipment so as to be ready to welcome the AMI's winning pioneering projects.