The Pflegepraxiszentrum (PPZ) in Nürnberg was established to bridge the gap between innovative care technologies and everyday practice. Its core objective was to bring technical solutions into real‑world care settings, evaluate them systematically, and disseminate the findings so that other institutions could build on the knowledge. The centre engaged researchers, manufacturers, and end‑users in a structured testing framework that included pitch sessions, on‑site trials in various care environments, and collaborative product development. A notable example was the polylingual communication application, which was co‑designed with a manufacturer and tested in multiple settings to assess usability, language support, and integration with existing workflows. The PPZ also created a skills laboratory, intended to train care students and multipliers in hands‑on use of emerging technologies, thereby embedding innovation into the educational pipeline.
Technical outcomes extended beyond product testing. The centre produced a series of publications that documented best practices, challenges, and lessons learned. These include peer‑reviewed articles on the deployment of assistive systems, conference proceedings from the “Zukunft der Pflege” cluster, and case studies on sensor integration in long‑term care. The research outputs highlighted that small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) could leverage the PPZ’s resources to conduct real‑time evaluations that would otherwise be financially prohibitive. The centre’s systematic data collection and analysis provided evidence on user acceptance, workflow impact, and potential cost savings, thereby informing future market entry strategies for manufacturers.
The PPZ’s outreach efforts were amplified through a coordinated public relations strategy led by the Forum MedTech Pharma (FMP). From 2021 to 2022, FMP intensified the visibility of the PPZ and the “Future of Care” cluster by managing a bi‑weekly public relations working group, expanding a social‑media campaign from showcasing staff to featuring the ELSI+ Board, and launching a newsletter that covered content creation, graphic design, and audience analytics. The newsletter was distributed via Rapidmail and promoted through the PPZ’s social‑media channels, with past issues archived on the PPZ website. FMP also organized and moderated the first “Care Practice Forum” in April 2022, bringing together facilities, IT experts, data protection officers, and staff representatives to discuss the application of voice assistants in social care settings, addressing data privacy and digital inclusion concerns.
Collaboration within the consortium was extensive. The PPZ worked closely with the “Future of Care” cluster, the FMP, and event organizers such as MedTecSUMMIT and MEDICA. Key meetings included the 2022 Innovation Day in Regensburg, the Digital Health conference in Regensburg, and the 5th cluster conference in Freiburg. The consortium also engaged in the cross‑project knowledge exchange under the “TEAM‑X – Trusted Ecosystem of Applied Medical Data eXchange” initiative, aiming to deepen data sharing practices in subsequent years. The project ran from 2020 until the FMP’s exit from the consortium on 28 February 2023, with the overall timeline extended due to COVID‑19‑related restrictions that delayed some trials and required a shift from in‑person to virtual formats for events such as the 2020 cluster conference.
Funding for the PPZ was provided through national research grants, enabling the procurement of equipment, support for SMEs, and the establishment of the skills laboratory. Despite pandemic‑induced delays, the project achieved its primary goal of translating technical innovations into practice, generating actionable insights for manufacturers, educators, and care providers, and establishing a sustainable model for ongoing innovation testing in the German care sector.