DARE – Digital Lifelong Prevention and the Shift Toward Sustainable Healthcare
From Research to Real-World Impact: Digital Health, Clinical Studies and Living Labs in DARE Exploring translational pathways from research and pilots to validated, real-world systems.
At the 1st Kinesis Innovation Center (KIC) Community Meeting, Prof. Lorenzo Chiari presented the Italian national flagship initiative DARE – Digital Lifelong Prevention, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research under the Next Generation EU framework.
DARE is a four-year public-private partnership led by the University of Bologna, focusing on the valorisation of health data and the development of digital solutions to enable prevention across the full continuum — from primordial and primary prevention to tertiary and quaternary prevention.
Prevention as a Strategic Paradigm Shift
Prof. Chiari emphasised that prevention is increasingly recognised at European and international policy levels as essential for healthcare sustainability. Yet, current investment in prevention represents only about 6% of total health expenditure.
The initiative addresses key systemic challenges:
- Population ageing
- Rising chronic disease burden
- Shortage of healthcare professionals
- Fragmented healthcare systems
- Growing inequities
DARE positions prevention as a long-term strategy that accompanies individuals throughout their lives, shifting the focus from cure to prevention and from hospital-centred models to community-based approaches.
Digital Prevention Cycle
The project has defined a structured digital prevention cycle:
- Quantifying individual and community health status
- Processing sensitive data through digital infrastructures
- Developing predictive tools and risk indicators
- Returning actionable insights to clinics and communities
Physical activity monitoring plays a central role within this framework, alongside sleep, cardiovascular indicators, environmental data, and other health determinants.
Scale and Implementation
DARE currently includes:
– 27 core partners across multiple Italian regions
– More than 70 ongoing pilot experiences
– 18 studies involving physical activity recordings
– 1,445 equivalent life-years of recorded physical activity data expected by project completion
– Over 2 million individuals involved in retrospective and prospective data collection
The initiative also supports entrepreneurship and innovation, with 25 teams participating in training programmes aimed at developing new startups and spin-offs.
Healthy Ageing Applications
In the field of healthy ageing, DARE is working on:
- Large-scale cohort studies on determinants of healthy ageing
- Prediction and prevention of falls and fractures
- The role of sleep disorders in frailty and sarcopenia
- Risk prediction for infections and acute adverse events
- Strengthening telemedicine services for older adults
Prof. Chiari’s intervention provided a concrete example of how national-level digital prevention infrastructures can support sustainable healthcare systems and advance healthy ageing strategies.
Why this matter to Kinesis Innovation Center
How DARE Connects with Kinesis Innovation Center riorities
DARE – Digital Lifelong Prevention closely aligns with the strategic priorities of the Kinesis Innovation Center by demonstrating how structured digital infrastructures, data valorisation, and translational pathways can support sustainable health systems and healthy ageing. Its emphasis on prevention across the full life course, the integration of physical activity monitoring with broader health determinants, and the development of real-world pilot studies reflects KIC’s commitment to advancing Physical Activity and Healthy Ageing & Longevity at the science–data–policy–clinical interface. The scale of DARE’s national consortium and its focus on moving from research to validated real-world systems provide a concrete example of how coordinated ecosystems can translate evidence into measurable societal impact — a core objective of the KIC community.