my Health Companions

Miniaturized, minimally invasive—or even non-invasive—discreet, and innovative devices, developed through a co-design process involving all stakeholders, empowering everyone to take control of their health, from prevention to treatment.
Putting the person at the center of prevention and care processes requires taking into account the human, social, and technical dimensions of medical practice simultaneously. We propose to simultaneously develop a tailored social and human sciences (SHS) conceptual framework and a new generation of medical devices (health companions: modified everyday objects—such as bicycles and vests—as well as wearable, implantable, or even “swallowable” devices). These “companions” will enable the collection, on a day-to-day basis and in “real life,” of the data necessary for truly personalized medicine.

The Issues

The first challenge is the simultaneous design of a new generation of medical devices (health companions) and an appropriate conceptual framework in the social sciences and humanities. The second challenge is to achieve significant public health and socioeconomic impacts (improved health through increased and safe physical activity; prevention of complications from: i) heart failure; ii) gut dysbiosis; iii) chronic inflammatory diseases).

Interdisciplinarity

The Disempowerment of Patients in Health Care Through “ health partners "requires the co-design of a conceptual framework in the humanities with interdisciplinary and intersectoral partners to address public health issues (sports rehabilitation and performance optimization; heart failure; hydrogen therapy; intestinal dysbiosis). This raises interdisciplinary challenges: signal extraction from complex, noisy multimodal data; low-power, formally validated software for secure embedded devices; exploration of large-scale medical data; energy harvesting or transmission; deformable architectures for swallowable capsules; innovative and safe methods for delivering hydrogen to patients; demonstration of medical benefits.

A Transformative Project

my Health Companions will fill the current gap that is hindering the growth of 4P medicine (predictive, personalized, preventive, participatory), by enabling the real-time capture of physiological parameters monitored by the “ health partners ", and their use in prevention, personalized therapy, or tele-expertise. The development of innovative methods for co-designing healthcare solutions in key areas of public health will foster greater involvement from the relevant stakeholders, ensuring the success of the proposed solutions.

A national and international reach

my Health Companions is a strategic priority in the Horizon Europe program (which emphasizes the integration of the humanities, personalized medicine and digital health, advanced materials, and AI) and within the European Institute of Technology – Health. It aligns perfectly with the France2030 initiative: Interdisciplinary Institute for Artificial Intelligence; Digital Health; Innovative Biotherapies. It is part of the UGA's two main areas of focus (Humanities and Social Sciences; Multidisciplinary Research) and in 3 of its 4 socioeconomic challenges (Health, Innovation, Digital World).

To increase the visibility of the Grenoble site

my Health Companions will strengthen the Grenoble site’s reputation for cutting-edge expertise in medical devices—from their invention to their market launch—while taking healthcare services to the next level through co-design with patients and healthcare professionals to develop innovative solutions to major public health challenges. The effectiveness of these solutions will be demonstrated through clinical trials and will benefit from the CHUGA’s health data repository. Commercialization is already planned as part of partnerships with five startups and major corporations.
Updated on 7, September 2026