16/12/2025
UNITE Project Agile Piloting: Call for Expressions of Interest Now Open
Regione Lombardia has a total budget of €40,000 and must select 4 pilots worth €10,000 each
Redazione Open Innovation
UNITE is an important €20 million pan-European program within the European Commission's Regional Innovation Valleys initiative, aimed at building a borderless digital health innovation ecosystem and promoting the transformation of healthcare through deep-tech digital solutions, addressing the challenges posed by demographic transitions and population aging.
The UNITE Project also includes an Agile Piloting programme that allows startups and SMEs to test and refine their digital health solutions at Test Beds and Living Labs located in the partner Regions, in relation to four main Innovation Challenges:
- Deep-tech innovations to secure equal health for the entire population
- Digital innovations advancing personalised remote care
- Advancing the European Health Data Space
- Digital innovations to tackle the health workforce crisis
Regione Lombardia has a total budget of €40,000 and must select four pilots worth €10,000 each:
- two pilots to be carried out locally within its own Living Labs/Test Beds/Hospitals located in Regione Lombardia;
- two pilots to be carried out in another UNITE partner region (“outbound pilots”).
Startups are required to have a TRL between 4 and 6, or higher.
The Territorial Social and Health Authority (ASST) Nord Milano has expressed its willingness to host startups wishing to test innovative solutions that address the four specific needs identified by ASST (listed in Annex A), within the framework of an Agile Piloting Programme.
The Agile Piloting programme must be completed by 31 March 2026, and the duration of each pilot is specified in Annex A.
The startup submitting its application to the Lombardy Region may choose to carry out 1 or 2 Agile Pilots at ASST Nord Milano, if they address different challenges listed by ASST, and/or express their interest in carrying out 1 or 2 pilots in a healthcare facility located in the other partner regions. The condition for submitting multiple proposals is that each proposal must address a different challenge (1 proposal per challenge).
Applications may be submitted from 16 December 2025 at 9:00 a.m. until 16 January 2026 at 6:00 p.m.
To submit an application click here.
Once the call for expressions of interest has closed, Regione Lombardia will evaluate the proposals received together with ASST Nord Milano and subsequently select the top four (2 proposals from companies legally based in Lombardy and 2 proposals from companies legally based in one of the other partner regions), which will be admitted to the Agile Piloting programmes to be carried out within ASST Nord Milano.