FONDAZIONE CASA SOLLIEVO DELLA SOFFERENZA

Their core work

Fondazione Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza is a major Italian research hospital (IRCCS) founded by Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, specializing in clinical research and patient care. In EU-funded projects, they contribute clinical expertise in geriatrics, dementia care, and oncology — particularly as real-world testing sites for assistive robotics, smart home health monitoring, and AI-driven quality-of-life tools. Their research spans from elderly care technologies (service robots, ambient sensors) to drug discovery targeting ubiquitin ligases, and more recently Big Data and AI applications for patient monitoring. They serve as a bridge between clinical practice and technology validation, providing patient cohorts, clinical protocols, and real-world deployment environments for digital health innovations.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2017), CSS focused on assistive robotics and ambient sensing for elderly and dementia care, alongside molecular biology research in ubiquitin ligase-targeted drug discovery. From 2019 onward, the emphasis shifted decisively toward digital health platforms — Big Data, AI, cloud computing, and smart wearables for large-scale health risk detection and patient empowerment. The recent projects are larger in scope and more technology-driven, suggesting CSS is moving from being a robotics end-user to becoming a clinical data partner in AI-powered health monitoring ecosystems.

CSS is positioning itself as a clinical validation hub for AI-driven digital health platforms, particularly for ageing populations and cancer survivorship — expect them to seek partners with strong data science and wearable technology capabilities.

How they like to work

CSS operates exclusively as a project participant, never as coordinator, which indicates they contribute domain-specific clinical expertise rather than managing large consortia. With 146 unique partners across 23 countries from just 6 projects, they work in large multi-partner consortia typical of health innovation actions and research initiatives. This broad network and consistent participant role suggest they are a sought-after clinical partner who provides patient access, medical knowledge, and validation environments rather than driving project design.

CSS has built a wide European network of 146 unique partners spanning 23 countries through participation in large health and digital innovation consortia. Their network is concentrated in Western and Southern Europe but reaches well across the EU.

What sets them apart

As an IRCCS (a nationally recognized clinical research hospital in Italy), CSS offers something most research centres cannot: direct access to real patient populations — elderly, dementia, and oncology patients — within an active hospital setting. This makes them an ideal partner for any project that needs clinical validation, real-world piloting, or geriatric assessment expertise. Their combination of molecular biology research (TRIM-NET) alongside digital health deployment (PHArA-ON, GATEKEEPER) is unusual and signals genuine interdisciplinary depth.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PHArA-ON
  Largest single EU contribution (EUR 409,704), combining smart wearables, AI, cloud computing, and open calls in a comprehensive active ageing pilot across multiple sites.
• BD4QoL
  Targets a specific and underserved patient group — head and neck tumor survivors — using Big Data and AI for quality-of-life monitoring, representing CSS's push into oncology informatics.
• MARIO
  Their earliest H2020 project, pioneering the use of caring service robots for dementia patients with both in-clinic and at-home validation — setting the template for their later clinical pilot work.