HUOMISEN HOIVATYÖ Innovation Competition
The Huomisen hoivatyö (Care Work of Tomorrow) innovation competition seeks solutions to alleviate the care crisis: new ways of doing, organizing and leading care and nursing work. We are looking for innovations that can transform the future of care and care work for the better. These should be innovations that have already been piloted or used on a small scale. When scaled up, they could produce higher-quality and ethically sustainable care, while also enhancing the attractiveness and societal appreciation of care and nursing work.
Do you have a solution? Tell us. We want to hear ideas from everyone involved in or concerned with care.
By care work we refer to:
- care and nursing performed across the entire human lifespan
- both paid care work and care provided by relatives
- work conducted in the social and healthcare sectors, as well as, for example, in early childhood education.
An innovation is a process, technology or practice that is new or different within its own operational environment and has already been piloted or introduced on a limited basis in a local setting.
The competition runs from 2 March to 12 April 2026 and includes three categories:
Why participate?
For the selected top innovations, we offer:
- visibility and communication support
- opportunities to receive research-based insights on their activities
- co-development arenas with other care-sector innovations and societal actors
- support for scaling and dissemination until the end of the project in 2031.
Evaluation of innovations
Each competition category is evaluated by an expert panel composed of societal actors and researchers invited to the task. You can find the compositions of the panels above, in connection with the descriptions of each competition category.
All categories are additionally evaluated by a Future Care Work panel consisting of nursing students. The panels select the best innovations in each category to proceed, and the results will be announced in the events dedicated to each category.
Several perspectives are considered:
- What is the usability and novelty value of the innovation, and can it be disseminated?
- Does the innovation improve productivity, efficiency and smoothness of care work?
- Does it enhance the meaningfulness, competence and wellbeing of care work?
- Is the innovation ethically sustainable and responsible?
- Does it involve multiculturalism, pluralism and inclusion?
- Does it increase the societal appreciation of care work?
The research information sheet concerning the competition (pdf, in Finnish)
The privacy notice of the competition (pdf, in Finnish)
The Huomisen hoivatyö competition is organized by the CAREFUTURE project, led by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, in partnership with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), the University of Jyväskylä and Tampere University of Applied Sciences. The research is funded by the Strategic Research Council, operating under the Academy of Finland.
The aim of both the competition and the entire CAREFUTURE project is to promote the appreciation of care work, the sustainable and responsible use of AI solutions, and the development of organizational practices so that, in the future, care work remains attractive, ethical, meaningful and centered on human encounters.
Good care is created through good care work!
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