Within the tradition of health care research, health technology research has so far mainly examined “downstream” factors, i.e. efficacy, safety and costs of technologies that have already been introduced in the health care system. This CRC research program will shift focus and examine “upstream” factors that have an impact on the ultimate use and dissemination of health technologies, e.g. the design process itself, including needs analyses, design strategies, market constraints and opportunities, and perceptions and practices guiding the innovation processes.

Many of the choices made upstream: 1) largely determine the costs, the types of settings where technologies are used, and the levels of skills required to use them appropriately; and 2) suggest a unique and useful research avenue, since industrialized countries are facing enormous challenges due to the rising costs of health technologies.