PULSE is a three-and-a-half-year project of the European Union in the field of health, social sciences, geographic information systems (GIS), data analysis, climatology, and others, which is implemented by 2020 in seven world cities – Barcelona, Birmingham, New York, Paris, Pavia, Singapore, and Taipei, and which demonstrated in a real environment the transformation of the public health system from reactive to predictive.

Using the existing large databases of open data from statistical, satellite and other sources, as well as data collected from the extensive infrastructure of various sensory ambient and wearable / mobile devices (Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure), PULSE enabled the management of public health processes and demonstrated in practice a more efficient and proactive inclusive collaborative system.

The clinical focus of the project is on dominant acquired chronic diseases that are known to be exacerbated by urban environmental factors – respiratory such as asthma, and metabolic such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). PULSE has developed a system of early prediction and risk assessment of these diseases in these cities, based on data collected through IoT infrastructure, and physiological, socio-economic, technological, and other factors, in order to establish reference good practices and potentially create and improve regulations for prevention diseases and improving the general health of citizens.

Following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, the project is focused on modeling and developing the resilience of social communities and the general well-being of citizens in urban areas. In line with the HiAP (Health in All Policies) approach, a wide range of stakeholders from various relevant and related areas, not only health and the environment but also urban planning, transport, logistics and other sectors, has been involved in a comprehensive dialogue, with integrated analytics of heterogeneous risk factors in urban areas from large data sets (Big Data), in order to synergistically transform public health and achieve the common good in seven pilot cities.

One of the results of the project is the Community of Practice (CoP) platform for knowledge exchange, where public health institutions and administrations, citizens, and other relevant entities from all cities covered by the PULSE project, as well as from other newcomers to the community, exchange experiences, examples good practices, research, case studies and other important information related to project topics.

RESULTS & BENEFITS:

● Development and implementation of ecosystems for collecting, analyzing and managing large sets of data on health, well-being, life habits and activities of citizens, and the environment in smart cities in real time
● Development of models predicting the onset and pathogenesis of asthma and type 2 diabetes in urban populations from combined sensory-measured physiological, anamnestic and clinical data
● Planned and transparent evaluation and simulation of the effects of policies and measures in the field of public health, as well as transport, urban planning, and other areas of public / communal administration, using PULSE systems and tools in the cities covered by the project
● Development of an integrative model for assessing and improving the general well-being of citizens in urban areas
● Installation, commissioning and validation of an integrated PULSE platform and system, with all the main above and other functionalities, in continuous operation for more than two years in a real operational environment in seven world cities in Europe, North America and Asia.

At the PULSE project, Belit was the leading partner in the development of the Modeling Resilience: Well Being, and one of the key partners in the implementation of the following steps:

● Project technologies and tools; data analysis
● Data specification for PULSE application
● Integration of public health models and maps