@conference{252,
  keywords = {Health Informatics, Capacity Development, Living Laboratory, ICT4D},
  author = {Deshen Moodley and Anban Pillay and Chris Seebregts},
  title = {Establishing a Health Informatics Research Laboratory in South Africa },
  abstract = {Aim/Purpose 
The aim of this project was to explore models for stimulating health
informatics innovation and capacity development in South Africa.
Background 
There is generally a critical lack of health informatics innovation and capacity in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. This is despite the wide anticipation that digital health systems will play a fundamental role in strengthening health systems and improving service delivery
Methodology 
We established a program over four years to train Masters and Doctoral students and conducted research projects across a wide range of biomedical and health informatics technologies at a leading South African university. We also developed a Health Architecture Laboratory Innovation and Development Ecosystem (HeAL-IDE) designed to be a long-lasting and potentially reproducible output of the project.
Contribution 
We were able to demonstrate a successful model for building innovation and capacity in a sustainable way. Key outputs included: (i)a successful partnership model; (ii) a sustainable HeAL-IDE; (iii) research papers; (iv) a world-class software product and several
demonstrators; and (iv) highly trained staff.
Findings 
Our main findings are that: (i) it is possible to create a local ecosystem for innovation and capacity building that creates value for the partners (a university and a private non-profit company); (ii) the ecosystem is able to create valuable outputs that would be much less likely to have been developed singly by each partner, and; (iii) the ecosystem could serve as a powerful model for adoption in other settings.
Recommendations for Practitioners
Non-profit companies and non-governmental organizations implementing health information systems in South Africa and other low resource settings have an opportunity to partner with local universities for purposes of internal capacity development and assisting with the research, reflection and innovation aspects of their projects and programmes.
Recommendation for Researchers
Applied health informatics researchers working in low resource settings could productively partner with local implementing organizations in order to gain a better understanding of the challenges and requirements at field sites and to accelerate the testing and deployment of health information technology solutions.
Impact on Society 
This research demonstrates a model that can deliver valuable software products for public health.
Future Research 
It would be useful to implement the model in other settings and research whether the model is more generally useful },
  year = {2018},
  journal = {Digital Re-imagination Colloquium 2018},
  chapter = {16 - 24},
  month = {13/03 - 15/03},
  publisher = {NEMISA},
  isbn = {978-0-6399275-0-3},
  url = {http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/25615/Digital%20Skills%20Proceedings%202018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y},
}