Conversational interaction. Human-centered AI. Open to new research collaborations

We designhealthcareinnovationpeople loveto use.

START BY LISTENINGMAKE SPACE TO RESPONDMore human.By design.EXPERIMENT. CONNECT. REPEAT.

We turn healthcare research into interactions people love to use. Your hands-on partner for human-centered research, design and development.

Discuss a research idea

01 / Why we do it

Better technology starts with
the people who needs it most.

We design with people to make everyday care more accessible, personal and connected. Their needs shape what we build, from the first question to real-world use.

RehabilitationDementia careInclusive healthcare

02 / Selected work

Small interactions.
Meaningful change.

From a companion at home to a better conversation in the consulting room. Our work connects research, design and technology to everyday care.

01LIZZ.HEALTHDigital companion / Care transitions
The new Lizz interface on a tablet, with a conversational avatar, shown in a home settingFROM RESEARCH
TO EVERYDAY CARE
New Lizz product visual. Illustrative setting, not a photograph from the clinical trial.

Care that
stays close.

Lizz supports daily routines, rehabilitation and check-ins between care moments. We bring user research, conversational design and software development together in one digital companion.

2hospitals in the randomized trial
100+participants in the trial

Research in progress: Lizz-TRANSCARE is evaluating care transitions in a randomized trial across two hospitals with 100+ participants. Clinical effectiveness is still being studied.

02SMARTCHANGE / HAPPYPLANTBehavior change / Horizon Europe

Healthy habits.
A little more joy.

HappyPlant turns young people’s activity and health goals into a growing virtual plant. Within SmartCHANGE, we combine co-design, behavior-change interaction and mobile development.

HappyPlantOfficial app screenshot
Loads when online
Actual HappyPlant app: choosing a virtual plant to adopt
Goal GardenOfficial app screenshot
Loads when online
Actual HappyPlant app: garden checklist and a growing plant
SMALL STEPS.
REAL LIFE.
Actual HappyPlant screens, from the SmartCHANGE project website. See the app ↗
500+users testing the experience
5countries involved in testing

Learning in real life: Field testing with 500+ users across five countries informs how the experience fits different routines and settings.

03PATIENT-IN-THE-LOOP AIResearch collaboration / Oncology

The right explanation.
At the right moment.

What would an ideal patient journey look like if understandable AI and a person's own priorities were part of every important conversation?

With Radboud University and Radboudumc, we explore new interaction concepts for explainable AI and shared decision-making in oncology. This includes our involvement in the ELSA collaboration and the SIDN-supported Responsible AI for Clinical Decision Support project.

We connect patient-journey research, inclusive service design and new explanation interfaces with patient-facing companions and professional workflows. Quality of life, independence and what matters to the patient guide the questions we explore.

Radboud University + Radboudumc
ELSA / SIDN-supported research

Before the consultation

What matters most in my everyday life?

Elicit priorities, questions and support needs.

Design approachable conversations and check-ins, with low-burden input and support for people with different levels of digital confidence.

LEARN. ADAPT. REVISIT WHAT MATTERS.

Research direction and illustrative journey, not a finished clinical system. We explore how to communicate uncertainty, preserve patient choice and keep professionals in control.

Explore all projects

03 / What we do

Not a
straight line.

Research, design, build, learn. One team takes your question from early exploration to a working solution, with feedback shaping every step.

01 / UNDERSTAND

Research

Understand people, routines and barriers in everyday care.

02 / CO-DESIGN

Design

Co-design accessible conversations, interfaces and services.

03 / PROTOTYPE & BUILD

Develop

Build software and prototypes people can actually try.

04 / EVALUATE & LEARN

Evaluate

Test in context and use the findings to improve.

From insight to implementation

Conversational UXHuman-centered AIApps & integrationReal-world evaluation

Business development and project coordination connect the work to adoption.

04 / Human-centered technology

A head start.
Not a black box.

Technology should support human connection and keep people in control. We build on open foundations such as DialogueBranch, with conversation logic that teams can inspect and adapt.

Reusable where possible. Accessible by design. Built with privacy and human support in mind.

Explore DialogueBranch

Good company.
Shared ambition.

Our work grows through collaboration. Research partners, technology partners and funding programs each play a different role.

Research + care

Radboud UniversityRadboudumcAmsterdam UMCVU AmsterdamVilansTU DelftTU/eHU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht

Technology + innovation ecosystem

SmartRobot.SolutionsSENSThe Simulation CrewEvidencioOost NLHealth Valley

Funding programs + supporters

Horizon EuropeZonMwHealth~HollandSIDN fondsTHCSEFRO

Selected collaborations and programs across our work. These are not all partners or funders of every project, and inclusion does not imply endorsement of every ConnectedCare product.

05 / Our team

Different minds.
Shared curiosity.

Researchers, designers and developers, working side by side.

Martijn Vastenburg

Martijn
Vastenburg

Founder & managing director

Harm op den Akker

Harm
op den Akker

Lead R&D Health

Dominic Kremer

Dominic
Kremer

E-health Designer

Dennis Hofs

Dennis
Hofs

Senior Software Developer

Meet the whole team

06 / Latest + publications

Work
in motion.

Ideas from our projects and research.

More publications
JUL 15, 2026
CO-DESIGN

How young people helped shape HappyPlant.

MAR 28, 2025
PUBLICATION

What older adults need from a social robot.

2025 PROJECT
RESPONSIBLE AI

Keeping patients and professionals in the conversation.

Your next research question?

Let's make
something
worth using.

Building a consortium or exploring a care challenge? Bring your question. Let’s turn it into something people can use.

Discuss a research idea

Lizz.health / Research into use

A companion. A product.
A continuing research journey.

Lizz is a digital extension of the care team, designed to support routines, check-ins and rehabilitation activities. It connects patient-facing interaction with a professional care context.

OUR CONTRIBUTION
User research / Interaction and service design / Software and integration / Research coordination / Product and market development

Beyond the prototype

We bring insight from patients and care professionals into the product, and bring questions from real-world use back into research. Implementation, onboarding, ongoing development and a sustainable route to use are part of the design challenge.

Clinical evaluation in progress

In Lizz-TRANSCARE, we are conducting a randomized controlled trial across two hospitals with 100+ participants. The work investigates support across the transition from hospital or rehabilitation care to home.

Study scale is based on ConnectedCare's September 2026 update. The trial is ongoing; no clinical effectiveness or time-saving result is claimed here. The supplied image illustrates the new Lizz product and is not clinical-trial documentation.

Read the public research profile ↗

SmartCHANGE / HappyPlant

Behavior change people
can connect with.

HappyPlant is the participant app within SmartCHANGE. It uses a growing virtual plant to make everyday activity and health goals more tangible and engaging for young people.

OUR CONTRIBUTION
Co-design / User experience / Behavior-change interaction / Mobile software development / Iterative refinement for field evaluation

A design decision, not a decorative theme

The published co-design account describes how young people, families and professionals helped explore different app concepts. The plant direction became a way of connecting daily effort to visible growth, rather than presenting another conventional health dashboard.

Learning across contexts

According to ConnectedCare's September 2026 update, 500+ users are testing the experience across five countries. We use feedback to refine how the interaction fits everyday routines and differing needs.

The images on the homepage are actual app screenshots from the official SmartCHANGE website. Access to the app is arranged through participating study providers.

Explore the HappyPlant app ↗
SmartCHANGE on CORDIS / Horizon Europe ↗

Patient-in-the-loop AI / Oncology

Design the journey.
Not just the explanation.

Our collaboration with Radboud University and Radboudumc explores how people can understand, question and use AI-supported information in conversations about care. Our involvement includes the ELSA collaboration and SIDN-supported research on responsible clinical decision support.

Start with the patient's priorities

We investigate patient journeys with patients, caregivers and professionals. We explore when people need information, which daily-life outcomes matter to them, how preferences change and where digital interaction might create an additional burden.

Make explanation an interaction

Our design direction goes beyond a single risk score. We explore conversational and visual formats for questions, options, uncertainty and the provenance of information. The aim is to support understanding and deliberation, not to steer a person's treatment choice.

Connect insight to working services

The expertise we bring includes inclusive service blueprints, accessible companion interfaces, low-burden patient-reported input, understandable feedback and software integration with professional systems. Sensory, cognitive and digital-literacy needs, assisted use and human oversight inform the design.

Keep learning in context

We contribute prototyping and iterative evaluation of comprehension, usability, acceptability and workflow fit, alongside implementation and exploitation planning. Clinical partners define clinical content and responsibilities; specialist partners provide and validate the underlying models.

This case presents an active collaboration and a research direction. It does not announce an additional awarded grant, a completed clinical product, a validated predictive model or proven patient outcomes.

Read the SIDN project profile ↗
Explore the ELSA collaboration ↗