Background and purpose: Participation is a crucial factor in primary healthcare and social services, enabling clients to maintain their own health and well-being. However, adolescents’ participation in service provision may be compromised because they are often not understood or heard as equal clients in encounters with primary services. The aim of this study was to describe 15- to 17-year-olds’ experiences of participation in primary healthcare and social services’ settings. Methods: Data were collected through group interviews ( N = 27) with 106 participants drawn from upper comprehensive schools, upper secondary schools and youth centres in the region of a city in northern Savonia, Finland. Data were analysed by qualitative content analysis, using typology technique. Results: Four levels of realisation of participation were identified (inviting, allowing, avoiding and excluding), each with distinctive sets of atmospheres, interactions and experiences of the service received. According to the interviewees, the atmosphere varied from caring to cold, interactions from empowering to discouraging and experience of services from meaningful to threatening. Conclusion: Young people’s participation in health services can be strengthened by creating a positive atmosphere, providing possibilities to be heard and ensuring that support corresponds with individual needs. The indications of aspects of atmosphere, interactions, and clients’ experience that promote or deter adolescents’ participation may assist efforts to improve health and social services by signposting ways to raise realization of participation to the ‘inviting’ level. Study findings are useful for evaluating, strengthening and raising awareness of the importance of participation in all aspects of health promotion (practice, management and education).

In the time of urban growth, people should be at the heart of development, too often they are forgotten. However, growth poses also a great possibility. Cities can transform into open innovation Living Labs, places to experiment and co-create with creative ideas to improve people’s health and wellbeing. Open innovation Living Lab is one-step for city towards smart and healthy society. This requires bold political choices, strategic level approach, open-minded governance and new operational models. The City of Kuopio has taken this opportunity into action together with Kuopio University Hospital. Living Lab operates as an authentic co-creation environment to enable collaboration between citizens, industry, academia and public sector (Quadruple Helix Open Innovation model). This was implemented through primary health care services bringing together community and citizens´ homes for co-creation of new solutions, which helps people, live longer in their homes and increase the quality of life. The elderly and their close relatives have been enthusiastically involved in the services. Participation opportunities and the feeling of social cohesion have increased. Critical success factors are support from strategic level, well-coordinated services, governance, a broad customer base and solutions made from the genuine need. Collaboration between all stakeholders has made it possible to provide better products and services that can improve health and wellbeing of the community in all sectors of life. At the same time, it promotes citizens’ participation and supports co-creation of new ideas arising from the community and the growth of healthy city.

Health and wellness technology is a growing industry. It has been recognised importance to support health technology companies through new procedures. Collaboration between healthcare professionals and companies facilitates the development of customer-centric and patient-safe products and services.In Finland the City of Kuopio and Kuopio University Hospital (KUH) launched Living Lab to enable companies to develop products and services in an authentic healthcare environment to facilitate development of new innovations. Living Lab is a project funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Regional Council of Northern Savo. The project started in spring 2016 and runs until June 2018. The aim is to enable continuation of Living Lab as a permanent service.Living Lab has two operating platforms. The City of Kuopio platform provides companies with the opportunity to develop and test solutions that are suitable for primary health care. The KUH platform concerns specialised medical care and provides innovation development, testing and clinical research for devices and applications.The patient safety aspect is present throughout all phases of Living Lab processes. Every product is evaluated by professionals before testing. The intention is to identify all possible risks to patient safety and information security in order to support the research and development (R and D) process and ensure that a product or solution meets all safety regulations and requirements (including usability).During test runs and clinical trials, the usability of a product or solution, its realisation and the experimental effects are evaluated and reported. Companies can use the test results to further develop their innovations so that they will eventually offer a patient-safe product on the market.Companies have shown growing interest in the capabilities of authentic testing platforms with healthcare professionals and patients. Living Lab may lead to an increase in the volume and quality of new patient-safe health technology.