Games for Health Europe brings together researchers, medical professionals and game developers to share information about the impact games and game technologies can have on health, health care and policy. A major effort of the Games for Health Europe is the Annual Games for Health Europe Conference.

CONFERENCE THEME 2016 - Games for Health Europe Conference theme of this year is 'Substitution'.

We expect it to be entertaining and enlightening since the core topic is ‘hot’ according to citizens, organisations, enterprises, science and governments. A new scenario is emerging based on the concept of substitution: substitution of procedures, technologies, and maybe even the concept of health itself. So, our well-known three keywords Health, ICT and Gamification will this year all be linked to this central conference concept.

We think substitution is indeed a wisely chosen word. In marketing and economics, substitution is a widely known concept. Michael Porter, who also advocates the framework of Value-Based Health Care Delivery, has defined substitution as one of the five forces that shape competitive power. In his framework of ‘Value-Based Health Care Delivery’ the key issues are choice and competition, in which patients are the forces for continuous strategic improvements and innovations instead of ‘consumers’. Value is defined as patient health outcomes per monetary unit spent, we are seeking a positive-sum game. However, Porter defines health in a classical way. In a more holistic way health is perhaps just one of the explanatory factors that define what really matters in people’s lives: being happy and having meaningful experiences.

Substitution implies new competitive products and services that perform better and/or cheaper than present products and services in the value chain. Substitution may create more value. It changes existing value chains inside the health industry and may also change the whole industry, as AIRBNB has shown in the hospitality branch. According to Porter three determinants define power of substitution in the value chain:

Firstly, the consumer, producer and politician’s propensity to accept an alternative product or service. Innovation diffusion models show how people and organisations differ in their willingness to accept. The big question is which triggers may entice them. Gamification may help.

Secondly, the switching costs may hamper the acceptability. These costs are not exclusively defined as money, but also as effort. The big question is which procedures lower the cognitive costs. Surely, gamification is a powerful tool to help reduce them.

Thirdly, the relative price-performance defines the willingness to switch. Which lower boundary of performance are acceptable for consumers, producers and politics, and which upper boundary of the costs are acceptable for consumers, producers and politics? We define this as the ‘substitution interval’. Gamification reveals how people and organizations shift their boundaries while searching.

Substitution is defined both inside and outside the industry. Inside the health industry a medical game may substitute visits to a general practitioner. Outside the health industry a hotel may substitute hotel beds for hospital beds - ‘hospitals and hospitality are not the same.’

And, of course we are proud that this year’s conference is the 6th edition.This means that besides great key-notes and 80+ speakers we will inspire you to work and to start implementing these fantastic developments that we call games!