Technology Exploration Day: lived experience at the heart of technological research and innovation

Within the framework of Mental Health Week 2026 at the San Juan de Dios Health Park , the TECSAM Network and Mental Health Catalonia (SMC) have organized the Technology Exploration Day , a participatory session focused on how to incorporate the voice and lived experience of people into research and technological innovation projects .

The event aimed to create a space for reflection and exchange among people with lived experience, professionals, researchers, and other stakeholders involved in mental health and technological innovation. Specifically, the session helped identify challenges, barriers, opportunities, and proposals for advancing more meaningful participation of people with lived experience throughout the research process.

Sharing experiences to open the debate

The session included the participation of Àngel Urbina, from Mental Health Catalunya , who introduced the day by sharing his experience and vision on the participation of people with lived experience in research and innovation projects.

Next, Victoria Espinosa, from the co-Elna project (San Juan de Dios Health Park, Mental Health Catalonia, and the TECSAM Network), presented this project as an example of how lived experience can be incorporated into research and help guide innovation processes. These contributions have framed the debate and highlighted the need to move beyond occasional or consultative participation and advance toward models in which people can play an active role in different phases of projects.

From barriers to proposals

After the presentations, the participants worked in a co-creation dynamic organized around three axes: Opportunities, Barriers and Proposals .

Regarding barriers , aspects such as the personal circumstances and vulnerability of the participants, motivation or potential resistance, stigma, confidentiality, and legal and privacy issues have been identified. Difficulties related to comprehension and literacy, bureaucracy, identifying and accessing the target group, and the need for ongoing monitoring of needs and participation throughout the project have also been noted.

Regarding opportunities , the contributions have focused on empowering individuals and recognizing their capacity to contribute to the research process. The importance of reducing bias in participation, ensuring that solutions address real needs, working with respect and recognition of resilience, and fostering environments based on flexibility, transparency, and humility within research teams has also been highlighted.

The proposals section generated the most contributions. Among the shared ideas, the need to understand people’s needs and pain points, to understand how the developed solutions will be used, and to identify the different stakeholders through tools such as stakeholder mapping, stood out.

Towards participation with real capacity to influence

The session has highlighted that incorporating lived experience in research and technological innovation is not just about giving people a voice, but about creating the conditions so that this voice can have a real capacity to influence decisions and the development of projects.

The reflections shared during the Technology Exploration Day have reinforced the need to incorporate this perspective from the earliest stages, from identifying needs to evaluating and implementing solutions, generating more open, flexible and co-creation-based processes.

The day has thus been a space to share experiences and identify concrete ways to move towards more participatory, inclusive research and technological innovation connected to the real needs of people.