Project Information :
Project Overview
MORPHEUS is a Horizon Europe research and innovation project developing a new generation of flexible, biocompatible and sustainable sensing technologies for healthcare and environmental monitoring.
At the heart of the project is an innovative wearable patch with a modular plug-and-sense architecture, designed to integrate interchangeable sensor cartridges for continuous monitoring of physiological, biochemical and environmental parameters.
Rather than replacing an entire monitoring device when different sensing capabilities are required, MORPHEUS is developing a modular system in which individual sensing functions can be added or replaced. This approach combines advanced materials, flexible electronics and sustainable design to enable more adaptable and resource-efficient monitoring technologies.
The project brings together expertise spanning 2D materials, hydrogels, flexible electronics, energy storage, wireless communication, healthcare, clinical validation and standardisation, creating an interdisciplinary pathway from advanced materials research to real-world healthcare applications.
Our Role & Contribution
INNOVA participates in MORPHEUS as an Italian consortium partner, contributing its innovation-oriented expertise within a multidisciplinary European partnership working at the intersection of advanced materials, flexible electronics and healthcare technologies.
INNOVA’s participation supports the project’s broader ambition of moving innovative scientific and technological results towards practical application, impact and future uptake.
Working alongside universities, research organisations, technology SMEs, standardisation specialists and clinical stakeholders, INNOVA contributes to the collaborative innovation environment required to translate advanced research into technologies with real-world potential.
The Challenge
Healthcare increasingly requires continuous, accurate and unobtrusive monitoring of patients and their surroundings, particularly in hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities.
Conventional monitoring technologies can be rigid, single-purpose or dependent on disposable components. This can limit adaptability while increasing material consumption and electronic waste.
At the same time, integrating multiple sensing capabilities into a flexible wearable platform presents significant technological challenges involving biocompatibility, materials performance, power supply, wireless communication, safety, clinical validation and standardisation.
MORPHEUS addresses these challenges by developing a modular sensing platform designed around flexibility, adaptability and sustainability.
Consultation Process
Impact & Results
MORPHEUS aims to advance flexible sensing technologies from multidisciplinary research towards clinically relevant and sustainable healthcare applications.
The project is expected to deliver:
- A TRL 5 demonstrator of a modular multiparameter sensing device
- A wearable platform for continuous physiological and environmental monitoring
- New biodegradable and biocompatible materials for flexible electronics
- A library of interchangeable sensing modules
- Monitoring capabilities for physiological, biochemical and environmental parameters
- Low-power wireless communication for data transmission
- Flexible and sustainable power solutions
- Reduced material waste through modular device architectures
- Life-cycle assessment and life-cycle costing evidence
- Clinical testing and safety assessment
- Pre-standardisation activities
- A regulatory roadmap supporting future clinical translation
By integrating sustainability into the technological architecture itself, MORPHEUS will also investigate whether modular monitoring devices can reduce material waste compared with conventional single-use technologies.
