A DORSET company is leading a project which has won a 2.5million euro (£2.16m) grant to help heart patients rehabilitate with the aid of an app.

The CUOREMA initiative aims to develop a patient-centred and intelligent cardiac rehabilitation support system.

Bournemouth company my mhealth will be tasked with developing its myHeart app, which uses behavioural feedback and game-style features to support cardiac rehabilitation. It is the lead organisation in the project.

The initiative has attracted funding for mhealth and three European collaborators through a grant from Eurostars, a programme funded from the budgets of 36 countries involved in the Eureka network and the European Union.

The British funding body Innovate UK will sponsor my mhealth to develop part of myHeart.

Dr Simon Bourne, chief executive of my mhealth, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with such talented and diverse teams on this innovative and important project over the next few years.

“Each organisation brings a very unique perspective to the table, allowing for a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to tackling heart health.

“I am extremely passionate about digital health and this has the potential to change many lives for the better, helping us transform cardiac rehabilitation for patients across Europe.”

The mainland European partners in the project are Ospedale Malcantonese (OSCAM) in Switzerland, Games for Health in the Netherlands and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI).

The project will use the cardiac rehabilitation element of the myHeart app and incorporate biofeedback, intelligent algorithms and gamification – the application of game design elements and principals.

During three years of development, the platform will be researched in the UK and several European countries through formal clinical trials.

The CUOREMA project will focus on providing feedback from wearable devices. The app will include built-in behaviour change support system.

The judging panel for the grant recognised my mhealth’s expertise in digital healthcare applications for long-term conditions, with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a primary area of focus. The project achieved the highest scores in the innovation and research and development category.