Assistive robots in Italian and Norwegian healthcare: how do contextual conditions shape the path of innovation, and what implications does this have for policy?

Assistive robotics is increasingly seen as a potential instrument for addressing the care and healthcare challenges associated with population ageing, increasing assistive needs and workforce shortages. Its large-scale diffusion, however, remains uneven, due to regulatory, financial, organisational and socio-professional barriers. By comparing Italian and Norwegian cases, the chapter shows how different institutional and social contexts shape both common and context-specific obstacles to implementation. It concludes by anticipating governance, regulation and coordination issues that will be decisive for future uptake, while also identifying possible paths to resolution grounded in good practices emerging from the studied cases.