Download AGE response - AGE Platform Europe

AGE response to the consultation on possible priorities for research and innovation
that could be supported by H2020-SC1-Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing
1. What are the most urgent long to midterm ICT related research challenges and the
expected opportunities in this domain (from a societal, individual, ICT, financial,
organisational point of view)?
A lot of EU funded projects in the field of ICT and ageing have delivered good pilots to
address specific challenges faced by older people and their carers, but more long to
medium research is needed to:
1
-
Offer opportunities for relevant stakeholders (including end-users) to coproduce ICT-supported comprehensive solutions to empower older frail people to
live independently and participate in society autonomously, not focussing
exclusively on robotics for home support but also developing integrated models that
help older people get out of their home, move around their community safely and
easily, keep contact with their social networks and participate in normal daily
activities outside of their homes. Isolation has increased a lot in particular among
the 75+ (the Fondation de France has just released a study on isolation that shows
a sharp increase since 20101). This is due mainly to unsupportive environments that
prevent older people from remaining involved in their communities;
-
Identify and/or develop cost-efficient models of ICT-supported age-friendly
environments, i.e. public spaces, intelligent buildings, transport systems,
information/communcation systems, homes and long-term-care settings, etc. and
assess their social-economic benefits on the short, medium and long term;
-
Identify and/or develop ICT-based tools and services to assist older people’s
mobility, i.e. trip planning, driving and parking assistance, orientation in complex
environments;
-
Identify and/or develop cost-efficient ICT-supported healthcare ecosystems,
i.e. health monitoring systems (home-based health condition monitoring systems,
wearable, portable and implantable multi-sensor systems, living status monitoring
systems), intervention tools (intelligent tools and systems for healthcare and
http://www.fondationdefrance.org/Nos-Actions/Aider-les-personnes-vulnerables/En-France/La-Fondation-deFrance-agit-contre-les-solitudes
-
-
-
-
-
-
assistance, ICT based innovative therapeutic approaches) and health-promoting
interventions (ICT-based exercise assistance, prescription reminders);
Identify and/or develop innovations to expand older people capabilities (e.g.
intelligent tools and services to compensate cognitive impairments, rehabilitation
and physical compensation tools and services, assistive robots and automation
systems);
Identify barriers preventing older people from getting better engaged with
mHealth in ways that are meaningful for them and empower older people and their
carers to take a more active role in prevention and health management.
Demonstrate how ICT-based innovative models can improve both the quality
and sustainability of the health, social and long-term care while tackling ethical, data
protection and privacy issues;
Identify and develop ICT innovation that foster trans-sectorial support for
personal health and establish collaborative environments (in/formal care networks,
collaborative care services) to support integrated health and social care pathways in
order to prevent, detect frailty at an early stage and support active and healthy
ageing and independent living;
Use new technologies to enhance meaningful involvement of end-users: the
wider use of new technologies and social media is changing the way users can be
involved for their own benefit and for that of others, opening new horizons (e.g.
citizens mapping services in their neighbourhood through their smartphone).
Better understand the link between digital exclusion and health inequalities
and how this can be tackled.
Research on potential new funding sources for the deployment of ICT based
solutions supporting active and healthy ageing: public authorities, individuals
concerned, social insurers, private insurers, PPP, pension funds, crowdfunding, etc.
2. What are the most urgent short term ICT related innovation challenges and the
expected opportunities in this domain (from a societal, individual, ICT, financial,
organisational point of view)?
In the short term, action is needed to help bring research outcomes closer to the market
by:
-
Offering on-going opportunities for matching offer and demand that are open to all
stakeholders (not just through annual fora) and financial support to the public
authorities or other stakeholders that want to deploy new ICT innovations. Many
innovative ICT based solutions are supported by valid research but other
stakeholders have to be mobilised to move from research into innovation that is
-
-
-
applied and scaled up. This can only be achieved if offer and demand can meet
together and stakeholders receive incentives to apply innovative tools and services;
Developing novel business models that integrate services based on multistakeholder collaboration (care ecosystems). Integral to these model should be a
focus on accountability, quality of service, standards interoperability and
sustainability of the collaborative ecosystem;
Developing new organisational models that improve the coordination among
stakeholders working in the ICT, social and health sector and end users;
Providing support to end-users to build their capacity of to contribute to the
development of scalable solutions that are easy to use, reliable and make sense to
older people and their carers (an essential condition for take-up) in particular action
that promote the concept of Design-for-All;
Looking for innovation beyond the area of care and cure to tackle all areas of
daily life where ICT related innovation can bring great support to active and healthy
ageing, i.e. adaptation or creation of built environment accessible to all, enabling
environments thanks to ICT embedded solutions, intelligent and accessible public
transport, e-government and public services provision that are adapted to the needs
of older people and their carers, support to social participation, life-long learning
and cultural activities, innovation to adapt the work environment to senior workers
(employment of 50+ is one of the key challenge today to lower down the pressure of
social protection budget. In parallel to social/financial measures that can support
senior workers, it is important as well to tackle the question of the working
environment and fin new working conditions that enhance the wellbeing, health and
safety of older workers, increase the efficiency of health and healthcare systems
through the use of interoperable ICT-enabled solutions and data exchange,
enhance the coordination of health and social care services and support the
prevention of falls, the early identification of frailty and the management of
polymorbidity; support informal caregiving and prevent informal carers’ burnout and
management of stressful situation through the use of ICT solutions.
3. Are there specific supporting measures needed to underpin the overall set of
activities?
-
Support the further development of the Covenant on Demographic Change that will
be framed and launched in the framework of the AFE-INNOVNET project funded
under the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP), to create a long-term
structure where the demand side, ie local and regional authorities and older people,
can meet the offer side, i.e. industry, innovation incubators, and researchers, to
support the scaling up of innovative solutions for age-friendly environments
-
Facilitate the uptake of standardisation deliverables that increase ICT
interoperability and a large scale uptake of ICT based solutions, as well as the
transfer of research results into standardisation.
4. Are there areas of activities that would benefit from direct support to SMEs?
This can include also use of SME instruments.
-
-
Above mentioned areas would benefit from direct support to SMEs by enabling
them to build partnership with local and regional authorities around the creation of
age-friendly environments that are adapted to the local context.
Specific instruments targeting SMEs and/or eligibility criteria requiring involvement
of SMEs as well as specific support for SMEs to get their product to market
(capacity building) should be available, such as B2B activities.