Under the headline of “Demographic Change perceived as a Chance” the programme fosters research and development activities for ICT based products and services enhancing the quality of life of older persons. Older adults shall be supported in living autonomously and as long as possible at home. For reaching this goal, new business models, marketing concepts and value chains shall be stimulated.

Further aims of the programme benefit are:

• Improving the competitiveness and networking of Austrian research, economy and social and health care service institutions within the thematic focus of the programme, through cooperation and involving end-users, also in the international context;

• Training of highly qualified researchers;
• Improving the usability of developed, innovative ICT based products and services for end-users;

• Improving the acceptance of ambient assisted living.

The programme benefit fosters innovation and application oriented projects in cooperation between enterprises, research organisations, institutions providing health and social care services as well as end-users (primary, secondary, tertiary end-users). The types of funded projects are cooperative projects, stimulation projects (e.g. studies, workshops) and scholarships for doctoral students.

The time-to-market perspective of the projects ranges between one to three years.

Calls for proposals

The first call in the programme benefit was launched in November 2007 with a focus on “ICT based Solutions for Advancement of Active Ageing”. Two calls followed in 2008. The total call budget for 2008 amounted to 5.4 Mio € and 21 projects were funded. On 15 May  2009 the fourth call for proposals closed. The jury will be held on 15 July 2009.

Opening of the fifth call for proposals

It is planned to open the fifth call for proposals in benefit in September 2009. The launch event shall take place within the first AAL Forum on 30 September 2009. The call shall close in November.

Similar to the WHO definition of active ageing, the Austrian programme benefit defines active ageing as a process enhancing the quality of life of individuals by reaching the maximum access to participation / social integration, security and health.

Thematic clusters within that focus are:

• Social inclusion (e.g. including information, creation of networks)
• Activities within and outside the home environment (including tourism, fitness etc.)
• Comfort and security (e.g. including smart homes)

The main target group in terms of primary end-users of products and services to be developed is the large group of older persons in (relatively) good mental and physical health who have a more or less active lifestyle. Focussing on active ageing is deemed to be promising for the programme benefit. Business cases for the mostly self-deciding, active older persons are easier to be established than for other segments of older persons. This should encourage industry to target this new market. People are willing to pay for good products and services that really meet their needs and add value to their lives.  But it is also true that the programme might endorse the use of technologies also in care situations or when persons are facing major limitations to their mobility etc. by addressing active ageing in the calls. Thus people can befriend technologies when they do not need them, but use them for their fun and comfort aspects.

Meeting real customers’ needs, targeting appropriate market segment as well as the usability and design of products are important success factors addressing older persons.

Evaluation process

Typically, each proposal is remotely evaluated by at least three experts and later on discussed during the panel meeting. The criteria against which proposals are being evaluated are:

1 Quality of proposed activity

• Technical and scientific quality / Innovation

• Technical and scientific challenge, methods and dissemination
• Project management and resources
  
  

2 Relevance of the proposed activity: contribution to the aims of the programme

•  Improvement of usability

• End-users involvement
• Ethical aspects
• Inter- and transdisciplinarity
• R&D aspects

3 Suitabiliy of applicants / partners

• Enterprises, social and health care providers (including end-users organisations)
• Research partners
• Consortium & cooperation

• Market prospects

• Exploitation

Ethical aspects

Including end-users into projects may arise ethical issues to be tackled upon. Therefore ethical aspects are an important issue during the evaluation process. Successful benefit projects succeeded in handling very well the end-users involvement. Starting with the third call for proposals submitting an “informed consent” has become a prerequisite when involving primary end-users in a project.

A) Health@Home

Health@Home is a 34 months cooperative project, the funding amounts to 257.622 €, the funding rate is 60%. The coordinator of the project is Fachhochschule Kärnten.

The goal of the project Health@Home is to develop a home-based computer supported training system for elderly people which is on the one hand effective while still being very user-friendly. On the other hand it shall provide the attending physicians and therapists the possibility to continuously monitor the training progress to base their further medical decisions (Decision Support System). The system will be implemented and executed in the framework of a pilot study consisting of 70 up to 90 end-users under clinical observation.

The expansion of the proposed system including recognition and data capturing of exercise movements in targeted training programs is planned in an international framework. With this system it will be possible to control complex training programs and, as such, provide more advanced feedback to the end-users.

B) VitaliShoe

Vitalishoe is a 30 months cooperative project. The funding amounts to 225.961 €, the funding rate is 60%. The coordinator is the company CEIT RALTEC.

Within the project VITALIshoe a computer and smart-textile-based system will be developed that allows the unassisted control of levels for balance, risk of falls and activity and provides the user with an appropriate exercise programme. This project aims to increase the physical level of activity in a well directed and professional way and thereby enhance the quality of daily life for older adults.

In order to meet the needs and wishes of the end-user, the project will be carried out with a high degree of user involvement. Potential users – older persons, nursing staff and medical experts – will iteratively be involved in the development process right from the beginning to the end of the project. The aim of this user-centered approach is to develop a near-to-market prototype.

Programme Management
Dr Gerda Geyer
Gerda.geyer@ffg.at
Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

Programme Owner
Dipl.Phys. Kerstin Zimmermann
Kerstin.zimmermann@bmvit.gv.at
Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT)