• Addressing challenges

Another major challenge was selling the system’s benefits to all those involved. “We can involve the seniors but in a sense the senior is less easy to convince than the family member,” explains Tizon. “The family member is more likely to say yes to all the benefits, especially if they are affordable, so our software is mainly paid for by the care associations, making the cost to the family small, which is when they buy in. “The family member can try to convince the senior to use it but this is not strictly necessary. The benefit of the platform is that it doesn’t have to necessarily involve the senior directly.”One of the partners involved in ACCESS is APOLOGIC, a software provider for care associations. There are only a few major players in this market in France and APOLOGIC have about 43% of the market share. “we were working with this software provider already so we had to find a way to connect this software provider with the elderly people”

• AAL support

Tizon is grateful to the AAL for being able to take the Access project to where it is now, where the scope of its market is Europe-wide. “If we’d set out without the AAL, then we would have only been able to launch the product in France alone,” he says. “We were able to involve more than 20 care associations as well as carry out detailed profiling of the people who want and will use the product. This has given us a much deeper understanding of the market.” Access is now beginning its first steps into this market, starting the commercialisation of the platform in France, where it hopes to have a solid presence by the end of 2016. The project has set up a start-up company called DOME, which has involved different partners form the consortium and they are currently working on fine-tuning the product to make it ready for the market.

• A tough market

“This is a very difficult market,” admits Tizon. “The people who decide what services to use are the seniors, but they are not always interested or don’t understand the technology. “How we are dealing with this is to contact the people who are already in contact with those seniors and get them on board. It is through these channels that the product will be sold.”

Main Contact

David Tizon
Tel: +33 6 80 32 22 51
Email: david.tizon@cev-sa.com
Web: access-project.org

This is how we help projects delivering social innovation!

We, at the AAL Joint Programme, are seriously committed in helping our projects to go to market so that they can deliver for the good of individuals, society and economy. This is social Innovation.

Success Stories 2015 brochure

Success Stories 2016 brochure

• Achieving scientific validity

“I have always focused on building up the credibility of what we do, so we have put an enormous amount of effort into its clinical validation and into building a reliable technology,” he says. “Right now, we have people training at home and we are working with five different hospitals daily where the system is used. The purpose here is not only to prove the scientific validity of what we do but also to set RGS apart from everything else that’s out there. The company has now developed a solid commercial prototype, has many users and is being successfully used in five major hospitals. As Verschure proudly declares: “It’s not just an idea now; it has been tested, is mature and we are ready to take it to market.”

• Untapped markets

The world’s population of stroke patients and chronic stroke patients is sixty million – a huge potential market. Potential, however, is not enough in the harsh commercial world, which has prompted RGS to take a slower, more organic route to market success, as Verschure explains: “We talked with distributors, commercial partners and investors and it was always all about “but how do I make my money?” I found the differences in expectations here very frustrating. Business people are always working on their spreadsheets to figure out how to make money with minimal risk. I think that’s the wrong attitude and I think reward has to be proportional to risk.”

• Raising the product’s profile

Verschure is now engaged in the process of networking and raising the profile of the RGS system and, if a hospital or stroke care centre hears of the system, they are able to provide the service. But he is thinking longer term, too and about the potential for a more personalised system patients can use in the home environment. “We’re on a mission now,” says Verschure. “AAL fitted in with that mission but this project and its scope.

Main Contact

Paul Verschure
Tel: +34 678 497 289
Email: paul.verschure@upf.edu
Web: www.eodyne.com and www.specs.upf.edu

This is how we help projects delivering social innovation!

We, at the AAL Joint Programme, are seriously committed in helping our projects to go to market so that they can deliver for the good of individuals, society and economy. This is social Innovation.

Success Stories 2015 brochure

Success Stories 2016 brochure

• Perfecting the business model

Brandstötter and his team came from a security and surveillance background, and they are just one of the many groups that have received AAL Programme funding in order to realise their product. “The AAL Programme’s support was essential, and without it we wouldn’t have been able to put so much effort into testing and development.” Besides funding research and development, AAL Programme is now providing support for the business development of their product via the AAL2Business support action. “We are very happy to get this support from AAL Programme and it is helping us a lot to finalise our business model for the Fearless system”

• Powerful partnerships

Fearless tested their product in a community of flats for the older adults, and then teamed up with Toyota Motor Europe’s Production Engineering Advanced Technology Department with a view to taking their product to market. However, it hasn’t all been plain sailing for Fearless. “One draw back at the moment is that the market is quite volatile. There are a lot of companies entering this market and there is not yet a very broad supplier base for these 3D devices,” says Brandstötter.

• Creating a viable product

Brandstötter has some pragmatic advice for those seeking to work in the sector. “It’s best when these projects are driven by companies and they can see some business opportunities in it. You can do it from a research point of view, but is it really a viable product? You need a technology which is not too complex or expensive from an installation point of view.”

Main Contact

Michael Brandstötter
Tel: 0043 1 2360580
Email: brandstoetter@cogvis.at
Web: www.cogvis.at and www.fearless-project.eu

This is how we help projects delivering social innovation!

We, at the AAL Joint Programme, are seriously committed in helping our projects to go to market so that they can deliver for the good of individuals, society and economy. This is social Innovation.

Success Stories 2015 brochure

Success Stories 2016 brochure