This year, the AAL Forum is offering participants the mouth-watering opportunity to taste the wine and cuisine from the Centro de Portugal region at the forum’s very own Schist Village. Did you know? Rabaçal’s cheese originates in the area of Penela. Its taste and aroma is unique due to Penela’s pastures being rich in thyme. Curiosities like these will all be brought to life at the Schist Village where presentations, tastings and hands-on practicals will be waiting to be savoured and experienced for a real slice of Portugal. Centro de Portugal is renowned for its exquisite food, combining flavours from the sea with those from the mountains. Fresh seafood, juicy sun-ripened fruits, free-range forest pork and meadow grazing lamb are just a...Read More
Research scientists at University College London, University of East Anglia and ETH Zurich have been working with computer game developers Glitchers to transform a smartphone app into a virtual reality (VR) game to enable some of the most detailed investigations into dementia, reports the BBC. At the end of 2016 at the Neuroscience conference, scientists presented findings from the world’s largest dementia research experiment. The game has indicated the ability to spot declines in an individual throughout their life and spot the early signs of Alzheimer’s. Nearly three million-people downloaded the game, Sea Hero Quest, which is a nautical adventure whereby players captain a boat and have the challenge of using their sense of direction to chart a course, memorise...Read More
The Active and Assisted Living Programme is organising its second investors’ event to be hosted during the AAL Forum, in the framework of its new AAL Market Observatory initiative. This invitation-only Investors’ Event will take place on Tuesday 3 October at 14:00-15:30, and will offer seven dynamic young companies with credible solutions for ageing the opportunity to present their work to investors. AAL Director, Klaus Niederlander will be opening the event by introducing and welcoming everyone before attendees have the chance to network and discuss potential business opportunities. A new framework, AAL Market Observatory is a project that will run until December 2018 and aims to contribute to communication and dissemination activities of market and investment trends, events and new...Read More
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AAL Exhibition Award
This year, the AAL Forum is offering exhibitors the chance to win the prestigious AAL Exhibition Award 2017 by promoting and reinforcing the commitment of involving and engaging end-users in the AAL community with their exhibitor stand. This fun event is open to all registered exhibitors and will see them be put through their paces as they conduct a presentation, no longer than seven minutes in length, to four different groups of end-user organisations on how they are targeting the goal of end-user interest with their developments and products. Presentations are going to be evaluated and marked by the end-users visiting the forum using an on-site questionnaire that will gather their thoughts on each exhibition stand, however, the complete evaluation method is yet to be released. How this will run is that over the two days of the forum, end-user organisations will be divided into...Read More
AAL Forum 2017 are offering students and over 65s tickets to the conference at excellent reduced rates. Taking place in the enchanting city of Coimbra, home to Portugal’s greatest university and one of the oldest in the world, the AAL Forum 2017 is celebrating the large student population – which makes up almost a third of the city’s 100,000-strong population – by offering tickets to students at fantastic reduced rates. The University of Coimbra is particularly popular with technology and science students and boasts the largest science faculty in the country. AAL would like to open its doors to as many of Coimbra’s students, and those from far and wide, as possible to be a part of the exciting innovation...Read More
Bringing with her the perspective and knowledge of a first-hand career, Brigitte Bührlen, founder and chair of We! Foundation of Caring Relatives, is sure to provide an interesting perspective during her plenary one presentation at the AAL Forum 2017. Brigitte looked after her mother, who suffered from dementia, for 20 years. After moving into her parent’s home, together with her husband and three children, the challenges became too much of a strain on all the family and they accepted professional care. After the death of her mother, in 2010 Brigitte founded We! Foundation following years of directing self-help groups of caring relatives. The purpose of the foundation is twofold. Firstly, there is the side that promotes and encourages carers to...Read More
A melody that expresses the Portuguese spirit, veiled in yearning and sweet melancholy yet tinged with joy and hope, fado is one of Europe’s most beautiful musical styles and is still traditionally celebrated in the cities of Coimbra and Lisbon. The music genre originated in Portugal in the early 1800s but only began to appear in Lisbon after 1830 before finally finding a popular rhythm in the early 1900s and one that is still followed today. Literally meaning ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’, fado uses mandolins and a Portuguese 12-string guitar to accompany one singer, creating the pained melody that draws the listener in as it seeps through the streets. Whilst Lisbon’s fado is considered the more well-known style, Coimbra has its...Read More
There is still time to register a booth as an exhibitor at this year’s AAL Forum in the beautifully historic town of Coimbra, Portugal. The event provides an unmissable opportunity for exhibitors to show the most innovative, creative and vital technological advances in active ageing in Europe. And we want you to register now! By booking now we will give your business, ideas, and product developments excellent coverage on the AAL website. Your story will be posted as part of a weekly exhibitor’s news report and it will remain a prominent feature on the website, situated in the new exhibitor’s page. This two day forum will provide you with the chance to allow others to get a closer look at...Read More
Recent results published by Newcastle University, UK, show that the number of care home places for the country’s most frail will need to increase by a third within a decade. To cope with the increased rise in life expectancy, the study suggests that assistive technology could provide the early intervention essential for delaying the onset of disabling diseases and conditions. The study, published in The Lancet, revealed an extra 71,215 care home places will be needed by 2025, from a total of about 220,000 places in 2015. It goes on to show that over the past 20 years, life expectancy has continued to increase, but this does not mean that the extra years have necessarily been healthy. Approximately one more...Read More