A new international network launched to bridge the gap between research and market-ready innovation A new living lab designed for AAL projects is being launched at the AAL Forum 2016. The IBH Living Lab AAL is a new international network of universities, social services and technology providers who are collaborating to facilitate active and assisted living for people who feel excluded from social and economic life due to physical or psychological restraints associated with ageing. The group is looking to assist these people by developing individually customised ambient technologies designed to support and enhance the work of professional and informal carers.    The IBH Living Lab AAL will offer a holistic infrastructure for research and development in the area of...Read More

AAL Smart Ageing Challenge Prize Finalists – Anne. Anne: Your personal assistant The caring face of the Internet of Things Anne is a virtual personal assistant developed in the Netherlands, who uses the power of the internet to help care for the elderly at home. Now, the friendly computer face that is able to hold a conversation, carry out simple commands and remind you to do certain tasks like call your family, has been nominated for a major award, funded by the EU, for the most innovative system that uses the Internet of Things (IoT). The prestigious award is the first ever Active and Assisted Living (AAL) Smart Ageing Challenge Prize, which is awarding €50,000 for the best product or...Read More

AAL Smart Ageing Challenge Prize Finalists – SightPlus. Innovation for visually impaired UK company creates sight enhancement kit that allows partially sighted people to see again Software for head-mounted wearables has the potential to transform the lives of millions of blind and visually impaired people across the world. Nowadays, we are spoilt for choice with books, magazine, binge-worthy tv shows, and YouTube tutorials on how to do literally everything. This is our culture, so shouldn’t everyone have equal opportunity to access it? UK Company GiveVision believes that they should. To help make this a reality they have created a sight enhancement kit called SightPlus. SightPlus is a wearable, hands-free, vision-enhancement application powering smart glasses to assist visually impaired people. The app enables...Read More

AAL Smart Ageing Challenge Prize Finalists – Visual Assistant. Visual assistant for the visually impaired Smart device screens tailored to your eye condition to enable you to see – reconnect to community, culture, learning and relaxation. The Visual Assistant has been designed to help visually impaired users to adapt the presentation of the outside world optimally to the working parts of their visual system. This allows them to understand and interpret what is in front of them, whether this is a TV, smartphone, tablet, or when navigating in buildings or outdoor environments. By magnifying subtle visual information around the contours of objects, the program is able to uncover unseen clues about shapes and expose hidden edges – enriching the image...Read More

AAL Smart Ageing Challenge Prize Finalists – RIOT Revolutionising care using the Internet of Things British company shortlisted for prestigious EU award for system that connects and protects the elderly through the Internet Alcove is a British company looking to use the power of the Internet to revolutionise care for the elderly – and it has just been shortlisted for a major award, funded by the EU, for the most innovative system that uses the Internet of Things (IoT). The prestigious award is the first ever Active and Assisted Living (AAL) Challenge Prize, which is awarding €50,000 for the best product or idea that uses IoT to empower older adults to achieve the quality of life to which they aspire,...Read More

AAL Smart Ageing Challenge Prize Finalists – Ubiquid Never lose anything again thanks to the internet Father and son French company that uses the internet of things to connect the belongings of people in retirement homes to the internet – even their teeth – to prevent them getting lost, is shortlisted for a €50,000 Challenge Prize French company Ubiquid has taken the concept of the internet of things quite literally with its new service designed specifically for retirement homes – even connecting people’s dentures to the world wide web. The innovative start-up, which was started by a father and son who were concerned about their mother/grandmother in a care home, has devised a system that connects all residents’ belongings to...Read More

Talkitt makes it possible for people with speech disabilities to communicate and be understood using their own voice  Talkitt’s speech recognition technology translates the unintelligible sounds of people with motor, speech or cognitive disabilities into clear speech in real time. Unlike other AAC devices which can prove to be bulky, expensive and stigmatizing, the Talkitt mobile app (under development) is easily downloadable from the AppStore and can be used on any smart phone or tablet hereby addressing the communication challenges faced by millions of people by enabling them to interact using their own voices in real time. Talkitt’s technological innovation lies in its capacity to familiarise itself with an individual’s unique speech, making no assumptions about the speaker’s phonology. This...Read More

AAL Smart Ageing Challenge Prize Finalists – RelaxedCare RelaxedCare: A cube that cares New system provides easy way to care and communicate with loved ones in need Informal caregiving is often a stressful role to take on, but the team behind the RelaxedCare System don’t believe that it has to be. Instead of continuously worrying about a loved one’s wellbeing and constantly checking in, this novel technology aims to connect informal caregivers with assisted persons via an intuitive, user-friendly device to eliminate undue concern.  The RelaxedCare System is about conveying information, allaying fears and connecting users. Sensors in the assisted person’s home calculate their wellbeing state which is displayed as a colour on a cubed device, the main component of...Read More

AAL Smart Ageing Challenge Prize Finalists – Tavla TAVLA: A new app platform to enable care for older adults Innovative platform provides new app development process to allow people of different limitations to use technology TAVLA is a new app platform for seniors and disabled people that improves their quality of life and enables them to stay longer and self-determined at home. TAVLA empowers care providers to develop apps for their services and reach their customers more easily. This increases the quality of life and security of older adults in their beloved homes. Due to the innovative interaction model of TAVLA the usability of apps is much more intuitive and can be personalised. This innovative and standardised interaction model has...Read More

AAL Smart Ageing Challenge Prize Finalists – AlzhUp An app to fight Alzheimer’s Inventor with personal experience of Alzheimer’s shortlisted for major prize for AlzhUp, a system developed to delay the effects of dementia Dementia is a condition that affects more and more people across the globe and the numbers are only going to increase, particularly with those suffering with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Alzheimer’s currently accounts for 80 per cent of all dementia cases and more than 47 million people are suffering with it worldwide. That figure is set to double by the year 2050. As well as being a medical challenge, Alzheimer’s is also an economic issue. On average, each patient costs the average...Read More