This workshop is focused on bringing together developers and investors to listen, share and discuss ideas for growing and transforming the AAL market in Europe and identify solutions for effective deployment.  

Paul Simmonds, director at Technopolis Ltd. and Kristine Farla a consultant, will be bringing to the workshop their expertise from Technopolis Group, commissioned by the AAL Programme to support the setup of a new AAL Market Observatory till December 2018. Based on this research, which includes annual reports on market and investment information and the organisation and running of various engaging investors events, Simmonds and Farla will present these results and moderate interactive panel discussions and group work. 

Sitting on the expert panel is: Yael Benvenisti from Mediterranean Tower Ventures; Jackie Marshall-Cryrus from Marshall-Cryus; Iñaki Bartolomé from Ideable Solutions; Igor Aristizábal from TECNALIA-Ventures.

QUICK-FIRE Q&A with KRISTINE FARLA

What makes the format of your session different to others?

A short overview of the AAL market will be presented based on work for the AAL Association and the European Commission. An expert panel will then present their ideas for growing and transforming the AAL market in Europe, looking at the challenges and potential strategies for success.

These ideas will be explored further by participants in breakout groups where discussions will focus on identifying solutions for effective deployment and overcoming challenges that developers face. 

Who should attend and why?

The workshop is the perfect place for discussions amongst investors, successful start-ups and experts who are active in the field of AAL, to learn amongst one another the solutions that are likely to yield success.

What will those attending take away?

Speakers and participants will be encouraged to think big and actively propose solutions for an ageing society 10 to 20 years from now. Discussions will look at how to implement the solutions suggested and pinpoint three things the AAL network should start doing to help the deployment of real-life solutions.

ActiveAdvice is a project that aims to deliver a fully-functional ICT environment with specific web and mobile services for older adults and their relatives, as well as professionals, in inclusive design and construction engineering across Europe. Within the ActiveAdvice project, it is argued that articulation between the real and the virtual world is necessary for the advisory services in the AAL field, as a means to improve the user’s experience. 

The concept of an Authorised Active Advisor was created to tackle this issue and be the human addition to the electronic ActiveAdvice platform. An Authorised Active Advisor can be conceptualised as the mediator between AAL providers and consumers, helping users make informed decisions, overcome the fear of isolation and enhance their trust in AAL advice.

The workshop will follow a short introduction presentation on lessons learned from the project, identification of values through interactive participation activities, group role play simulation of an Authorised Active Advisor before the closing summary session discussing participants’ involvement and their impact on the ActiveAdvice project.

Daniel Heery, CEO of Cybermoore, will be running the workshop, along with the help of Diogo Abrantes, Rita Tavares de Sousa and Soraia Teles all from CINTESIS, Diotima Bertel from SYNYO and Alain Denis from Yellow Window.

Daniel Heery

Innovative approaches, methods and solutions, including social innovations and ICT, are essential if society is to support and enable people to live independently and to remain physically and mentally active as they age. In particular, age-friendly environments and ICT play an important role in preventing or delaying the onset of disease and functional decline and therefore the engagement of caregivers is essential.

Coordinated by Willeke van Staalduinen co-founder of AFEdemy and Gil Goncalves, chief scientific officer at INOVA+, the workshop will be chaired by Javier Ganzarain co-founder of AFEdemy. Inma Uzkudun from Grupo SSI will open the session by presenting the citizens’ view and together with Carina Dantas, Innovation director of Cáritas Coimbra, Ana Luísa Jegundo, project manager at Cáritas Coimbra and Raquel Sousa head of unit at INOVA+ they will be bringing their expertise to actively involve participants on how to achieve affordable, large-scale, smart, age-friendly environments in Europe, and how to improve the engagement of caregivers.

QUICK-FIRE Q&A with WILLEKE VAN STAALDUINEN

What makes the format of your session different to others?

After opening the session from a citizen’s point of view on smart, healthy, age-friendly environments, and the role of caregivers, half of the session will be dedicated to group work. A prepared table for individual comments, validation and prioritisation will be set-up for two groups to discuss the theme of the workshop.

Who should attend and why?

We will have developed the joint statement on Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments with draft recommendations to the European Commission (DG Santé) and guidelines to better involve caregivers in the development of ICT solutions.

The opinions of citizens, IT companies, building companies, healthcare providers and public authorities are very welcome to support our messages. The more the merrier.

What are you hoping to achieve and what will those attending take away?

We hope that the joint statement and guidelines will be validated by the audience and that they will take away inspiration and more insight into how to involve people and places in the alignment of technology and the built environment. They will also learn never to forget the role of formal caregivers in the creation and exploitation of ICT.

Willeke van Staalduinen

Gil Goncalves

Javier Ganzarain

Carina Dantas

Ana Luísa Jegundo

Raquel Sousa

Inma Uzkudun

The personal history of people with dementia is a valuable source of information, and the values they have formed in their early adult years are especially important as guiding values for their current behaviour. However, the market for services and products for people with dementia is complicated as a simple business case is often hard to define due to the vast differences in the cases of dementia sufferers.

Leading the workshop will be Marije Blok, innovation project manager at the National Foundation of the Elderly. She has a good overview on the newest developments for this target group and aims to explore with participants the opportunities in business for innovative solutions for people with dementia and their environment.

Participants will also get inspired by Stefan Schürz from LIFEtool, Nina van der Vaart from the National Foundation for the Elderly, Dolf Becx from Consultancy Zorg Giersbergen and Paul Pelsmaeker co-founder of Digitale Zorg, who are involved in projects on dementia in different domains.

Marije Blok

Stefan Schürz

Nina van der Vaart

Dolf Becx

Paul Pelsmaeker