Access For All

The VAALID EU project would like to invite you to the workshop “VAALIDate your AAL experience!” in Florence, Italy, on the 3rd of November 2009, from 15h to 17h. The Workshop aims at presenting and discussing the work carried out in the framework of VAALID project to develop method and tools to help designers to create and evaluate Ambient Assisted Living solutions. The workshop will take place at the Palazzo degli Affari in Florence, as a side-event of the OASIS 1st International Conference held in Florence 4th and 5th of November.

Key Dates
Registration free, until 30th of October 2009

For more details and registration please email us at msalaso@itaca.upv.es.

VAALID project aims at creating new tools and methods that facilitate and streamline the process of creation, design, construction and deployment of technological solutions in the context of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) assuring that they are accessible and usable for senior citizens.

Anatomy of a SOCIABLE Care Centre – Supported Services

This new approach will build upon three tested technological pillars, which have proven therapeutical value, namely: (a) Novel perceptive mixed reality interfaces based on multi-touch surfaces, (b) An open platform for cognitive training games development, which allows the flexible creation and customization of cognitive training games and (c) “Profiling” and social “matching” capabilities boosting social networking and interaction between aged individuals.

SOCIABLE will be piloted with the participation of 350 senior citizens in 7 different pilot sites (TRONDHEIM Kommune, Hygeia Hospital, Morgagni Pierantoni Hospital, Municipality of Forlì, Social Policy Center of the Municipality of Kifissia, Santa Lucia Foundation and PREVI S.L) from 4 European countries (Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain).

Overall, SOCIABLE will integrate, deploy and operate an innovative ICT-enabled on-line service for assessing and accordingly reinforcing the mental state of the elderly through pleasant gaming activities for cognitive training, while at the same time boosting their social networking and activating their day-to-day interpersonal interactions. SOCIABLE is envisaged as a service with high potential for societal impact that could add significant value to current service offerings of care services providers. Furthermore, it is associated with a clear business potential for sustainability and wider use by care service providers within (but also outside of) the SOCIABLE consortium.

SOCIABLE is a pilot type B project supported by the ICT-PSP Programme of the European Commission
Duration: 36 Months
Project number: 238891
Project web site: www.sociable-project.eu

In her speech on the new European digital agenda of 1st October Commissioner Reding addressed e-accessibility and web accessibility.

She said: “… We cannot achieve the Single Market by leaving aside certain parts of our population. I am talking about e-accessibility: 15% of our population is disabled and our rules on accessibility are still fragmented. Each Member State is going its own way. We have to consider that this is costly for industry because they have to respond to a wide range of fragmented national standards. It also leaves disabled people without a consistent level of service that they can expect. What should we do? We should in my view encourage the European-wide adoption of the global web accessibility standard, the new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. We should do it together and in step so that the online services industry can reap economies of scale and the users get a decent and reliable framework. I believe the way we should do this is to develop together with stakeholders a European Disability Act.”

Read the full speech.

Services based on ICT technologies are already part of everyday life in Europe. However, the complexity and novelty of many new devices and services run the risk of rendering the majority of older people unable to use them. At the same time, research has shown that a large segment of older people in Europe can be offered Ambient Assisted Living services which radically improve their quality of life. This has been made possible by recent developments in ambient intelligence and new abilities of software systems to communicate with users in a similar way to “person-to-person” interaction.

The Conference is organised by the SOPRANO project consortium. It aims to explore Ambient Assisted Living concepts by bringing together experts from academia and industry to discuss AAL application design, user involvement, technologies and market potential. In addition, participants will be able to present their work through posters and will have the chance to visit the SOPRANO smart home, where technologies developed within the project are presented.

The conference will take place at the Evoluon Conference Centre in Eindhoven, Netherlands, as a side-event of the “Beurs Domotica & Slim Wonen” annual exhibition.

Key Dates
Early Registration: 6 November 2009
Poster submission: 23 October 2009
“Beurs Domotica & Slim Wonen” Exhibition: 18-19 November 2009
SOPRANO conference presentations: 19 November 2009
Visits to SOPRANO Smart Home: 20 November 2009

More information on the project website.

On 7th October during the European Open Days, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and AGE launched a joint brochure to help local and regional actors make better use of the European tools and instruments to promote ageing well in Europe. The brochure was introduced by Cllr. Constance Hannify, President of the ECOS Commission of the CoR, Mr Lambert Van Nistelroiij, MEP, and Mrs Anne-Sophie Parent, AGE’s director.
The report of the launch event is available by clicking here.
The brochure is available in English, French and German on AGE’s website.

The Commission adopted on 29 April its 2009 Communication on Ageing. The Communication identifies as one of the key policy priorities the promotion of new services and products to serve ageing populations and encourages the introduction of technology in long-term care.
The Commission Communication takes an in-depth look at the economic and budgetary impact of an ageing population over the long-term until 2060.
More information (including the accompanying Ageing Report) can be found here.
Source: e-Inclusion Newsletter – 30/04/2009