Medcom

CCE

CCE (Connected Care for Elderly Persons suffering from Dementia) supports the development of connected ICT-based ambient assisted living (AAL) solutions for the elderly. The aim of the project is to develop and pilot a cost effective, scalable European platform which will cover telehealth, telecare and home automation solutions, supported by the investigation of business models, and ethical and legal barriers.

Much has been done in Europe through the past century to raise the awareness of the challenges, caused by the increasing number of elderly people and the ageing of the population. Scores of research groups have formed with the objective to research in the related fields. But an integrating systemic approach is still missing. There are too many isolated assistive living pilots in Europe based on propriety systems which results in a very small and fragmented market and lead to a lack of software developed on open standards which, on the other hand, are the preconditions of plug and play devices for assistive living solutions. There are other significant barriers, too.

Focus of CCE will be on dementia sufferers, but the platform will offer the potential to be extended to other chronic conditions. The project covers identification of user needs, the development of technical solutions and piloting, backed by end-to-end business models to facilitate their delivery across the EU by building on initiatives at the national level and, taking account of different funding mechanisms in EU member states (Social insurance-based; Germany and Hungary, private insurance-based; Netherlands and taxation-based; UK), to develop and assess business models to support the mainstream provision of assistive solutions.

Visions and Objectives of the Project

  1. Identifying user requirements for sufferers of dementia to ensure that the development of mainstream assistive technologies for elderly people is orientated towards users needs and lifestyles, and to understand barriers to use.

  2. Establishing performance requirements for interoperable technology solutions for assistive living provision.

  3. Developing selected ICT-based hardware solutions for dementia.

  4. Developing software solutions for assisted living for dementia sufferers in the home and outside.

  5. Developing a health hub to integrate assistive living solutions for both in-home and roaming use.

  6. Carrying out pilot studies to demonstrate and assess the application of ICT-enabled assistive technologies in real situations. The results will be used to identify barriers and develop guidance.

  7. Assessing non-technical barriers to the mainstreaming of assistive technologies for the prevention and management of chronic conditions of elderly people (ethical, political, socio-economic, legal.

The main focus of Medcoms participation is the development of an ‘intelligent pillbox’ for persons with dementia.

http://www.aal-europe.eu/calls/funded-projects-call-1/cce

http://www.dapforum.org/page.jsp?id=27

German Partners

  • Fraunhofer IGD, Fraunhofer IESE, (RTO, research,software)

  • UID (industrial, design, interaction)

  • MedCom (industrial, hardware)

Partners Europe

United Kingdom:

  • Building Research Establishment (RTO, research and Consulting,)

  • Hereward College (research, Health, Education)

  • Centrihealth (industrial, research, Software)

  • PeverelGroup (care home provider)

The Netherlands:

  • Philips (industrial, sensor technology)

Hungary:

  • Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Biomedical Engineering Knowledge Centre (education, research, medical science)

  • Mohe: Hungarian Association of Home Care and Hospice (association, user)

  • Innomed Medical Inc. (industrial, device manufacturer)
     

The project is scheduled to last for a total of 3 years. Parts of the funding is provided by the EU and - in case of Germany - by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung.