The AAL Joint Programme will launch the third Call for Proposals with the topic “ICT based solutions for Advancement of Older Persons’ Independence and Participation in the “Self-Serve Society”.
The core of the AAL Joint Programme is to provide innovative ICT based solutions to elderly persons, which means innovative products, systems or services addressing identified wishes and needs of the end-users. Projects funded under the AAL Joint Programme will be multinational, collaborative and cost-shared. Funding contracts of individual project partners will be concluded with the relevant national funding authority. The AAL JP is a demand-driven R&D funding programme for innovative ICT-based solutions (products, services, and systems) for ageing well. Improving the quality of life, autonomy, participation in social life, skills, and employability of older people is the main goal of the AAL program, while improving service delivery and reducing care costs are secondary targets.
AAL projects should address major issues associated with a market introduction of 2-3 years after finalisation of the project.
Objective of the Call
Previous calls by the AAL JP have targeted specific application areas. Call 1 asked for proposals on “ICT-based solutions for prevention and management of chronic health conditions of elderly people”, while Call 2 asked for “ICT-based solutions advancement of social interaction of elderly people”. In Call 3, the approach is different, focusing on the structural, pervasive challenges to an ageing population when society requires mastery of technology of all citizens: ”ICT-based Solutions for Advancement of Older Persons’ Independence and Participation in the “Self-serve Society”. The application areas in call 3 are explained below.
AAL JP is based on article 169 in the European Union Treaty and supported by 23 Member and associated Member States. Proposals for funding from the AAL JP should have an explicit European dimension, aiming at solutions which are adaptable across Europe and addressing end-user needs that are transnational and European in character. Cultural, organisational, and market diversity is important also for the development and uptake of ICT-solutions. Proposals are encouraged to include variations along these dimensions - including in the piloting activities.
A “self-serve society” is rapidly developing also in Europe. This represents both benefits and challenges to citizens as well as providers, public and private. Goods and services can now be accessed and transactions completed by way of digital solutions. Opportunities for individual choice and personalization of products, services and the transaction itself to the demands and desires of consumers and citizens is becoming more common, sometimes even mandated (e.g. through legislation on accessibility). The trend is evident both in commercial, cultural and public services. This represents a positive development for suppliers as well as clients, with lower costs and greater flexibility. For some, however, the ICT-based self-serve society presents problems, in particular for older people with impairments or little or no familiarity with technology. Solutions which increase independence and efficiency for experienced technology users, threatens others with exclusion and loss of independence. These societal concerns form the context for Call 3.
This call will fund proposals for innovative ICT-solutions that enable older people to:
- Preserve and enhance independence and dignity in all aspects of daily life
- Take active part in the self-serve society
- Stimulate and support the capacities required for such participation (e.g. mobility, physical, and cognitive)
Relevant application areas in Call 3 are
- Home environment and related activities of daily living – at home, on holiday, in visits (“mobile enabled solutions”)2.
- Transportation and travel activities
In any application area, innovation of ICT-based solutions must take into account the following challenges:
- Improvement of older people‟s access to, acceptance, trust, and use of services provided through ICT-based solutions.
- Improvement of user interfaces and the usability of devices and solutions for older people, based on design for all-principles as far as possible.
- Enabling customization to individual needs and wishes of elderly people of the total service chain involving different providers, channels, methods, and market segments.
- Integration of new ICT-based solutions to be provided by existing (or new) service providers, channels or market segments, and adapted for seniors.
Ambient Assisted Living Roadmap
The Ambient Assisted Living Roadmap is produced by the European Ambient Assisted Living Innovation Alliance, funded under the 7th European Framework Programme. In the first chapter new developing trends in AAL are looked at from different perspectives and barriers to their implementation are discussed. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the application domains; AAL4persons (Chapter 2), AAL@community (Chapter 3), AAL@work (Chapter 4) and a detailed presentation of the enabling technologies - sensing, reasoning, acting, interaction and communication - (Chapter 5). The final chapter presents a way to set up an AAL system (Chapter 6). This results in a document that can be considered as the technology roadmap for AAL.
Meer lezen: http://www.booksonline.iospress.nl/Content/View.aspx?piid=16213 [1]
This funding activity is commonly implemented by the AAL Association and its members that are national funding organisations in actual 20 European Member States (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and 3 Associated States: Israel, Norway and Switzerland [Switzerland still subject of formal accession].
Consortium composition of at least 3 independent eligible organizations (legal entities), from at least 3 different AAL Partner States participating in the Call for Proposals
- Consortium must include at least one eligible business partner
- Consortium must include at least one eligible SME partner which can be the business partner
- Consortium must include at least one eligible end-user organization
- Size of the consortium: 3 - 10 partners
Eligible for funding are only organisations that are explicitly included in the national eligibility criteria (available from the Call website). It is highly recommended to consult with the AAL National Contact Persons (NCP) prior to submission of a proposal.
Project partners may include businesses and organisations not requesting funding. This includes organisations ineligible for funding according to national rules or residing outside an AAL Partner State4. Such organizations may be associated to the project without funding from the AAL Joint Programme, but they cannot be crucial for the project‟s implementation and they will not be taken into consideration when assessing the project proposal against the eligibility criteria and project characteristics stated above.
The AAL Joint Programme is initially set up for a duration from 2008 to 2013. The programme´s planned total budget is 700 M€, of which approx. 50% is public funding - from the AAL Partner States and the European Commission - and approx. 50% is private funding from participating private organisations (e.g. enterprises).
The public funding consists of contributions of the national programmes of the AAL Partner States (this funding is only granted to the successful project partners residing in the respective Partner State) and that of the European Community. The EC financial contribution amounts to a maximum of 150 M€ for the duration of the AAL Joint Programme.
Maximum funding from the AAL Joint Programme: 3 M€.
Meer lezen: http://www.aal-europe.eu/calls/aal-call-3-2010 [2]
Contact in Vlaanderen:
De Vusser Frederik
IWT
Bischoffsheimlaan 25
1000 Brussel
T 022090963
E fdv@iwt.be [3]
http://www.europrogs.be/wiezijnwij/wie-is-wie/frederik-de-vusser [4]