33657782 independent living for the ageing society

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EuropeanCommission

InformationSocietya

nd

Media

i2010: Independent Livingfor the Ageing Society


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Linking European Policies

This brochure has been produced by Information Society Policy Link (ISPL), an initiativeof DG Information Society & Media that aims to link information society projects withEuropean policy-makers across a wide range of policy domains.

The initiative has generated information on projects policy contributions andachievements covering around 20 policy areas.This brochure is part of a new series focusingon i2010 themes. In addition, the initiative organises workshops to stimulate dialoguebetween researchers and policy-makers on key policy issues.

All publications plus information on policy workshops and other news are available viathe ISPL website at:http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/policy_link/

i2010:A European Information Society for Growth and Employment

i2010 is Europes answer to the fast-moving changes in technologies and global markets

brought about by digital convergence. Launched by Commissioner Viviane Reding in June2005, it is a strategic framework to boost Europes digital economy, and is a key part ofthe EUs renewed Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs.

i2010 presents a package of proactive policies to improve the competitiveness ofEuropes information society and media industries,and to harness the potential of digitaltechnologies to drive innovation across the European economy and society. To do this,i2010 sets out three policy priorities:

Creating a Single European Information Space to seize the opportunities of digitalconvergence. i2010 will promote a common set of regulations that govern the supply ofcontent and services and the operation of networks, irrespective of the underlyingtechnologies used.

Innovation and Investment in R&D, taking steps to ensure Europe puts more into

ICT research and gets more out. i2010 proposes to set up trans-European demonstratorprojects to test promising research results, and to better integrate small and medium-sizedenterprises into EU research.

Promoting an Inclusive European Information Society by closing the gapsbetween the information society haves and have nots. i2010 proposes providing betterservices for citizens, an Action Plan on eGovernment, and a far-reaching initiative oninclusion and related actions.

The i2010 strategy will be implemented partly by the European Commission and EU-fundedprogrammes, and partly by the Member States. A wide range of policy instrumentswill be used.

Further information: http://ec.europa.eu/i2010/

Independent Living for the Ageing Society

One of the key proposals under i2010 is a series of flagship initiatives in areas impacting

on quality of life. Independent Living for the Ageing Society is one of these i2010flagship initiatives.The others are Digital Libraries and the Intelligent Car.

For further information visit:

eInclusion: http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/einclusion/

Ambient Assisted Living:www.aal169.org

A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu).

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2007

European Communities, 2007Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Printed in Belgium

PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER

ISBN 978-92-79-05552-2
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/policy_linkhttp://ec.europa.eu/i2010http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/einclusionhttp://www.aal169.org/http://europa.eu/http://europa.eu/http://europa.eu/http://www.aal169.org/http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/einclusionhttp://ec.europa.eu/i2010http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/policy_link


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Improving the quality of life of Europes increasingly elderly population is oneof the most pressing challenges facing our society today. Nearly 14% of theEU population is over the age of 65 and this figure is expected to double by2050. By then we will have 80 million older Europeans who should continue

to play an active role in our society, despite limitations which the ageingprocess often brings.

Building an inclusive society is a key pillar of the i2010 strategy a EuropeanInformation Society for growth and jobs that will boost the economy withthe help of information and communication technologies (ICT). Among manyother measures, i2010 targets a European eInclusion initiative for 2008,together with user-driven innovation in ICT-based products and services forthe elderly, industry-led provision of accessible technology, and innovativeEU research.

Substantial advances have been made over recent years in applying technologyto meet the needs of older people. But still much work remains to be done.The i2010 European initiative on Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) beingproposed as a joint initiative between the Commission and certain MemberStates promises to play a major role in overcoming barriers to innovationand accelerating developments in this emerging global market.

Member States support for the inclusion agenda was also evident at the

hi h l l ti i Ri L t i i J 2006 h i i t f f

This brochure provides an insight intresearch and deployment programmepolicy objectives in this field. Such acEurope's drive towards an inclusive, k

society.

Viviane Reding

European Commissioner for Informa

> Foreword


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Our Ageing Population

Europes population is ageing rapidly. By 2020 the proportion of older people inEurope will have almost doubled compared to 1960 (Figure 1). For the EU-25,22% of the population will be aged over 65 by 2025, rising to almost 30% by 2050.

In absolute terms, this represents an increase of 60 million people between 2004and 2050, to a total of 134.5 million. Furthermore, the proportion of very old people(aged 80 and above) in the EU-25 will grow even more rapidly, from 4% in 2004 toreach 6% by 2025 and 10% by 2050.

Our household situations change as we gof the EUs elderly population will be liviaged 65-79 will live with a partner, only 3Hence, demand for housing and social caof this older age group.

0,0

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Over 65 Over 80

1960

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Figure 1:Ageing population EU 15 1960 2020

> Ageing in European Society: A Snapshot

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Figure 2: Population aSo

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Impairment, Disability and Health Needs among Older People

The prevalence of disability increases with age at a significant rate.The proportion ofthose moderately hampered is higher than those severely hampered (Figure 4).But the share of the severely hampered increases with age.

As a result of the shifting age profile, the size of the impaired population will increasesignificantly in future years. By 2030 there will be an estimated 75 million impaired

l i th EU 15 l Th lth h th j it f ld l l ill b bl

Older People and Technology

Although there are many silver surfers,the population in their use of new technof broadband (Figure 6).

Currently treated for 50 - 59

High blood pressure 23.1

Joint/bone/muscle diseases 18.9

Heart disease 7.4

Diabetes 6.8

Chronic respiratory disease 5.4

Any of these (at least one answer yes) 41.7

Other long term condition (n.o.s.) 16.7

Any of these (incl. other long term condition) 49.0

P

Figure 5: Prevalence of frequenSource: Seniorwatch

0

10

20

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% 80

15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-64 75-84 85+

Age Group

Moderately hampered

Severely hampered

Figure 4: Percentage of people hampered in daily activities by any physicalor mental health problem, illness or disability

Source: Eurostat 2004

29%

35%35%

40%


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Towards integrated social and health care

Independent living is about both social and health care. Many older people experiencesome form of physical or cognitive impairment, or suffer from a chronic condition.Thus, besides social care there is a clear need for long-term healthcare too.

The challenge is to find the right mix of health, social and informal care to match theindividuals needs: this requires joined-up thinking by researchers, policy-makers andcare agencies on the ground.

Respect individuals wishes

Old people are not a homogeneous group. Like the rest of the population, there arehuge differences in health, income, education and expectations within the oldercommunity. National, ethnic and gender differences also come into play.Throughout Europe, however, older people, their families and their carers want to

find ways of avoiding institutional care wherever possible.We must find solutions thattake account of this diversity and respect the wishes of individual older citizens.

Dont forget the carers

Carers - both professional carers and families - play an important part in the lives ofmany elderly people.This is especially the case for dementia, where the number ofsufferers is growing rapidly.Technological solutions must support these carers andfamilies, as well as the sufferers themselves.

Needs change


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We are still only in the early stages of exploring how to apply technology to thechallenges of ageing and independent living.

Today, technology often raises expectations that it then fails to deliver. Mobile phones,for example, are now so small and have many complicated features that many olderpeople find them difficult to use. However, marketing a product as suitable for olderusers is generally counter-productive. Most elderly people do not like to be seenusing products for the old.

The Design-for-All concept is an important way of ensuring that products aresuitable for use by older people. It shows that good design principles bring benefits forall users of ICT systems, but recognises that with serious levels of physical or mentalimpairment specially adapted devices will be needed.

A Model for ICT Innovation for Ageing

Clearly, we need a new model of innovation in ICT for Ageing, one which isneeds-oriented and puts users at the centre of ICT systems. New solutionsare needed across all aspects of older people's lives, whether in the privatesphere, the public sphere or at work (see diagram).

It is no longer a question of helping the old and frail to cope with daily life.Rather it is about enhancing quality of life by enabling older people to takepart in a full range of social, economic and cultural activities.This willinvolve seamless integration of assistive applications with mainstream

Such an approach needs to consider basR&D, and deployment activities.

Key technology fields include:

Materials - polymer technologies, nan

Micro and nanotechnologies, including

E b dd d

> Innovation for Health, Well-being and Independent L

Public sphere

participation in thecommunity

utilising public

infrastructures suchas transport

active ageing paradigm

economic pressures

Priv

copin hea cu

ec


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Controlling Our Environment through Mobile Phones

MIMOSA deals with context-aware mobile services and applications.The approachis mobile-phone based, thus providing the users with a smooth transition from currentmobile services to the new generation of ambient intelligent services. It will be suitable

for a wide range of applications where low-cost, low-bit rate, short-range connectivity isrequired.

The vision is to put sensors into as many objects as possible, and to network themso as to enable wireless communication and interactions with the outside world.All this will happen in the background, invisible to the elderly person. For instance, amobile phone containing an RFID (smart tag) reader could be pointed at othersmart objects to trigger an action or read out additional information.

This user-centred approach offers high comfort and care without bothering the

elderly user unnecessarily, and at the same time offering a maximum of care, safetyand security.

Intelligent Medical Implants

A key limitation to living independently is the onset of medical conditions whichrequire constant medical care. One way of remedying this is through intelligentmedical implants.

HealthyAims is developing a range of medical implants to help the ageing population

d h i h di bili i Th d i h i i bili d l i h


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Clothes that take your pulse

Aiming to take lifestyle monitoring one stage further, MyHeart, an FP6 IntegratedProject, is integrating advanced medical sensors into textiles to create intelligentbiomedical clothes.

Focusing on the prevention and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases, MyHeart isdeveloping smart systems and supporting services that empower the users to takecontrol of their own health status.The system uses continuous or periodic monitoringof vital signs to make diagnoses, detect trends and react to the results. All of theinformation processing is done while the device is on the body and can then becommunicated either to the user or to the professional medical services.

Having investigated and evaluated an initial set of 16 application ideas, the project isnow focusing on four application concepts.These address healthy people or people atrisk (fitness and prevention oriented concepts), patients after an event (rehabilitation)

and chronically ill patients (disease management).

www.hitech-projects.com/euprojects/myheart/

Making lifestyle choices easier

PIPS, an FP6 Integrated Project, has set ousers in their day-to-day decisions on hedelivery models, while creating possibilitrelevant, updated medical knowledge and

lif l
http://www.hitech-projects.com/euprojects/myhearthttp://www.hitech-projects.com/euprojects/myhearthttp://www.hitech-projects.com/euprojects/myhearthttp://www.hitech-projects.com/euprojects/myhearthttp://www.hitech-projects.com/euprojects/myhearthttp://www.hitech-projects.com/euprojects/myhearthttp://www.hitech-projects.com/euprojects/myheart


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Active Ageing in Work and Employment

eInclusion@EU supports policies to promote active ageing.The project has beenstudying innovative ways to reach out to those who are excluded and could benefitfrom closer contact with computers as tools. It has a particular focus onnon-discrimination (eInclusion) and developing strategies to help those who havedifficulty physically accessing services (eAccessibility).

Research shows that increased IT skills bring a corresponding increase in employability.They can also make workplaces more flexible, offering opportunities for innovativearrangements that better fit with individual preferences, responsibilities and restrictionsthat may increase with age. In addition, for the majority of older people, the work-place is where they can gain experience with ICTs and develop skills that can then beused in other areas of their lives.

Based on a series of workshops with stakeholders, the project has come up withrecommendations on how to interlink active ageing and eInclusion policies better.Policy-makers and employers should look at issues such as:

Investing in e-skills of older workers;

Designing ICTs to cater for age-related changes in perception, dexterity andcognition; and

Organising ICT-related work to suit the needs of older workers.

Th h ld l id bli hi h i d d b E id


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Health-eLife, is a succeful eTEN project, that has validated the Doc@HomeTM servicein the context of typical European hospital environments, specifically outpatient clinics inFinland, Sweden and the UK. Doc@HomeTM is a telehealth delivery solution for healthcareproviders seeking to manage chronically ill patients in the home and community.It allows healthcare professionals to remotely measure, record, monitor and assess patients

health and well being.The study demonstrated the service competence to manage patientsat home across a range of clinical dimensions and disease conditions.

Bio-sensing Textiles for Managing Chronic Diseases

Integration of health-monitoring tools into textiles has been talked about for sometime.The European Commission has invested in research efforts in this field throughoutFP5 and FP6 (see page 12). To date, developments are mainly focused on physiologicalmeasurements (body temperature, electro-cardiogram, electromyogram, breath

rhythm, etc.) with first applications targeting sport monitoring and prevention ofcardiovascular risk. Biochemical measurements on body fluids will be needed totackle very important health and safety issues.

The BIOTEX project is investigating dedicated biochemical-sensing techniquescompatible with integration into textiles.This goal represents a complete break-through, which allows for the first time the monitoring of body fluids via sensorsdistributed on a textile substrate and performing biochemical measurements.

The research work focuses primarily on the sensing part and its electrical or optical

l S h b d l d h h


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> Projects ListFP5 = Fifth Framework Programme; FP6 = Sixth Framework Programme; eTEN = eTEN Programme; eCo

PROJECT ACRONYM PROJECT TITLE PR

AMON Advanced Care and Alert Portable Telemedical Monitor ww

ACTIVE HEALTH Environment for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention ww

AAL Ambient Assisted Living - Preparation of An Art. 169 Initiative ww

ASK-IT Ambient Intelligence System of Agents for Knowledge-Based and wwIntegrated Services for Mobility Impaired Users

BIOTEX Bio-Sensing Textiles to Support Health Management ww

eInclusion@EU Strengthening eInclusion & eAccessibility Across Europe ww

H-LIFE Intelligent Personal Health Assistant n/a

HEALTHY MARKET A Virtual Marketplace for the Implementation of Healthy Nutritional Plans ww

Health-eLife Doc@HOME Home Based Management of Chronic Disease Sufferers ww

HealthService24 Continuous Mobile Services for Healthcare ww

HealthyAims Nano Scale Materials and Sensors and Microsystems for wwMedical Implants Improving Health and Quality of Life

IntelliDrug Intelligent Intra-Oral Medicine Delivery Micro-System to Treat Addiction and Chronic Diseases ww

MAPPED Mobilisation and Accessibility Planning for People With Disabilities ww

MCC Medical Care Continuity ww

OSA f f S A
http://www.wearable.ethz.ch/amon.0.htmlhttp://www.hon.ch/Project/ActiveHealth.htmlhttp://www.aal169.org/http://www.ask-it.org/http://www.ask-it.org/http://www.einclusion-eu.org/http://www.einclusion-eu.org/http://www.health-elife.co.uk/http://www.healthservice24.com/http://www.healthyaims.org/http://www.healthyaims.org/http://www.bmtproject.net/mappedhttp://www.eten-mcc.org/http://www.eten-mcc.org/http://www.mobilalarm-eu.org/http://www.mimosa-fp6.com/http://www.eten-mcc.org/http://www.bmtproject.net/mappedhttp://www.intellidrug.org/http://www.healthyaims.org/http://www.healthservice24.com/http://www.health-elife.co.uk/http://www.healthy-market.org/eu/hmhttp://www.einclusion-eu.org/http://www.biotex-eu.com/http://www.ask-it.org/http://www.aal169.org/http://www.hon.ch/Project/ActiveHealth.htmlhttp://www.wearable.ethz.ch/amon.0.html


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i2010: IndEpendent Living for the Ageing Society

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Further Information

Information Society Policy Link initiative

email: [email protected]

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/policy_link/

Independent Living for the Ageing Society

eInclusion: http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/einclusion

Ambient Assisted Living: http://www.aal169.org

Europes Information Society Tematic Portal

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/

i:Independent Livingfor the Ageing Society

EuropeanCommission

InformationSocietyand

Media

KK-77-07-302-EN-C

Photo Cover: Phovoir

ISBN 978-92-79-05552-2

,!7IJ2H9-afffcc!
mailto:[email protected]://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/policy_linkhttp://cordis.europa.eu/ist/einclusionhttp://www.aal169.org/http://ec.europa.eu/information_societyhttp://ec.europa.eu/information_societyhttp://www.aal169.org/http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/einclusionhttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/policy_linkmailto:[email protected]

33657782 independent living for the ageing society

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