Team
Vilans
Vilans (VIL) is the national Centre of Expertise for Long-term Care in the Netherlands. In this field, Vilans engages in innovation, research and development, dissemination, and implementation of good practices. Vilans is well-known in the Netherlands for running large scale and nationwide implementation programs, such as the National Dementia Program (in which in 90% of the Dutch regions integrated care networks were set up), the Care for Better Program (around 700 organizations participated in this quality improvement program) and Up to Care! (more than 300 long-term care organizations are currently being transformed to become more sustainable organizations). Vilans has participated in several EU projects, as a scientific director (CARMEN, FP 5) and as participants in INTERLINKS and PROGRESS, and as an evaluation WP leader in the AAL Happy Walker project, the PALETTEV2 AAL project (2016-2019), and the eWARE AAL project (2017-2020). Project coordinator Mr. Henk Herman Nap, PhD, MSc has a background in cognitive ergonomics, with a MSc degree in psychology (Utrecht University), a PhD in Gerontechnology, and a Postdoc in senior games. He worked as a project leader and coordinator in various EU projects.
ConnectedCare
ConnectedCare Services b.v. (CCARE) develops innovative communication and collaboration applications for independent living and ageing. The core competencies are ICT (social networks and sensor systems), industrial design (user-centered design, design methodologies) and care (family care, professional care, independent living). A team of ICT-experts, designers and caregivers collaborate on the design of innovative communication concepts targeted at seniors, family caregivers and professionals. CCARE was founded in 2010 in order to accelerate the transition from academic research in ambient assisted living to commercial application. The expertise areas include user-centred design, from the early phases of the design process to the final product evaluation, concept development and interaction design, software development and prototype building, and field evaluation. CCARE is involved in national and European projects which aim to increase autonomy and collaboration for care and ageing (e.g. AAL-4 MyGuardian, AAL-5 Care4Balance, AAL-6 Elders-Up!, AAL MedGUIDE and H2020 WellCo).
Smartrobot.solutions
Smartrobot.solutions (SRS) is a distributor of robot solutions, and a developer of robot middleware and apps. SRS commercializes robots for corporate markets, health, retail, hospitality and rental solutions for events. The current portfolio includes 2 different robotic solutions for health, with a commercial turnover of >500k€ in 2018. SRS primarily sells B2B to e.g. care organizations. SRS aims to expand their position in the European E-Health market, and therefore invests in R&D project in the domain of eHealth. SRS follow a pioneering approach, and dynamically acts upon customer requirements with integral robot solutions that substantially contribute to operating result. The key strength of SRS is: develop and refine the robotics middleware; provide the robotics hardware; support the implementation of robotics solutions in the field; lead the business development activity. 1: Commit/ Interaction for Universal access; 2 : SMK assistant robot at Sint Maartenskliniek; 3 : Robot for improving the structure of the day at ‘s Heerenloo. Mr. Richard Kuijpers (B.Sc.) is CEO and founder of SRS (est. 2014). Richard is involved in product development and business development. Mr. Johan Velthuizen (B.Sc.) is software developer and project lead at SRS. Johan has extensive experience in developing middleware for the robotic solutions, as well as apps.
JEF S.r.l.
JEF S.r.l. (JEF) works in the development of complex software systems in the field of ‘ICT, especially in the WEB, and is involved in innovative projects in the field of vision, speech recognition and artificial intelligence applied to home automation, robotics, communication and dynamic sector retail. Increasingly in last years the company has approached the world of clinical data management by developing cloud-based medical records and studying standardized database allowing big data processing in order to extract relevant information. The same directory also allows the storage and management of data collected by sensors home automation. The goal, that the company is trying to achieve in this area is to design, develop and implement communication solutions characterized by strong innovation, interactivity, media impact and easy handling by users. To accomplish this JEF relies on the study and use of the latest technologies of vision and robotics.
Eindhoven University of Technology
Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands offers graduate engineering programmes and post-graduate technological design, Ph.D. and teacher-training programmes. TU/e coordinates several prominent Dutch research schools and institutes and has a strong position within international research networks, including the European Framework programmes. TU/e is a natural partner for technology-intensive enterprises. The campus is a fertile breeding ground for new business ventures. Innovation is one of the fundamental influencing factors for the economic performance of companies, regions, and countries; for social well-being; and for the quality of life in general. Research in the Human-Technology Interaction Group is interdisciplinary in its scope and focuses primarily on human-technology interaction with systems and services involving ICT, the built environment, persuasive technology, robotics, digital media and sustainability-relevant technology. Its mission is to perform fundamental research on human-technology interaction. The group has excellent laboratory facilities available for various types of research on human-technology interaction. In addition, the TU/e is involved in the 4TU Ethics and technology group.
University of Geneva
Founded in 1559 by Jean Calvin, the University of Geneva (UNIGE) is dedicated to thinking, teaching, dialogue and research. It is Switzerland’s second largest university, highly ranked worldwide. UNIGE participates in GUARDIAN project with the Quality of Life Technologies lab hosted at the Centre for Informatics (CUI). The QoL lab is exploring the development and evaluation of personal, behavioral health informatics – how sensor data acquired throughout everyday life from miniature mobile devices and sensors might be used for accurate, longitudinal, real-life, context-rich, minimally obtrusive, privacy-preserving personalized assessment of the individual’s behavior and Quality of Life (QoL), as they unfold naturally over time and in context, and an improvement of the latter via novel human-computer interfaces. As part of this work, the QoL lab has worked so far on the creation of new models and algorithms that can be used to, for example, assess individual’s physical safety and security (via an intimacy perception), as well as mobility, physical activity, sleep, stress and public transportation usage patterns, smart-home instrumentation, as well as development of avatar based interfaces, while taking advantage of emerging sensor/actuator-based technologies. With this research, QoL contributed to various Swiss and EU-funded research projects including AAL TRAINUTRI, AAL WayFiS, AAL GUARDIAN, AAL ANIMATE, AAL CoME and SNSF PCS-OBEY, SNSF MIQmodel, H2020 WellCo and H2020 EcoWEB, as well as few Stanford University-based projects (within surgery, psychiatry and sleep medicine).
University hospitals of Geneva
The Division of Medical Information Sciences (SIMED) is a research group working at the University hospitals of Geneva (HUG). This group is in charge of research and development in the field of information technologies for care. The research team is composed of a number of highly profiled scientists from several domains, such as medicine, IT, biology and psychology, giving them an interdisciplinary perspective. The SIMED has developed its expertise around three different pillars going from Big data to human centred research. They have an intense activity in leading projects where there are implied at each stage of the project going from the co-design of the functional requirements to the evidence-based evaluation of developed interventions. For the evaluation purpose they have installed a dedicated environment where they can study participants’ behavior during role-playing scenario while using of clinical system or medical devices. The SIMED is involved in national and European projects which aim to increase autonomy and collaboration for care and ageing (e.g. AAL-Paletttev2, AAL-POSTHCARD, and AAL-PELOSHA).
Politecnica delle Marche
Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM) is a mid-size academic center with high ranking among the Italian universities. It includes 5 Faculties: Engineering, Medicine and Surgery, Economy, Science and Agriculture. The Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (DIISM) will participate in the project with the Mechanical and Thermal Measurement Group (MTM). Main areas of research are connected with development and application of new sensors and sensor network, experimental techniques for clinical and biomedical use, indoor environmental and structural monitoring, non-destructive measurement and testing and design and development of embedded systems. Main fields of application of interest for the project are: smart sensors for indoor environments, measurement of biomedical and physiological signals, building energy and comfort monitoring, non-contact measurement techniques and data analysis. The research group participating to this consortium has a large experience in European Union Projects (since 1990’s), international and national co-funded projects. The group has also experience in the ALL projects (partner of eWare, AAL-2016-071). The Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine will join with the Neurorehabilitation Clinic, University Hospital of Ancona. The Neurorehab Clinic is an in-client intensive rehabilitation facility, admitting brain-injured people; it also provides motor and cognitive rehabilitation on an outclient basis, to persons suffering from movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, neuromuscular disorders and mild cognitive impairment. Mr. Prof. Gian Marco Revel is Associate Professor in Mechanical and Thermal Measurement, with research interest in the field of sensor and measurement technologies for industrial applications, with particular focus on the construction sector, building energy efficiency, in-field material characterization and non-destructive testing. Mr. Prof. Lorenzo Scalise is Associated Professor with expertise in the area of e-health technologies, non-contact measurement of physiological quantities on humans and characterization and development of biomedical instrumentation. Mrs. Sara Casaccia is a Research Fellow at the department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (DIISM) of UNIVPM. She works in projects based on ICT technologies for Healthy Aging.
National Institute of Health and Science on Aging
National Institute of Health and Science on Aging – INRCA is the Italian leading public Institute (with 1076 employees) in gerontology and geriatrics, devoted to improve quality of life of older persons, through different centres in Italy, comprehensive of geriatric hospitals, an Alzheimer cure centre, a RSM-R and a scientific-technological area. Basic and applied research is developed by interdisciplinary work in the bio-medical, clinical and social sectors. Currently, there are four lines of research: (1) Biogerontology: cellular determinants, molecular and genetic aging, longevity and age-associated diseases; (2) Prevention and treatment of frailty: management of geriatric diseases and syndromes; (3) Aging and Medicines and (4) Multidimensional assessment and continuity of care. Great emphasis is given to technological innovation, promoting telemedicine and acceptance of technology by older people. The institute has gained substantial experience in large scale European and international projects on ageing: IRHOLA FP7/2007-2013-305831; SMILING FP7-ICT-GA-215493; HAPPY AGEING AAL-2008-1 – Coordinator; JADE RoK-2010- 266422; CHEFMYSELF AAL-2012-5-120; WIISEL FP7-ICT2011-288878; ROBOT-ERA FP7-ICT2011-288899; UP-Tech project: An intervention to support caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients in Italy (funded by the Marche Region through the Special Fund for Dependency Care managed by the Italian Ministry of Welfare) – Coordinator; HOME4DEM (Based ICT solutions FOR the independent living of people with DeMentia and their caregivers AAL-2014 -7 – on going, Coordinator. Ms. Vera Stara, PhD, obtained a doctorate in Artificial Intelligence Systems and a professional continuing education certificate as instructional designer for e‐learning system. Since 2010 she is collaborator for the research at INRCA in the field of acceptance of technology, users’ needs, barriers and drivers to technology usage behavior, requirements analysis and validation study of technological solutions. Eng. Lorena ROSSI is graduated in Electronic Engineering and her main interest is in organisation and management of research projects concerning the usage of ICT, to support elderly people.
Zorggroep Noordwest-Veluwe
Zorggroep Noordwest-Veluwe (ZNWV) is a specialised care provider for senior care. The organization offers mono and multidisciplinary geriatric care in several cities in the Veluwe area. ZNWV treats elderly with complex care needs and chronic diseases. ZNWV houses geriatric professionals which are divided in eight (para)medical departments: Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Speech Therapy, Dietetics, Psychology, Spiritual Care and Parkinson Care. Zorggroep Noordwest-Veluwe offers care to 1708 clients from which 656 intramural from 11 centres, having professional staff of 1424 persons. ZNWV is an active player in eHealth innovations. Through the project, ZNWV wants to contribute their expertise, contribute to the idea development, and host pilots. ZNWV will act as a launching customer in the Netherlands. Mr. Hessel Lodder is regional manager of intramural and extramural care services. Mr. Joran Hoogenberg is manager care services and is experienced in eHealth innovation projects.