Periodic Reporting for period 2 - e-VITA (European-Japanese Virtual Coach for Smart Ageing)
Période du rapport: 2022-07-01 au 2024-03-31
With the objective of producing a pro-active virtual coach for supporting active and healthy ageing (AHA), e-VITA developed an intercultural virtual coach to facilitate real-time contextual understanding of needs and AHA support for community-dwelling older adults in Europe and Japan.
The integration of advanced AI models and innovative emotional and social computing functionalities have been used to address emotional well-being and social needs of older people involved in the project. This has contributed to provide a better user experience through individualised and tailored made dialog interaction with the final goal to increase the level of acceptance of technologies and thus, sustain active and healthy ageing in Europe and Japan.
Through the collaboration between Living Labs in Europe and Japan, e-VITA explored subjective wellbeing and psychological need satisfaction in collaboration with older participants. As a conclusion, improving subjective wellbeing is not only a matter of physical health but is determined by culture and attitudes people have towards ageing.
In addition, international cooperation between Japan and Europe made possible the co-creation of the content of the interventions of the virtual coaches, which was implemented in 4 pilot sites (Japan, Germany, Italy, and France).
The resulting Proof of Concept (POC) study was tested in real settings by more than 140 older adults, together with the support of human coaches in the local area, thus sustaining the acceptance of the overall virtual coaching concept.
The intervention group significantly improved in the physical, emotional, and social domain against the control group. Qualitative results were promising, but also showed some space for improvement of the coaching system.
And thus the e-VITA project finished with a concrete assessment of the usefulness and effectiveness of a virtual coach in reinforcing physical, cognitive, mental, and social wellbeing as well as in enhancing self-care.
The results of this assessment (POC) were very useful for investors, companies, research community and general society to make decisions for potentially using the e-VITA solution in the future.
The integration of advanced AI models and innovative emotional and social computing functionalities have been used to address emotional well-being and social needs of older people involved in the project. This has contributed to provide a better user experience through individualised and tailored made dialog interaction with the final goal to increase the level of acceptance of technologies and thus, sustain active and healthy ageing in Europe and Japan.
Through the collaboration between Living Labs in Europe and Japan, e-VITA explored subjective wellbeing and psychological need satisfaction in collaboration with older participants. As a conclusion, improving subjective wellbeing is not only a matter of physical health but is determined by culture and attitudes people have towards ageing.
In addition, international cooperation between Japan and Europe made possible the co-creation of the content of the interventions of the virtual coaches, which was implemented in 4 pilot sites (Japan, Germany, Italy, and France).
The resulting Proof of Concept (POC) study was tested in real settings by more than 140 older adults, together with the support of human coaches in the local area, thus sustaining the acceptance of the overall virtual coaching concept.
The intervention group significantly improved in the physical, emotional, and social domain against the control group. Qualitative results were promising, but also showed some space for improvement of the coaching system.
And thus the e-VITA project finished with a concrete assessment of the usefulness and effectiveness of a virtual coach in reinforcing physical, cognitive, mental, and social wellbeing as well as in enhancing self-care.
The results of this assessment (POC) were very useful for investors, companies, research community and general society to make decisions for potentially using the e-VITA solution in the future.
Based on a cooperation between Europe and Japan, e-VITA proposes an innovative approach of virtual coaching that addresses active and healthy ageing (AHA): cognition, physical activity, mobility, mood, social interaction, leisure, and spirituality. The e-VITA virtual coach provides personalized recommendations based on big data analytics and AI.
This could be shown in the proof-of-concept (POC) study of the project with encouraging quantitative and qualitative results from Europe and Japan. Nevertheless, objective well-being based on EQ5D questionnaire could not be changed, but subjective well-being was improved in several participants in all countries, as could been shown by the qualitative interviews.
In total 140 participants from four countries (Germany, France, Italy, and Japan) participated in the POC study, and used the e-VITA system for about 6 months. After the use of the e-VITA system the intervention group significantly improved in the physical (SPPB), emotional (GDS), and social (UCLA) domain against the control group.
Also, the more qualitative results of the POC study were very promising but also showed space for improvements of the coaching system. Promising exploitation opportunities have been identified by early adaptors. There are several impacts expectable if the e-VITA coaching approach is implemented in more countries and citizens.
The last period of the project was devoted to the selection of the Key exploitable results and to the preparation of the EU Horizon Results Booster (HRB), an innovative initiative aimed at enhancing exploitation opportunities for European projects within the Horizon Europe Program.
These services aimed to maximize the impact and visibility of the e-VITA foreground, which has been produced during the project. The e-VITA project was supported by the Horizon Results Booster experts using business oriented methodological and strategical approach that guided e-VITA project on accelerating the dissemination of research results through a business plan development and related exploitation strategy.
The HRB included a series of meetings, webinars and workshops where methodologies and tools were shared for the definition of a proper use model, the adoption of strategies consistent with the aims of the project, the identification of competitors and an action plan to implement the business model of e-VITA after the end of the project, thus encouraging and facilitating the transformation of scientific discoveries into concrete innovations.
The HRB significantly contributed to the e-VITA project by promoting its global competitiveness and addressing crucial challenges.
This could be shown in the proof-of-concept (POC) study of the project with encouraging quantitative and qualitative results from Europe and Japan. Nevertheless, objective well-being based on EQ5D questionnaire could not be changed, but subjective well-being was improved in several participants in all countries, as could been shown by the qualitative interviews.
In total 140 participants from four countries (Germany, France, Italy, and Japan) participated in the POC study, and used the e-VITA system for about 6 months. After the use of the e-VITA system the intervention group significantly improved in the physical (SPPB), emotional (GDS), and social (UCLA) domain against the control group.
Also, the more qualitative results of the POC study were very promising but also showed space for improvements of the coaching system. Promising exploitation opportunities have been identified by early adaptors. There are several impacts expectable if the e-VITA coaching approach is implemented in more countries and citizens.
The last period of the project was devoted to the selection of the Key exploitable results and to the preparation of the EU Horizon Results Booster (HRB), an innovative initiative aimed at enhancing exploitation opportunities for European projects within the Horizon Europe Program.
These services aimed to maximize the impact and visibility of the e-VITA foreground, which has been produced during the project. The e-VITA project was supported by the Horizon Results Booster experts using business oriented methodological and strategical approach that guided e-VITA project on accelerating the dissemination of research results through a business plan development and related exploitation strategy.
The HRB included a series of meetings, webinars and workshops where methodologies and tools were shared for the definition of a proper use model, the adoption of strategies consistent with the aims of the project, the identification of competitors and an action plan to implement the business model of e-VITA after the end of the project, thus encouraging and facilitating the transformation of scientific discoveries into concrete innovations.
The HRB significantly contributed to the e-VITA project by promoting its global competitiveness and addressing crucial challenges.
PROGRESS BEYOND THE STATE OF THE ART
The e-VITA project ambition goes beyond the state of the art in domains of socio-technology support for active and healthy ageing of older people living at home in Europe and Japan:
1. New co-creation approaches for active and healthy ageing devices for and by older people;
2. Updated standards and norms for interoperability of smart living devices and trustworthy AI in Europe and Japan;
3. Semantic knowledge graphs, natural language understanding and improved dialogue systems for active and healthy ageing;
4. Privacy awareness, control and trust in federated data systems for independent living of older adults in Europe and Japan;
5. Sustainable community support and stakeholder engagement while using smart living devices and connections to related social services.
EXPECTED IMPACTS
To assess the impact of the e-VITA project and its potential impact on society, an estimation model was developed in order to quantify the economic benefits of the e-VITA solution for the JP and EU healthcare.
Having identified the healthcare and social costs related to the management of certain diseases, the model is able to express savings, in terms of reduced healthcare expenditure and social costs, given by the adoption of the e-VITA solution by users.
The model, defined for the geographical areas of Japan and Europe (only Italy, France and Germany) considers Depressive Disorders (DD) and Physical Pre-Frailty (PPF) for Japan and Functional Decline (SPPB) and Depression and feelings of isolation/loneliness (UCLA) for Europe.
Data of the socio-economic survey and stakeholder analysis report provided a comprehensive overview of the population dynamics and the allocation of healthcare resources and of course, express a good margin of savings through the adoption of the e-VITA solution in both healthcare systems.
Results show that the e-VITA solution could provide indications for a positive impact for healthcare management and cost savings for both EU and JP healthcare systems, reducing costs and improving patient outcomes.
The consistent growth in savings and improved management rates over time highlight the importance of innovative healthcare solutions in managing the challenges of ageing populations for Europe and Japan in the near future.
The e-VITA project ambition goes beyond the state of the art in domains of socio-technology support for active and healthy ageing of older people living at home in Europe and Japan:
1. New co-creation approaches for active and healthy ageing devices for and by older people;
2. Updated standards and norms for interoperability of smart living devices and trustworthy AI in Europe and Japan;
3. Semantic knowledge graphs, natural language understanding and improved dialogue systems for active and healthy ageing;
4. Privacy awareness, control and trust in federated data systems for independent living of older adults in Europe and Japan;
5. Sustainable community support and stakeholder engagement while using smart living devices and connections to related social services.
EXPECTED IMPACTS
To assess the impact of the e-VITA project and its potential impact on society, an estimation model was developed in order to quantify the economic benefits of the e-VITA solution for the JP and EU healthcare.
Having identified the healthcare and social costs related to the management of certain diseases, the model is able to express savings, in terms of reduced healthcare expenditure and social costs, given by the adoption of the e-VITA solution by users.
The model, defined for the geographical areas of Japan and Europe (only Italy, France and Germany) considers Depressive Disorders (DD) and Physical Pre-Frailty (PPF) for Japan and Functional Decline (SPPB) and Depression and feelings of isolation/loneliness (UCLA) for Europe.
Data of the socio-economic survey and stakeholder analysis report provided a comprehensive overview of the population dynamics and the allocation of healthcare resources and of course, express a good margin of savings through the adoption of the e-VITA solution in both healthcare systems.
Results show that the e-VITA solution could provide indications for a positive impact for healthcare management and cost savings for both EU and JP healthcare systems, reducing costs and improving patient outcomes.
The consistent growth in savings and improved management rates over time highlight the importance of innovative healthcare solutions in managing the challenges of ageing populations for Europe and Japan in the near future.