Ageing population brought by evolution in demographics worldwide, and its associated consequences in terms of frailly, chronicity and multi-morbidity will challenge health and care systems, especially in Europe where the share of old is expected to rise significantly over the next decades with an associated increase of dementia and other cognitive impairments. Current health and care models are proving to be inappropriate and unsustainable. This is calling for new care & assistance paradigms, which in turn may bring to valuable market opportunities for those EU ICT companies able to address the fast-growing “silver economy”.
UNCAP is addressing such a fast-evolving scenario through the development of an open, scalable and privacy-savvy ICT infrastructure designed to help ageing people (including those with cognitive impairments) live independently, with dignity, maintaining and improving their lifestyle. In particular, UNCAP leverages on an interoperable ecosystem of biosensors and indoor & outdoor localisation solutions, to deliver an infrastructure capable to continuously monitor –in a noninvasive way- the users and assist them when required. Wide support for well-established interoperable industry standards allows creating a scalable ICT ecosystem leveraging on both different biosensing solutions and on existing home-automation solutions, interoperable with existing Personal Health Record (PHR) systems. Furthermore, through the integration well-acknowledged physical and cognitive assessment tools with the capability to locate objects, devices and -above all- users within outdoor and indoor spaces, UNCAP not only allows accurate monitoring of user’s state (physical & cognitive) but it also allows creating a range of brand new services designed to stimulate healthier lifestyle and -in general- more active ageing.
In fact, the ultimate goal UNCAP is to extend the duration of high-quality life of ageing, frail and cognitive impaired citizens by helping them achieve higher autonomy, independence and dignity through an open, scalable, interoperable and non-invasive ICT-powered environment.
The achievements of UNCAP is being assessed in the context of several pilots located in private homes, rehabilitation centres, daily nursing facilities and houses etc. in various EU countries, with the involvement of a large number of users and caregivers (ensuring statistical significance) within real operational scenarios for a duration of 12 months. Results collected through physical and cognitive assessment tools before and after the introduction of UNCAP will ensure clear evidence -based on quantifiable metrics- of the improvement of quality of life of the users. The analysis of results of the pilot phase will allow assessing the impact of UNCAP in terms of Return on Investment for both public and private care systems, in both financial and societal terms (e.g. reduction of social exclusion and reduction of the burden on health systems and carers, both professionals and family member).
