Advancing active and healthy ageing with ICT: ICT solutions for independent living with cognitive impairment

Specific challenge: Citizens in an ageing European population are at greater risk of cognitive impairment, frailty and social exclusion with considerable negative consequences for their independence, quality of life, that of those who care for them, and for the sustainability of health and care systems. The challenge is to deploy innovative and user led ICT pilot projects in support of independent living with cognitive impairments and translate promising results into scalable practice across Europe.                                                                                             

Scope: Pilots should build on common, flexible and open ICT solutions which can be adapted to specific users' needs, allowing them to live independently for longer while experiencing cognitive impairment. Pilot deployment across Europe should develop best-practice and viable business and financing models, as well as evidence for potential return on investment. Gender and ethical issues should be paid due attention.  

Proposals should focus on innovation in organisational and business models for service delivery, as well as standardisation and interoperability work on required ICT platforms, services and data sources. The number of users involved should be sufficient to ensure statistical significance in impact analysis, with a minimum of 4 pilot sites in 4 countries.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 2 and 3 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.           

Expected impact: 

• Based on quantitative and qualitative output indicators and impact data, each pilot is expected to demonstrate relevant contributions to the following expected impacts:
• Clear evidence on return of investment, both for the private sector and in terms of societal benefits from ICT based solutions for cognitive impairments of older people;
• Best practice for viable business and financing models which are scalable across Europe;
• Clear evidence on the improvements of efficiency of health and care systems
• Clear evidence of improvements to quality of life and active ageing for involved users and carers;
• Contribution to the competitiveness of the European ICT industry in the domain, through enhanced interoperability and scalable markets;

Type of action:  Innovation actions