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Inclusive innovation bringing the digitalizing world to the changing care needs and preferences of Europe’s ageing population

Project description

A smart platform for senior homecare

In the next couple of decades, people over the age of 65 will constitute 30 % of the population in Europe, reaching 150 million. Since most senior citizens wish to stay in their own homes, the goal is to provide the best possible and most technologically advanced home-based care. However, present systems pairing seniors with their caregivers are based on outdated infrastructure, mountains of paperwork and lack of attention to the psychological needs of individuals. In addition, proper skills of caregivers are rarely guaranteed. The EU-funded mecasa-AI project aims to solve these difficulties via an online platform. It combines digital standardised psychological testing and video interviews and will engage AI in staff recruitment for best pairing.

Objective

EU population today is the oldest it has ever been with 102 million people that are 65 years and older. This number is
forecasted to rise to 150 million and account for 30% of the overall EU population by 2050. Since most European seniors
wish to stay in their own home when growing old and since nursing homes are relatively more expensive, new care models
that prioritize home-care are required. To address this the European Parliament and EU member states are searching for
ways to provide high-quality care for the elderly, specifically through informal home-care and technological innovation.

Unfortunately, European seniors and caregivers are not getting the support they need. The EU’s unprecedented ageing has
created significant and growing need for care. Already today, there is a tremendous skills shortage in caregiving throughout
Europe. There are plenty of caregiver recruiting services, but they are ineffective as they are outdated and steeped in
conventional paper-based infrastructure. Furthermore, state-of-the-art solutions pair seniors and caregivers without attention
to differences in character traits, which too often leads to conflict and subsequently to early termination of caregiving
relationships. On top of that, they are expensive, fragmented and difficult to access because they lack online services.

mecasa addresses these problems by recruiting personnel via its online platform. Advertising takes place both on- and
offline, but actual recruiting is digitized through testing including voice analysis, automated document checks and video
interviews. mecasa has developed proprietary matching algorithms, which define matches based on individual character and
personality traits. Character traits are measured by standardized psychological testing, subsequently translated into a
mathematical logic and eventually enter the mecasa platform. The proposed mecasa-AI project is about further development
of the matching engine of the platform.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

MECASA GMBH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
EICHWIESENRING 4B
70567 STUTTGART
Germany

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Baden-Württemberg Stuttgart Stuttgart, Stadtkreis
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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