Objectives

Social objectives

• Develop technologies to improve the quality of life for older people
• Help older people lead a full and productive life for as long as possible in their own homes
• Reduce isolation and a fear of being alone by facilitating remote communication between older people and their families and friends
• Use technology to grant user-friendly access to services such as personal care, shopping and entertainment
• Offer a more reliable and cohesive system to remotely monitor the health of older people in their homes

Technology objectives

• Promote open standards
• Advance our understanding of and access to technologies which support ambient assisted living
• Design a technology infrastructure around the needs of older users
• Design a technology infrastructure that does not intrude on the lives of users
• Bring together experts from a range of disciplines to ensure technology design takes account of social, political, health and psychological factors influencing older users
• Improve communication between users and developers of technology for older people
• Create new standards which ensure fragmented technologies work together to deliver benefits they could not offer on their own
• Research new technologies and the integration of existing technologies which support older people at home

Economic and political objectives

• Address the need to support older people and recognise their valuable role in society
• Support policy development by providing data and consultancy about appropriate technologies and new research areas
• Improve the competitiveness of EU products
• Facilitate the creation of new markets and new companies which focus on services and tools to support older people at home to benefit local economies
• Create technology and services which people will pay for – and develop a sustainable business model around technologies for older people at home