Implementation of a pan-European ecosystem and an interoperable platform for Smart and Healthy Ageing in Europe: An Innovation Action research protocol

Katja Seidel; Melanie Labor; Richard Lombard-Vance; Emma McEvoy; Michael Cooke; Lucia D'Arino; Deirdre Desmond; Delia Ferri; Philip Franke; Ilenia Gheno; Sonja Grigoleit; Barbara Guerra; Artur Krukowski; Marketa Pešoutová; Ilia Pietri; David Prendergast; Rebecca Maguire; Marco Manso; A Jamie Saris; Sari Sarlio-Siintola; Tatiana Silva; Eleni Zarogianni; Malcom MacLachlan; SHAPES Consortium

doi:10.12688/openreseurope.14827.1

Implementation of a pan-European ecosystem and an interoperable platform for Smart and Healthy Ageing in Europe: An Innovation Action research protocol

Open Res Eur. 2022 Jul 4:2:85. doi: 10.12688/openreseurope.14827.1. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Katja Seidel¹, Melanie Labor², Richard Lombard-Vance², Emma McEvoy³, Michael Cooke⁴, Lucia D'Arino⁵, Deirdre Desmond², Delia Ferri⁶, Philip Franke⁷, Ilenia Gheno⁸, Sonja Grigoleit⁹, Barbara Guerra¹⁰, Artur Krukowski¹¹, Marketa Pešoutová¹², Ilia Pietri¹⁰, David Prendergast¹, Rebecca Maguire¹³, Marco Manso⁹, A Jamie Saris¹, Sari Sarlio-Siintola¹⁴, Tatiana Silva¹⁵, Eleni Zarogianni¹⁰, Malcom MacLachlan²; SHAPES Consortium

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, ALL Institute, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
² Department of Psychology, ALL Institute, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
³ School of Law and Criminology, ALL Institute, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
⁴ Edward M Kennedy Institute, Department of Psychology, ALL Institute, Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI), National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
⁵ World Federation of the Deafblind, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain.
⁶ School of Law and Criminology, Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, ALL Institute, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
⁷ Carus Consilium Sachsen GmbH, Dresden, Saxony, 01309, Germany.
⁸ AGE Platform Europe, Brussels, 1150, Belgium.
⁹ Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis INT, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung E.V., Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
¹⁰ EDGE, Edgeneering LDA, Lisbon, 2500 218, Portugal.
¹¹ ICOM, Intracom SA Telecom Solutions, PEANIA, 19002, Greece.
¹² Palacký University Olomouc, Olomoucký University Social Health Institute, Olomouc, 771 11, Czech Republic.
¹³ Department of Psychology, ALL Institute, Human Health Institute, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
¹⁴ Department of Research and Development, Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Vantaa, 01300, Finland.
¹⁵ Department of Research and Development, Treelogic - Tree Technology SA, Madrid, 28020, Spain.

Abstract

As life expectancy continues to increase in most EU Member States, smart technologies can help enable older people to continue living at home, despite the challenges accompanying the ageing process. The Innovation Action (IA) SHAPES 'Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in Supportive Systems' funded by the EU under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement number 857159) attends to these topics to support active and healthy ageing and the wellbeing of older adults. This protocol article outlines the SHAPES project's objectives and aims, methods, structure, and expected outcomes. SHAPES seeks to build, pilot, and deploy a large-scale, EU-standardised interoperable, and scalable open platform. The platform will facilitate the integration of a broad range of technological, organisational, clinical, educational, and social solutions. SHAPES emphasises that the home is much more than a house-space; it entails a sense of belonging, a place and a purpose in the community. SHAPES creates an ecosystem - a network of relevant users and stakeholders - who will work together to scale-up smart solutions. Furthermore, SHAPES will create a marketplace seeking to connect demand and supply across the home, health and care services. Finally, SHAPES will produce a set of recommendations to support key stakeholders seeking to integrate smart technologies in their care systems to mediate care delivery. Throughout, SHAPES adopts a multidisciplinary research approach to establish an empirical basis to guide the development of the platform. This includes long-term ethnographic research and a large-scale pan-European campaign to pilot the platform and its digital solutions within the context of seven distinct pilot themes. The project will thereby address the challenges of ageing societies in Europe and facilitate the integration of community-based health and social care. SHAPES will thus be a key driver for the transformation of healthcare and social care services across Europe.

Keywords: Healthy ageing; assistive technologies; care; data protection; digital technologies; ethics; ethnography; integrated care; interoperability; medical devices; older adults; open ecosystems; quality of life; scalability; socio-technical systems; standardisation; transdisciplinary.

Grants and funding

This research was financially supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 857159 (project SHAPES).