Technological innovations in

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Technological innovations in elderly care
challenges for science and economy
Luc de Witte
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Outline

• Elderly care is facing enormous challenges new
  directions are needed
• Technology offers many (potential) possibilities,
  but also threats
• Much research is needed to guide the careful
  use of technology
• This offers great challenges and opportunities
  for CAPHRI
• And, if done properly, also for industry and
  economy

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Challenges for elderly care

• The demand for elderly care will grow
  substantially
• Available resources (personnel and money) will
  not grow at the same pace shortage will become
  the standard ? much more needs to be done with
  less
• Care will be delivered at home as much as
  possible (and more than today), with the
  professional in a more distant role
• Selfmanagement and informal care will develop
  further
• In intramural settings care will be more complex

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Challenges for CAPHRI

• New approaches are needed building on
  selfmanagement, informal care and support,
  multidisciplinary approaches
• Technology offers many potential solutions that
  may help meeting these challenges
• But there is a huge gap between technology
  development and needs in care practice
• And there is only very little scientifically
  sound knowledge about how technology can be
  implemented, what the effects are, etc

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.

• There is a strong need for care-driven research
  in this field that is why we initiated the CCTR
  centre for care technology research)

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Some examples what can we expect?
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Care at a distance
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Monitoring Quiet Care
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• Care
• Robotics

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Robotics
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Robotics
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Servicerobots
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Socially assistive robots
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A fearsome future?
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Or just great fun?
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This is no science fiction

• CAPHRI projects today
• Care robotics
• The socially assistive robot PARO (started
  1-9-2008)
• Arm support McArm (started 1-4-2011)
• Home service robot ACCOMPANY (starts 1-10-2011?)
• (The play robot IROMEC (finished 1-5-2011))
• Monitoring technology care at a distance
• Monitoring frailty (started 1-1-2010)
• Teletechnological support for elderly (started
  1-9-2011)

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What is needed

• Research to support development of care
  applications user requirements (patient and
  caregiver), ethical issues, how can technology be
  embedded in care practice, etc
• User evaluations usability, safety issues,
  acceptance, etc
• (Cost-)Effectiveness research
• Implementation research
• Educational and training programmes

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Conclusion

• The future is today
• This field has great scientific, practical and
  economic potential
• We are making initial but substantial steps
  towards a research programme in this field
• If we succeed to establisch CCTR (centre for care
  technology research) we can really make a
  difference