Regions in AAL
An open days side event
9 October, 2013- The Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme hosted today a side event of the Open Days in Brussels. The event was the occasion for a discussions over the theme of the regional involvement and state of art in the field of active ageing. The event was titled: “The regional policies and actions to manage an ageing society through ICT: the case of the AAL Joint Programme” and it featured a panel of experts from some European regions” and it foster the debate on the involvement of regions and their interest in deploying ICT solutions for active and healthy ageing, which is the sector in which the AAL JP operates.
Karina Marcus, Director of the AAL Association moderated the debate and gave an introduction about the 5 years programme, which is positioned in the “societal challenge” pillar of Horizon 2020. ” The opportunities for the regional bodies in our programme are out there and we would like to increase their participation in the coming years” she said, after presenting the AAL Joint programme.
Marielle Swinkels, adviser in strategic policy for the Noord Brabant and the Coral network, presented the strategy of the Dutch Region- “we aim to ensure that citizens in Noord Barbant can have access to affordable solutions and to enable them to be independent. We did some large pilots of implementations and we facilitated innovation clusters, but it is still a challenge to find a way to scale up solutions.”
Gian Matteo Apuzzo, from Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, in Italy, gave a picture of this bordering area as he presented one of the fastest ageing area in Europe (23% of the population is over 65). “We aim at putting together already existing policies in an integrated manner to address: Housing and accessibility; ICT and social innovation and integrated home care”.
Loes Houthuys, of Flander’s Care in Belgium stressed how “innovation and entrepreneurship are indispensable to move from hospital to home care.” She also presented the Demonstration projects, a cross sector action to measure the concrete results of the innovation in care of older adults.
Finally Dr Dragan Korolija-Marinić, director of the Zagreb Hospital addressed the audience about the ageing population in Croatia (in 2050 +32% of population over 65) and the new arising technologies in use in the hospitalization system, which implies lighting methodology.
The AAL JP is organizing a series of workshops at the regional level to raise awareness about the possible synergies between the programme and the regional entities.
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