Project information

The ICT & Ageing – Users, Markets and Technologies study is funded by the European Commission. The primary aim is to identify existing market barriers that hinder uptake of technologies for independent living and identify recommendations for action in order to address older peoples’ needs and market potentials. More specifically, three different strands of work are pursued in the framework of the overall study:

  • A core strand of work focuses on analysing the ‘ICT and Ageing’ market situation across 14 selected Member States and two key comparison countries outside the EU (USA and Japan). In terms of tangible outcomes this work will yield an overview of market barriers for relevant ICT based products / services including national reimbursement practices as well as a state-of-the-art picture in pre-competitive and innovative public procurement in the field under investigation. Moreover, good practice examples will be collated for different ICT application domains. Information collated throughout the research process and synthesised analyses will be made available through an online-knowledge base. On the basis of the analyses undertaken, policy recommendations will be developed on the possible mitigation of identified market barriers.
  • Another core strand of work focuses on analysing ethical issues associated with ICT based solutions that are relevant to independent living of older people. In terms of tangible outputs an overview of relevant issues will be generated with a view to providing guidance for the development of relevant policies. Again, good practice examples will be identified and made available through the online knowledge base.
  • Finally, the study provides support to the clustering of ongoing RTD projects funded under relevant European framework programmes as far as these address ICT and Ageing matters. This includes the setting up and maintenance of an online platform enabling interaction of relevant projects as well as annual clustering workshops.

The core study team comprises three research organisations:

empirica Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Technologieforschung mbH

Oxfordstr. 2
53111 Bonn
Germany
Tel. (+49) 228 98530-0
Fax (+49) 228 98530-12
E-Mail: info@empirica.com
Internet: www.empirica.com

Work Research Centre
3 Sundrive Road
Dublin
Ireland
Tel. (+353) 14927 042
Fax (+353) 14927 046
E-Mail: wrc@wrc-research.ie
Internet: www.wrc-research.ie

Institute “Integrated Study”, Vienna University of Technology (TUW)
Favoritenstrasse 11/029
A 1040 Vienna
Austria
Tel. +43-1-588 01 42 918
Fax. +43-1-588 01 42 999
E-Mail: fortec@fortec.tuwien.ac.at
Internet: www.fortec.tuwien.ac.at

Information gathering in the countries covered by this study is supported by a network of national correspondents:
Cathy Bodine (USA)
Jose Vargas Casas (Spain)
Gerard Cornet (France)
Kevin Cullen (Ireland)
Bojil Dobrev (Bulgaria)
Vesna Dolnicar (Slovenia)
Maria Goreczna (Poland)
Derek Hibbert (United Kingdom)
Pirjo-Liisa Kotiranta (Finland)
Gyorgy Lengyel (Hungary)
Felicitas Lull (Germany)
Pernilla Lundin (Sweden)
Beatrijs Ballero Mahieu (Italy)
Sonja Müller (Germany)
Bilyana Petkova (Bulgaria)
Ad van Berlo (The Netherlands)
Hans van der Tang (Japan)
Christina Wanscher (Denmark)