New Environments for the Evaluation of Smart Living Solutions

Abstract

In recent years, the evolution of the technology and its adoption by the citizens has made possible the inclusion of new tools in the innovation processes. These tools have allowed the development of better products and services and the reduction of the time to market of these solutions for the benefit of all end users. In this context, the concept of Living Lab has emerged, as an open innovation ecosystem where stakeholders, including professionals, developers and end users, can cooperate on solutions to address relevant challenges using co-creation and evaluation methodologies. Living Labs can support and enhance the innovation process throughout the different phases of the value chain, and they can also act as the connectors between the needs (the users) and the offer (the suppliers). This chapter presents the Living Labs as the novel instruments for evaluating, assessing and validating innovative products, solutions or services in the particular domain of smart living environments.

Appendices

Appendix: The ACTIVAGE Project

ACTIVAGE is a large-scale multi-centred European pilot project on intelligent living environments that will involve 10,000 people in nine Deployment Sites (DS) in seven European countries. With a four-year duration, the project started in 2017 and is partially funded by the European Commission under its framework programme Horizon 2020 [1].

The objective of ACTIVAGE is to design and implement solutions that, through the Internet of Things (IoT), enhance the independence, autonomy and well-being of older adults, by supporting and extending independent living in their daily environments. This will promote the reduction of the impact caused by chronic diseases and age-related impairment and will also respond to the real needs of caregivers, service providers and policymakers [1].

ACTIVAGE aims to create evidence and to be a global reference engine to demonstrate that standard, safe and intra-operative IoT ecosystems can enable new business models and cost-effective solutions for active and healthy ageing. With this, it also aims at contributing to the sustainability of health and care systems, to the competitiveness of European industry through innovation, and to the improvement of the quality of life and autonomy of older adults in independent living. In this sense, according to the project website “ACTIVAGE project will provide a set of techniques and tools as well as a co-creation framework that allows the identification, measurement, understanding and prediction of the demands and needs of the IoT ecosystem in Active Healthy Ageing (AHA) users: older adults, caregivers, professionals and health and social care providers, assessing their needs, preferences and perceptions regarding acceptance, trust, confidentiality, privacy, data protection and user safety” [1, 2].

ACTIVAGE project has worked from the beginning in analysing the socioeconomic impact and sustainability of the systems, in order to validate new business, financial and organizational models for the provision of assistance [1].

MADRID Deployment Site

Madrid (Spain) has an ageing population and a low rate of active ageing. Currently, in 2019, there are 650,000 older people living in the city and this number is expected to increase by 25% over the next 15 years. As a result, the number of people living in a situation of dependency is continuously increasing. For this reason, one of the nine Deployment Sites (DS) of ACTIVAGE project is located in this city and aims to reach 1000 users.

The current services related to active ageing in Madrid are offered through two types of institutions at the local and regional levels, as well as at the private and public levels, and they both present important gaps and limitations. This is the situation that the Madrid DS intends to transform through the implementation of the different solutions in the environment.

In total, three partners compose the Madrid DS: (1) Tercera Edad Activa SL, a company that provides services to elderly and disabled people; (2) Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, through its group Life Supporting Technologies, which are responsible of the development and integration of the IoT ecosystem and daily operations in the pilot; and (3) Fundación Tecnalia Research and Innovation, the providers of a technological service for balance assessment that is integrated as part of the solution offered to the used in the Madrid pilot. This group is deploying a set of innovative technological solutions—for the home and for the city—that allow working in four use cases linked to reality of the population aged 65+:

• Follow-up of people assisted outside the home.

• Promotion of exercise for fall prevention and physical activity.

• Cognitive stimulation for preventing mental decline.

• Prevention of social isolation.