Home Alone and Safe
Relieving the pressure on healthcare systems
SMARTSOC – Entrepreneurial Case proposal Education of Future ICT Experts Based on SMART Society Needs 2019-1-SK01-KA203-060789DESCRIPTION OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CASE
In 2017, it was estimated that 13% of the world’s population is 60 years old or older, i.e., 962.3 million people. Population aged 60 or older grows at a rate of about 3% per year. Currently, Europe has the highest percentage of the population older than 60 (25%). It is expected that the number of older people in the world will reach 1.4 billion in 2030 and 2.1 billion in 2050 and could grow to 3.1 billion in 2100. The number of people over 80 years or more by 2050 is expected to be 425 million, more than threefold from 2017 when it was137 million (source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Ageing 2017).
This fast aging has a significant impact on healthcare. The burden of the aging population must be alleviated. This can be accomplished with automatic health monitoring systems that increase the safety of people who live alone and allow older patients to be self-reliant. These systems are also known as Ambient Assisted Living systems (AAL).
Questions that need answers
Technical aspect
Student teams will need to identify and provide more details about specific technologies which can be used within the entrepreneurial case, for example, wearable and fixed sensors that are used in the development of the system
Student teams will need to explore existing systems and their pros and cons to develop a better system
Students will need to develop a system which will be secure without failure because a life may depend on it
Student teams will need to investigate healthcare systems and possible collaboration with them to react quick if something happens to the watched person
Student teams will need to ensure the security of the data acquired from sensors
Student teams will need to investigate further benefits from these systems, e.g.
used for early detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and frailty conditions through the analysis of changes in the daily routine of the watched person
Business aspectStudent teams will need to identify their customers, whether they will go directly to the users in their homes or make an offer through their insurance company or healthcare system
Student teams will need to discuss and decide which customer model will be the best in terms of the future of the developed solution
Student teams will need to explore privacy agreements in light of obtaining data from sensors and keeping it secure and private
Social aspect
Student teams will need to provide more details about how the entrepreneurial case is solving the pressure on healthcare systems
Student teams will need to identify the users needs and their boundaries, for example, users not willing to allow usage of cameras within their homes
Student teams will need to provide more details about the acceptance of these systems with the target group
Student teams will need to investigate how this system is improving quality of life of target groups
Katarina Mandarić
supervisor 1
katarina.mandaric@fer.hr
Jurica Babić
supervisor 2
jurica.babic@fer.hr