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News > SHAPES: SciFY in the EU’s pioneering € 21 million project for active aging

3 December 2019

SHAPES: SciFY in the EU’s pioneering € 21 million project for active aging

What an incredible joy! We are kicking off the EU project “SHAPES”! You may ask, “What is this, you guys?”

Hmm… How do you describe a huge European 21 million euro project with 36 partners from 14 countries who will work for 4 years to realize it in a few words? What has united us all (universities, companies, research centers, NGOs) under this umbrella?

Imagine a world where the elderly are not “parked” in a nursing home, “burdens” in the health system, and treated by experts who see their problem individually, but…

  • They are active members of the community: they engage in community activities (active aging).
    The community cares for them as much as possible in their home, not in the hospital.
  • Healthcare professionals focus on the patient (integrated care), instead of everyone acting independently.
  • Technology (Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, mental exercises, robotic systems …) is specifically designed for them, their caregivers,
  • and healthcare professionals.
  • The elderly can focus on what they can achieve with technology, instead of worrying about how it works.
  • Healthcare professionals and caregivers have publicly available tools that they can use at their disposal.
  • All the information, tools, and support ecosystem are available online.

That’s the world we want to make a reality. And with this project, we take the first big step.

How large is the target group? Numbers indicate that, in 2017, almost one-fifth (19%) of the EU population was +65 years old. And that, by 2060, they will be 151 million.

But we see it differently: They are not numbers; they are our grandparents, our parents, it will soon be us.

Let’s do this!

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