Standardisation needs in the field of ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing

Deadline: Feb 16, 2016  
CALL EXPIRED

Topic Description

The area of ICT for active and healthy ageing (AHA) is a new cross-sectorial domain in which standards play a key role. Standardisation efforts in the area tend to be taken by the different domains' actors individually, often lacking a coordinated and targeted approach. Different national/regional initiatives, labels and standards are emerging in some of the related fields, which could potentially make interoperability difficult and impede or reduce scalable growth opportunities. Therefore, an action needs to be established that links together the standardisation needs from the different domains and addresses them in a coordinated way.

This action will support progress within the Silver Economy overall, since it will be directly contributing to its different sectors such as age-friendly environments, smart houses and integrated care. It will thus provide support to the other Active and Healthy Ageing topics published in this Work Programme.

The proposal is expected to foster user-centred ICT innovation on AHA by engaging, supporting and coaching stakeholders to develop and implement their actions in the area of standardisation. They should cover standardisation within the area of AHA, in particular in the domains of ICT infrastructures for the implementation and delivery of services for independent living in age-friendly buildings, scaling-up of innovative care services and interoperability profiles for independent living[[Interoperability profiles describe specific solutions to interoperability in a specific use case scenario. A profile documents how standards will be used in order to achieve interoperability. Profiles ensure implementers and users are talking about the same solution without having to restate all the technical details that establish actual interoperability.]].

Relevant activities at national and EU level, as well as by industry should be taken into account.

In order to comprehensively support relevant stakeholders in implementing their actions in the field of standardisation, proposals should clearly address the following:

• Mapping of the relevant harmonisation activities in the area and relevant on-going developments, focusing on standardisation efforts;
• Fostering cooperation between standard development organisations active in the field of AHA;
• Establishing a platform to facilitate discussion and decision-making among relevant stakeholders on the actions to be taken in the field of standardisation in ICT for AHA;
• A clear approach for how to engage relevant stakeholders throughout the action;
• Identifying harmonisation and standardisation needs in the field of ICT for AHA and the best ways to address them through the various existing mechanisms such as standards, specifications, requirements, procurement, legislation, etc.;
• Providing guidance on best practise in co-developing standards and certificates within the covered areas, such as age-friendly environments;
• Providing guidance on procurement and coaching on how to best exploit the opportunities to foster innovation in the field of AHA;
• Identifying the relevant major standardisation actors and their potential contribution on the needs identified;
• Coordinating relevant contributions to AHA standardisation from EU (and national) funded R&I projects.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 1 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

• Engagement of required stakeholders to ensure lasting impact;
• Identification of standardisation and other types of harmonisation needs and creation of a clear roadmap with actions needed to address them;
• Accelerated progress in the establishment of favourable framework conditions for introducing user-friendly ICT solutions for AHA into the European market and a metrics for measuring the progress;
• Elaboration of a first draft for smart / age-friendly home guidelines and roadmap for the development of a certification or label;
• Networking and match-making among stakeholders, including R&I projects and relevant standardisation bodies.