Ageing Population
Europeans are living longer and healthier lives. The European population aged 65+ will increase from 93 million to 125 million in 2030. Shrinking labour forces and skills shortages represent other concerns caused by changing demographics. The total dependency ratio (ratio of 65+ to 15-64 years Europeans) will increase from 51% to 64% in 2030 [source: EC]. As the population is ageing, public spending increases in health care, long-term care, pension spending and infrastructure required to take care of elderly people.
Innovation and technology represent the key ingredients to deal with the challenges of these changing demographics and to leverage opportunities. The ageing society requires new approaches to answer to their needs while increasing efficiencies. Ageing in good health is achieved with the appropriate changes in health and social care and allows seniors to travel, to work longer, to continue to learn, share knowledge and live independently.
What We Look For
Kick-start Activities elaborate the business opportunity and the technical viability of new applications and services exploiting one or more space assets (e.g. Satellite Communications, Satellite Navigation, Earth Observation, Human Space Flight Technology). This call for Kick-start Activities is dedicated to the theme "Ageing Population", which means that it is open to ideas for services addressed to the ageing population as a whole, local authorities, carers, the (national) health and social care system, residential homes, technology and service providers and other relevant stakeholders in this sector.
Such services may include for example:
- Health and care: mobile health, tele-home, remote monitoring, fall prevention, wearable devices
- Independent living: smart home, home automation, lifestyle intervention, remote workplace, personal assistance
- Safety and security: surveillance, emergency response, extreme weather and pollution alerts
- Social, leisure and education: social interaction, remote education, remote occupation, entertainment, (outdoor) mobility
The Kick-start Activity proposed must demonstrate the relevant exploitation of space-based data and technology for instance:
- Satellite Communications can play a key role in smart homes for independent living, smart wearables or IoT for health monitoring, home control and travel. Moreover, they can provide connectivity for services related to safety and social or leisure activities.
- Satellite Navigation enables the creation of services related to outdoor navigation and mobility support such as in the use of public infrastructure (e.g. buses, pedestrian crossings). They can extend the capabilities for smart wearables in navigation and travel as well.
- Earth Observation satellites can deliver added value in the context of weather and environmental monitoring, in particular extreme weather alerts (heat waves, storm events) or vulnerability and risk maps with mitigation suggestions related to pollution levels in cities.
- Human Spaceflight Technologies such as applications in virtual reality and medical monitoring and diagnostics could answer challenges of the ageing population in the context of remote assistance, telemedicine or e-health applications in general.
Authorisation Of Funding
For the Thematic Call on "Ageing Population", the following ESA Member States have already made funding available: Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
In case you intend to submit a proposal for a Thematic Call and your company/organisation resides in another country, you are encouraged to contact the National Delegation.
WEBINAR Recording 18 April 2017
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