Did you know that in Europe there are more people over 65 than under 5? Those under 5 are already digital natives but it’s not the same for people over 65. However, people over 65 are happy to include new technologies into their lives if they see a clear benefit. Skype, WhatsApp, FaceBook and some others have shown a clear benefit for them be in touch with those they care for. Simple and clear.

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Throughout history, doctors and others delivering health care have typically used a simple model when treating patients: deliver an intervention, such as a medicine or a surgical operation, and watch the patient improve (or occasionally not). The key point is that most people expect medical treatment to comprise what is typically a single action, followed, hopefully, by recovery. This is the basis for example for the classic randomised controlled trial (RCT) formalized by British epidemiologist Austin Bradford Hill in the 1940s.

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The administration of cities is growing significantly following the idea of smart cities. However, any resulting evolution involves defining a roadmap and achieving specific goals. The strategy must include not only investing massively in technology, but also working hard on adopting a community service orientation.

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As with mobile phones 20 years ago, the Internet of Things (IoT) is meant to be the new technological revolution in the coming years. Along the same line, the sales and use of these IoT-enabled devices will grow exponentially. The number of devices sold in the global market is impressive. According to a study by Opentext, there will be 13 billion connected devices by 2020, and 75 billion by 2025.

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“Human beings are not born forever on the day their mothers give birth; life requires that they be reborn, time and time again”
Gabriel García Márquez

Ageing in today’s population entails a challenge on the response that current society must give to improve the population’s life expectancy. New changes and transformations are necessary, involving accessible, friendly and liveable areas and surroundings for the elderly.

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In 1996, Vodafone Spain operator slogan was “We carry the voice”. Many things have changed since then, not only the world history, but the role of the mobile operators in the society and in the world we live.

Initially it was just the voice what transformed our lives, making our day by day easier, calling anyone from anywhere. Data continued that transformation, sharing pictures and videos with our friends or sending emails at any time and any place. In the last two decades mobile phones have transformed the way people are connected and in the next ones we will see a revolution in the way objects are connected, with a big impact on Active and Healthy Ageing.

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The home has been the centre of private life for generations, a place that one would rarely change. The feeling of being “at home” is strongly linked with relaxation and security. This human desire for self-determination and independence increasingly places the dwelling in the focus of technical improvement interests, particularly in an aging society in which older people want to stay at home as long as possible. Given the present state of the art, it’s now high time to go beyond “barrier-free” and “wheelchair-friendly” buildings and address the need for technical assistance in residential construction, such as emergency call systems in case of fall, support for forgetfulness, energy efficiency and other cost-saving efficiency solutions, reduction of burglary potential and optimization of lighting, volume, temperature and air quality.

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Based on the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT), we are now dreaming of new applications that will serve older people for their better comfort, health and security. Will our dreams come true..? Definitely yes. But the question is rather: when?

My “uncomplete” answer is: when the Internet of Things will be real…

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As stated by Sergio Guillén in the first post of this blog, the main goal of ACTIVAGE is to build the first interoperable IoT-AHA Ecosystem.
I have discussed what the IoT-AHA ecosystem is with Sergio and, like true engineers, we see the IoT-AHA Ecosystem as a “cogwheel” that makes two other cogwheels move, the “Active and Healthy Ageing” and the “Internet of Things” cogwheels, that together create a brand new mechanism.

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This article is based on a report from the European Commission named “The 2015 Ageing Report”. While this report has gone unnoticed, it contains key points that are essential to the future of the European Union. The blog www.activageproject.eu tries to gather some of these key points, focusing on Active and Healthy Ageing, to make them more easily understandable to our readers.

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