Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology request
- POD Reference
- TRES20240422024
- Term of Validity
- 22 April 2024 - 22 April 2025
- Company's Country
- Spain
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
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SME from the Basque Country (north of Spain) involved in caring and nursing services for old people has launched an open-innovation challenge: How can falls be predicted and prevented in residential care homes through a technical, scalable and economically sustainable solution?
A commercial agreement with technical assistance is envisaged in collaboration with an ICT partner. - Full Description
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One of the highest risks for health and welfare older people face when living either in their own or in retirement homes, is that of falling. The profile of the person prone to these types of accidents is that of a fragile person with various levels of dependence which makes him or her very vulnerable. The impact of the falls can hit rather hard at a physical and psychological level. The risk of falls increases with age and is higher in women than in men. It is noteworthy that only 20% of the falls have severe consequences.
Normally, care homes, after a dependence assessment of the individual, elaborate a care plan that includes preventive measures aimed at reducing the risk of falls. These are mainly based on physical exercises which have proved to be quite useful but only to a limited extent as these actions can be preventive and scalable only when people at risk are identified. And identification depends on far too many factors.
On the other hand, sensor-based technological solutions have been implemented such as bracelets, movement sensors, pressure sensors, etc. all of them in close contact with the call centre’s system. Bracelets are tools that allow a fast reaction which in turn minimizes consequences and speeds up later recovery.
Room sensors allow falls detection before taking place although they are limited both in efficiency and scalability due to their high costs.
The Basque company wishes to keep moving forward in prediction and prevention of falls not only for the quality of life of the individuals but also for the sake of the public health system as less hospital stays will mean less costs.
Target individuals the solution will be aimed at are: Moderate and severely dependent persons (those requiring help for basic activities at least once a day, or 2-3 times a day, in both cases, limited support not permanent from the caregiver). These users receive 4-5 medical interventions, furthermore, take 5 or more medications daily, some of which increase the risk of falls.
The required functional needs of the solution must allow for predicting the risk of falls, integrate withing existing systems, be easily scalable, comply with legislation in matters of data privacy and security, its usability must bear in mind the profiles at stake and the professional caregivers.
A pilot project will be carried out, remunerated, validated in a real environment with real users in a care home that is right in the heart of Bilbao. It houses 191 places distributed in 70 double and 51 single rooms on 5 floors. The idea is to scale the same solution for other centres that are different in size, structure and organization.
This is an open-innovation challenge that involves competing against other candidates. Those interested in participating will have to submit their proposal via a platform link that will be provided upon generating an expression of interest. Likewise, the link contains further information and indications on how to proceed.
Schedule: submission of proposals: from 22nd April 2024 to 31st May (24:00 GMT+1)
An ICT type of partner is expected to develop a solution to the challenge under a commercial agreement with technical assistance. - Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
- IPR description
- Digital solutions are sought by unconventional partners such as start-ups, scale-ups, technological SMEs involved in the ICT field. A clear value proposal relevant to the challenge is expected.
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
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The partner must be a specialist in bespoke software / apps design / development, able to come up with a solution that is a predictive and scalable tool that can be integrated in existing systems and comply with the legislation in data protection.
They must also provide maintenance and support services. They are required to work on a trust and effective cooperation basis. Experience in the health sector will be highly valued. - Type and Size of Partner
- SME <=10SME 11-49SME 50 - 249UniversityR&D InstitutionOther
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
Call details
- Coordinator required
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Yes
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 01003006 - Computer Software01003008 - Data Processing / Data Interchange, Middleware01003010 - Databases, Database Management, Data Mining
- Market keywords
- 01006004 - Communications services02006004 - Data processing, analysis and input services02006007 - Databases and on-line information services02007004 - Program development tools/languages02007007 - Applications software
- Targeted countries
- All countries