Introduction

The aim of the AAL Programme is to provide innovative Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) based solutions including products, systems or services to enhance older adults' quality of life, to improve long-term sustainability of the health and long-term care systems and to strengthen the industrial base in Europe. The main goal is to improve the autonomy, participation in social life, skills, and employability of older adults2. Solutions funded under the AAL Programme address identified wishes and needs of the end-users, are transnational, collaborative and cost-shared between private and public funding. AAL projects aim to introduce solutions to the market within a maximum of 2 years after finalisation of the project.

Objectives of the call

The focus of the 2017 call challenge of the AAL Programme is twofold:

1) The challenge lies in developing packages integrating different solutions that address the needs and wishes of end-users and add value to their lives. Since peoples' wishes, aspirations and needs evolve over time, packages should be designed with built-in flexibility and a variety of components in order to meet diverse individual situations and to remain attractive to their end-users over time. End-users expect proposed solutions to be affordable, user-friendly, secure and reliable. Packages should be based on existing and/or open platforms.

In AAL Call Challenge 2017 it is possible to:

-Integrate single successful solutions that have been developed through the course of previous AAL related projects (funded by the AAL Programmes, other funding Programmes at the European or national levels, or other sources), and need finalisation;

- Develop new components and integrate them into packages;

- Include single market-ready components in the packages, as long as there is still integration work to be done, and match them with other solutions. However, the project's focus must lie on the first two mentioned options.

Projects funded under Challenge 2017 will be operating in technology readiness levels 5-8. Packages have to meet previously identified end-user needs and wishes. Since a lot of requirement analyses have already been carried out in previous projects7, it is expected that consortia will build on what is already available. If a further requirement analyses is needed it has to be duly justified.

2) The challenge lies in extensive testing and evaluation of packages in order to provide meaningful and significant results.

In order to support integration of AAL solutions into packages and to create successful testing environments, under the current challenge the following need to be addressed by consortia:

-It is expected that end-users and end-user organisations will have a proactive role within the consortium.

-The rationale and the design of the testing and evaluation have to be geared towards essentially involving a high number of end-users and have to be specified in the proposal.

- Proposals must include a detailed description of the evaluation process and methods adopted, taking into consideration the whole ecosystem of the AAL solution.

-The consortium should include all partners along the value chain.

- Since the call aims at funding affordable and sustainable solutions, proposals are expected to provide substantiated information on the business model already at the proposal submission phase.

- Ethical guidelines have to be adhered to, and ethical standards have to be respected.

Expected impact

a) On quality of life

ICT-based solutions in this call challenge are expected to contribute to sustain or improve the quality of life of older adults in different dimensions and throughout the ageing process for:- Living a healthy, active and meaningful life;- Living independently and safely for longer at home (decision and control of daily activities) with support from their carers and community when necessary; -Living in dignity and satisfaction.

In case the proposed ICT-based solution includes informal and/or professional carers, it should support them to: reduce stress and care burden;- build resilience;- improve quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the care they provide.

b) On market

ICT-based solutions in this call challenge are expected to contribute to: . A large(r) exploitation of packages integrating different solutions for older adults throughout the ageing process. This includes their supporting environment, if applicable; - A growing public and consumer market of interoperable and scalable AAL systems to support active, healthy and independent living for older adults; -More European/international collaboration, including end-users, industry and other stakeholders in the value chain; - Savings for the social/care system as older adults are supported in living independently in their homes for longer, thus lowering the need for homecare and delaying the move to institutionalized/Community care.

Applicants must outline the key performance indicators11 used to measure the impact of the packaged ICT-based solutions in terms of the targeted objective, as well as the methodology used to collect data on its potential impact.

Eligible applicants

Eligible for funding are only organizations that are explicitly included in the national eligibility criteria published as part of the Guide for Applicants.

Eligible countries

AAL Partner States participating in the Call for Proposals are: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.

Partnership criteria

The consortium must include at least 3 independent eligible organizations from at least 3 different AAL Partner States participating in the Call for Proposals. In addition, consortium must include: - at least one eligible for-profit business partner; - at least one eligible for-profit SME partner which can be the business partner; - at least one eligible end-user organization. The consortium must include between 3 and 10 partners. The effort of industry and other business partners in each project is expected to be 50% or more (in person months).

Project duration

From 18 to 36 months.

More information at http://www.aal-europe.eu/