Specific programme: Societal Challenges: HEALTH
UPV/EHU Partner Status: Beneficiary
UPV/EHU PI: Itziar Alkorta Ikiakez
Project start:  01/09/2019
Project end:   31/08/2023

Brief description: It is a fact that the European population growth is slowing down, while the population ageing accelerates. Rapid increases in the elderly population are predicted for the coming decades due to the ageing of post-war baby births. Within Europe’s ageing population, Hearing Loss, Cardio Vascular Diseases, Cognitive Impairments, Mental Health Issues and Balance Disorders, as well as Frailty, are prevalent conditions, with tremendous social and financial impact. Preventing, slowing the development of or dealing effectively with effects of the above impairments can have a significant impact on the quality of life and lead to significant savings in the cost of healthcare services. Digital tools hold the promise for many health benefits that can enhance the independent living and well-being of the elderly.

Motivated by the above, the aim of the SMART BEAR platform is to integrate heterogeneous sensors, assistive medical and mobile devices to enable the continuous data collection from the everyday life of the elderly, which will be analysed to obtain the evidence needed in order to offer personalised interventions promoting their healthy and independent living. The platform will also be connected to hospital and other health care service systems to obtain data of the end users (e.g., medical history) that will need to be considered in making decisions for interventions. SMART BEAR will leverage big data analytics and learning capabilities, allowing for large scale analysis of the above mentioned collected data, to generate the evidence required for making decisions about personalised interventions.