The “Design-led innovations for Active Ageing” project brings together cities from eight European countries to develop and share social innovations and best practices that help face the challenge of an ageing population.
- 18 January 2016
Design is not only an element of styling, it can also be a driver of innovation and a guarantor for user-driven planning. This is proven by the DAA project, where senior care specialists team up with service designers in order to come up with sustainable solutions for demographic ageing.
Scenarios become pioneering examples
Each of the eight cities focused on a specific aspect of elderly care services, called “scenarios”. With the help of the experts and designers, so-called “design briefs” were created, which were then discussed in workshops and events in order to find the best way to implement the ideas. The project always aimed at an integrated approach, including stakeholders and users.
Thus, in the Finnish capital Helsinki, the lead partner of the project, one district was chosen to be the location for a case study to test models of personal budgeting, enabling the elderly to plan and manage their own levels of support and services dependent on their needs. The independence and safety of elderly citizens was also a topic in Oslo, which focused on the use of welfare technology, and Berlin, which analysed the necessary preconditions for implementing successful measures for an Ambient Assisted Living.
Promoting social inclusion and improving public administration
Several projects explored the aspect of social inclusion. In particular, the Belgian city of Antwerp conducted a study on how to detect socially isolated senior citizens in urban neighbourhoods, while people in Warsaw, Poland investigated the role of educational organisations in preventing the social exclusion of the elderly.
The city of Stockholm developed a plan for the implementation of mobile sprinklers in order to improve fire protection for elderly citizens as part of their efforts to improve policies that can provide services to the elderly. Bulgaria’s capital Sofia aimed to become an age-friendly society by strengthening cooperation with non-profit organisations, charities and volunteer groups, whereas Barcelona designed a health care system for people suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Design-led innovations for Active Ageing (DAA)” is EUR 2 022 700, of which the EU’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is contributing EUR 1 366 133 from the “INTERREG IVC” operational programme for the 2007-2013 programming period.