What is the Ambient Assisted Living?
Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is ICT-enabled independent living by using products and services for better lives and functional capability of older adults to promote a healthier lifestyle and to support carers, families and care organizations. It is broadly speaking about older adults and people who take care of them, who will have an existing requirement for ICT solutions dependent on their lifestyle, physical or mental health, now or in the future.
The Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme – AAL JP
The Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme (AAL JP) is an initiative involving 22 countries and its main objectives are to improve the living conditions of older adults through the use and development of AAL solutions and to strengthen the competitiveness of European industry in the AAL domain. The AAL Joint Programme is initially set up for a duration from 2008 to 2013. The programmes planned total budget is 700 M€, of which approximately 50% is public funding – from the AAL Partner States and the European Commission – and approximately 50% is private funding from participating private organisations.
The AAL JP projects are underpinned by the principle of ‘independence’. ‘Independence’ is not only defined in terms of physical non-reliance on a carer or health care professional. It also encompasses the far more important psycho-social principles of choice, autonomy and control that the person and carers are assigned in the management of their lives.
The AAL Forum
The AAL Forum is the annual showcase event for the people involved in the AAL JP’s projects and the AAL community. It is the core connection of the joint programme to the AAL Community. This community includes policy makers, ICT developers, manufacturers, health professionals, commissioners, businesses, venture companies, technologists, academics, designers, carers and of course older adults. Its purpose is to exhibit and demonstrate existing or developing ICT solutions (products and services), promote networking within the community, foster the interest of other sectors in the field of AAL, provoke debate and discussion on various topics and highlight new or emerging developments in the area to inform the AAL community.