Viviane Reding: Towards an Age-Friendly Information Society
Towards a New Ageing Vision: The Contribution of ICT Industry and Businesses
Brussels, 6 October 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished Members of the European Parliament,
Thank you very much for the invitation to this workshop. I welcome this initiative of the AGE platform with support from the European Parliament. We need to continue reinforcing the common European vision of an inclusive information society benefiting ALL categories of society, including the elderly.
I am encouraged by the political support provided by the presence of my friends from the European Parliament and by the commitment of key stakeholders present here today, in particular industry and business. You are the ones who can provide the usable and affordable products and services that help older people to live a healthy and independent life for as long as possible.
My call to you today is to reinforce your commitment to joint action in Europe. In other words, we need your weight behind Europe’s Action Plan for Ageing Well in the Information Society. I will return to what that means.
Why is work in ICT for ageing so important?
Let me first recap why the ageing challenge is ever more important today.
When ageing today, you can look forward to a long life more than ever before in history. At the same time, increasing life expectancy comes with an ever growing cost of care and pensions. Today’s ratio of 4 to 1 workers for every retired person will drop to 3 to 1 by 2025 and to only 2 to 1 by 2050, threatening the sustainability of our pension schemes and weighing on the shoulders of the future generations. If we do not take action, additional costs of healthcare may be as high as 8% of GDP by 2050. In particular the cost of the frail and elderly, many well over 80, will rise. Long term conditions such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimers’ disease and hip operations are amongst the big cost categories.
We can handle that cost challenge, but only with a combined strategy of cost containment, increased productivity and better quality of care. The only way out is ICT.
With the help of ICT we can make a substantial contribution to keeping health and social care financially sustainable. An example: in Herefordshire in the UK, telecare generates annual savings of 1000 euros per older person. The newest data from the West Lothian smart buildings initiative in Scotland, that I have mentioned in the past, show a reduction in hospital stays from 57 days to 9 days and a reduction of costs by no less than a factor of 3. West Lothian combines social and health care with smart technology in existing and newly-built homes.
Even if financial sustainability is tremendously important, it is not our only concern. We also wish a better quality of life for our elders.
Here too, ICT can make a huge difference. In response to a call for tender, some 100 proposals have just been evaluated for ICT design projects intended to improve the social interaction of elderly people, one of the many areas where ICT can make a difference.
But to be fair, today’s ICTs can also be a challenge. Technology is still, too often, difficult to use and not truly accessible especially for our older generations with low vision, cognitive problems, or reduced manual dexterity. Just observe how many older people struggle with ATMs or ticket machines in train stations. We mustn’t exclude them even more as ICT becomes more pervasive.
We have a firm belief that through implementing ICT solutions we will be able to provide a better quality of life for ageing people across Europe and get the rising cost of ageing under control. Smart ICT will be essential to make these two ‘wins’ a reality. The best way to do so is together, with the help of industry and business. That is why the companies are here, because they seek to be the third ‘win’. Indeed, we are convinced that the silver age truly represents a golden business opportunity.
We are also keenly interested in developing new technologies for the elderly. Let me give you just one example: in the 7th Framework Programme we are now supporting research into social service robotics for the elderly (SRS). The SRS project develops a service robot that helps elderly persons to get in and out of bed and to perform daily activities which require physical assistance. The aim is for frail and elderly people to be able to continue living at home and that relatives and carers are relieved from heavy physical work. Robotics sounds futuristic today, but may well be a reality tomorrow.
Turning the challenges into opportunity through ICT
As you know, the European Commission has put in place a comprehensive framework in support of ageing and ICT.
In policy terms I refer here to our Action plan on “Ageing Well in the Information Society” that I mentioned earlier. This Action Plan which I proposed, was adopted by the European Commission in 2007. It sets out to increase awareness about practical ICT solutions, promote exchange of good practices and stakeholder coordination, identify market conditions and barriers across Europe, stimulate uptake and invest in research.
Another challenge to “Ageing well in the information society” is the accessibility challenge, a theme within our e-Inclusion policy which addresses the risks of exclusion as part of the i2010 information society policy. You know, the older generations are going to be the largest group of customers for accessible ICT.
The European Commission’s e-accessibility policy was updated at the end of last year. We are keeping a close watch on progress in web-accessibility and other forms of e-accessibility in order to ensure that e-accessibility is integrated in revisions of EU legislation where appropriate. We will also take into account the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and the outcome of the political decision-making on the Equal Treatment Directive.
What more should we do? In my view we must be ambitious, first, by encouraging the European-wide adoption of the global web accessibility standard, the new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Second, we should work together and in step so that the online services industry can reap economies of scale and reduce prices and so that the users get a decent and reliable framework. I believe the way we should do this is to develop together with stakeholders a European Disability Act.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is not only about accessibility but also about literacy, digital literacy, being able to use and benefit from ICT. 81% of people aged 65-74 have no Internet skills. Elderly people risk to be further excluded in the coming years if we don’t bridge these gaps today. We don’t want to have further exclusion, do we? This also holds for family carers as well as for the many SMEs that are going to provide home adaptations and services for independent living. There is a great potential and a great need for active digital skills promotion for elderly people who live an independent life at home, for their carers, and for the SMEs that service them. A true case for social innovation!
The Action Plan on Ageing Well is also complementary to the European Commission’s e-health policy. Amongst the many actions in this other chapter of ICT policy, I wish to mention the European Commission’s Lead Market initiative that is conducted together with the industry and our most recent Communication on ”Telemedicine for the benefit of patients, healthcare systems and society”. It provides an incentive to all actors to facilitate patient access to safe and high quality healthcare via the use of telemedicine, avoiding long, costly hospital stays for chronic disease patients.
The European Commission’s Annual Report on Demographic Ageing of May 2009 recognizes the importance of ICT for independent living. President Barroso included our Recommendation on Interoperability of Electronic Health Records in last year’s Renewed Social Agenda for Europe. We have made sure that ageing well with ICT and e-health are recognized in Europe’s social and economic policies!
I now want to draw attention to EU support for research and innovation addressing the ageing challenge. This includes the 7th Framework Programme, the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme which we run together with 23 European countries, and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme that focuses on demonstration projects.
Together, these programmes will leverage more than one billion Euros between 2008 and 2013 for research and innovation in ICT & Ageing. They provide huge opportunities for the ICT industry to make Europe the hub for new global markets in this emerging field.
A few words about the kind of activities in these programmes: in the FP7 we focus on ground-breaking research. I already mentioned social and service robotics. We also investigate the potential of direct control by thought, of equipment in the living space of the elderly or disabled person. Clearly this type of research takes a long-term perspective.
Since we are today in the European Parliament, I would like to recall the crucial role played by the European Parliament in making the Joint Research Programme on Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) a reality for Europeans. I look forward to working together with the Members of the European Parliament and with the Council in support of our future citizens-related initiatives.
The AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) Joint Programme has only recently started operating. It focuses on applied research with 2 to 3 years-to-market. The first two Calls received some 100 proposals each and addressed telemonitoring and social interaction of the elderly. I am particularly pleased that this Programme received no less than 43% participation of SMEs, with a 40% success rate for proposals. Moreover, jointly, Member States have increased their financial commitment to the Programme by over 50%, which is well over the minimum that was legally required. Isn’t that a strong signal of Member States’ commitment in these financially stressed times?
In the CIP research Programme, that funds our demonstration projects, we have so far launched 10 large scale deployment projects, involving more than 30 regions in Europe. These validate existing ICT for prolonging independent living of elderly people with multiple chronic diseases and early dementia. They will collect comprehensive socio-economic evidence, which is essential to support the case for subsequent large scale investment.
An example of the kind of work that is carried out is the ISISEMD project which assists people with recently diagnosed dementia to stay as long as possible at home. The technology involved includes activity reminders, safety features, position and activity tracking. 80 homes with some 160 inhabitants and relatives and 40 professional care givers on four pilot sites are taking part. Another example is the Sociable project which pilots mental training based on games and social interaction of elderly people with early stage cognitive problems and mild dementia. 350 senior citizens are participating in 7 different pilot sites in Greece, Italy, Norway, and Spain. Yet another relevant CIP project which is more of an eHealth initiative, is the large scale Smart Open Services pilot for cross-border use of electronic patient summaries and medication data.
I must emphasise that in all our technical work, ethical concerns are taken very seriously to ensure privacy and dignity of individuals. In the particular context of ICT and ageing, the Commission is supporting ethical guidance work amongst others in the SENIOR project.
Commitment and delivery
As you can see, the European Commission is firmly promoting and actively supporting the ageing well and ICT agenda. Now I want to call upon all of you, with a particular emphasis on the industry, for this agenda to be a success.
Taking the four strands of the Action Plan for Ageing Well that would mean the following.
Firstly, raise awareness of what is already possible today. Despite all the work that is being carried out, we must admit that it’s still early days as far as awareness is concerned. Many people still have to be convinced and I would like to see the industry deliver many more practical, easily understandable and usable solutions. You all have the means to reach professionals and citizens alike. From our side we will make impact evidence available where we can. We invite you to participate in our workshop on impact of CIP “ageing well” projects on the 17th of October.
Secondly, the hurdles of interoperability need to be solved as a matter of priority to achieve economies of scale and to give elderly people, as their needs change, plug-and-play extensions. An example would be to plug additional monitoring equipment into their existing set-top box when they are needed. As regards interoperability itself, we are following with interest the work of the Continua Alliance of which several of you are members. Inform us when you need our help to overcome barriers.
I want to stress once more the economic and moral obligation there is to make solutions truly usable, personalised and accessible for all.
Thirdly, I ask you to step up your investment in rolling out independent living and e-health solutions. Member States have shown their growing interest and commitment, so there is an opening window of opportunity. Service providers and ICT industry have to become part of the game as well. Again, we are willing to help make the case with respect to public support such as in regional funding. In fact, we will do so tomorrow at the Open Days of the Regions where the idea is to stimulate sensible investment in regions with the use of the European Cohesion Funds. ICT solutions to improve accessibility are sensible investments!
Fourthly and finally, I ask you to give priority to research and innovation into new ICT or combinations of ICT and other technologies, and into new forms of service delivery and business models. We also invite you all to help shape the research agenda for the future. One way is to take part in the work carried out by the AALIANCE innovation platform. This EU-funded support activity involves 35 key stakeholders who have developed a common vision and roadmap for R&D in ICT for Ageing Well. This will be useful to guide and integrate research and innovation across FP7 and pave the road for identifying future research priorities.
Conclusion
We have behind us a first phase of exploration and planning. And now, we want to move to more concrete achievements. I count on all of you to renew your commitment to the joint vision of ageing well with the help of ICT. Above all what is needed today, is to deliver clear results. Credible results today are the best basis for the agenda of tomorrow, in post-i2010, in FP8, and in the new Commission. There is a long road from vision to reality, but as is often said and as we all know, each road starts with the first step. That first step has successfully been taken. Now let’s take the next step, together.
I thank you for your attention.
Source: AGE-Platform.org
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