In the course of demographic change and medical progress, the proportion of senior citizens in the population is increasing. Especially the “healthy aging in their own home” is an ideal, which often also contains numerous risk factors. One pressing question is what happens when someone is not there. Active and ambient Assisted Living (AAL) provides support and options for a vital, barrier-free life of advanced age.
VERBUND AG is keen to expand the existing Smart Home portfolio and pick AAL for seniors and the disabled. Modern technologies joined in a networked system in the home opens up potential opportunities for an environmentally friendly, compact and versatile household and through synergies and efficiency management provides a combined security, communications and management concepts. Access and user-friendliness, reliability of information and motivation for interaction are some of the key points that need to be considered.
In the research project, the project group supported VERBUND AG in the design and empirical research and tried to align and communicate the various needs and interests of the stakeholders to propose concepts and strategies for AAL. Through qualitative research methods such as literature research and guided interviews with seniors between 60 and 75, material was collected and prepared for VERBUND AG in a compact and comprehensible way. From the results, an extensive example of a modular system, which can be extended according to user needs, was created. Furthermore, in the course of the project, a collection of ideas emerged on how such examples could be established on the market.
Students involved in the project:
Lukas Bauer (University of Applied Sciences), Alicia Gutting (University of Vienna), Sabrina Lichtnegger (BOKU), Lukas Schönach (WU)
Contact Association:
Markus Urban-Hübler: Markus.Urban-Huebler@verbund.com
