Certification-D - Certification of technological products for people with dementia to support SMEs in innovation and business growth

Project Summary

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Framework, Objective, Outputs

From 2018 to 2050, the number of People with Dementia will increase from 3.3 to 8.5 million in NWE. Because the supply of care places cannot expand at the same rate as the number of People with Dementia there is a shift by local government and People with Dementia to remain at home for as long as possible, in the future more People with Dementia will live longer at home and need more support-products. However, studies show that People with Dementia and their support network do not always know and trust existing solutions (TRL 6). It is then necessary to define standards for these products and, through certification, increase confidence in them and encourage SMEs to focus on this market (TRL 8).

Our project supports SMEs in NWE that develop and market innovative, reliable, self-determined home living products for People with Dementia. This increases the SMEs turnover, competitiveness and job creation. In collaboration with partners from research and care institutions, SMEs, associations and People with Dementia, design standards will be developed. Together with a certification company, new and existing products for People with Dementia will be evaluated and certified. Following the project’s completion, enterprises in NWE will be able to work and develop further in this area.

The main outputs of this project are: an improved innovation network, a certification process and test mark, 24+ products, services or processes tested in Living Labs, 30+ SMEs supported by the project partners, and an ongoing cooperation of companies, research institutions, care providers, People with Dementia and caregivers in NWE.

In the future, business and PwD lobby associations will recommend the certified products, will ask for and value these reliable standards. The certification body and the Living Labs of the partners will form the basis of a European Dementia Living Labs Alliance supported and financed by the certification of further products and, post project, it will expand of the customer base to all People with Dementia, who live at home.

Mission, Vision, Key Messages

Our project’s vision is that people living with dementia should be supported in living at home as safe, as well and as long as they can.

To concretize the project’s objective, we developed a mission: Our mission is to guarantee good quality products, systems and services for people living with dementia and support and encourage companies to design well for people with dementia.

Five key messages have been formulated. This, in order to have the flexibility to adapt the key message to the target group which is intended to be reached.

1. With the support of people living with dementia, we test and improve products for people living with dementia.
2. Collaborating with companies, we improve their products for people living with dementia.
3. Working together with care providers, we implement and evaluate these products within existing support networks.
4. Supporting patients and representation organisations, we train formal and informal caregivers in using and evaluating these products.
5. Together we establish standards, a certification procedure with quality mark for products for people living with dementia.