Latest News
- PRESS RELEASE
- High-Level Meeting on Disability: Presidents of Commission, Parliament and European Council join forces with the European Disability Forum
-
(6 December 2011) Leaders of the European Union institutions today came together for the first time with the European Disability Forum to discuss issues facing the estimated 80 million Europeans with disabilities. Presidents José Manuel Barroso (European Commission), Jerzy Buzek (European Parliament), Herman Van Rompuy (European Council) as well as European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding, the EU's Justice Commissioner, met with pan-European representatives of the disabled community. The European Commission adopted a comprehensive strategy last year to create a barrier-free Europe for disabled people by 2020 (IP/10/1505). The plan outlines how the EU and national governments can empower people with disabilities so they can enjoy their rights. Today's discussion focused on the progress made so far in implementing the strategy and how people with disabilities are being affected by the economic crisis. Under the lead of Vice-President Reding, the Commission will put forward the European Accessibility Act in autumn 2012 to ensure that people with disabilities have access on an equal basis with others to the physical environment, to transport and to information and communication services. Accessibility is a precondition for persons with disabilities to be able to enjoy the rights enshrined in the UN Convention, the EU Treaty and the Charter for Fundamental Rights. The Commission will shortly launch a public consultation on accessibility issues to help prepare the initiative.
- NEWS ARTICLE
- Winners of the Smart Accessibility Awards announced
-
(6 December 2011) Vodafone has announced the winners of the inaugural Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards at a ceremony attended by the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes and Vodafone Group Chief Executive Vittorio Colao. The mobile internet is central to the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world as an increasing number of consumers turn to smartphones for messaging, social networking, access to information and entertainment and many other services. Smartphones offer significant benefits for the more than 1 billion people who live with some form of disability. Applications targeting the specific challenges faced by disabled and older people - for example, text-to-speech services for the visually impaired - can directly enhance quality of life. However, relatively few mobile application developers focus on the potential that smartphone apps have to help people with disabilities play a more active and independent role in society. The Vodafone Foundation partnered with AGE Platform Europe and the European Disability Forum (EDF) to devise and deliver the Smart Accessibility Awards: an international competition which rewards developers who have the creativity, vision and social commitment to harness the power of smartphones and the mobile internet in support of disabled and older people's needs.
- NEWS ARTICLE
- Competition to reward the best eHealth solution developed by an EU SME
-
(23 November 2011) The objective of the Competition is to support business success of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by giving them visibility, together with marketing opportunities to attract customers, partners and external capital. In order to participate, SMEs have to register by filling a simple form. Eligible SMEs will receive in January a template, and the received information will be evaluated to select the 30 SMEs that will enter into the European Final. The Final will be celebrated during the eHealth Week 2012 in Copenhagen (Denmark) on 7 May 2012. Please note that Associations (clusters, technological parks, etc) can also collaborate with the Competition management, and receive benefits for their work.
- PRESS RELEASE
- European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to create more innovation hubs
-
(30 November 2011) The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is to significantly step up its efforts to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU with the creation of six new cross-border innovation hubs, known as Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), in 2014-2020. The European Commission has allocated a budget of €2.8 billion in the next financial framework to enable the EIT to expand and consolidate the development of its existing KICs which focus on climate change, sustainable energy and ICT.
- NEWS ARTICLE
- EU students at risk if teachers and officials do not end apathy to technology in the classroom
-
(1 December 2011) Vice President Kroes has called on teachers and education administrators to end their apathy to technology in the classroom and the education system, or risk being "guilty of a grand failure: a failure to give our children the best chance in life." Kroes said that from South Korea to the slums of Nairobi technology often plays a larger role in education than in Europe and this needs to change. "We need every teacher digital, and every student digital. Right from the very start of formal education." "Why, here in Europe, do most of our classrooms still feel like they did when I was at school?" "Let technology support and enhance learning…When digital media can be combined to create interactive rich content to help teaching: why are we still based on blackboards, textbooks and a uniform approach for everybody?" Kroes said many teachers do see the point and achieve great results: "These technologies are routinely and readily available." In particular such technology helps to tailor learning: "It can help people learn at their own pace, in their own way, wherever they are, and throughout their lives."
- NEWS ARTICLE
- New AAL project: Adaptive embedded human interfaces designed for older people
-
(7 December 2011) A new European Project, GoldUI: Adaptive embedded human interfaces designed for older people, co-funded by the European Commission under the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme has started in July 2011 with a duration of 24 months and involving partners from 3 different countries (Spain, UK and Italy). The objective of GoldUI is to improve the independence and participation of older people, for whom technology can present some problems and difficulties particular to the elderly. In order to foster independence and participation, GoldUI adopts an end-user perspective to develop and test technological solutions in the home environment and other related activities of daily living. GoldUI will allow the elderly to access a wide range of cloud-based services by using content adaptation and personalization techniques GoldUI will provide an older person with access to an extendable range of online services such as local library, social networking, home delivery shopping through multiple devices and communication channels: traditional telephone, smartphone or tablet, IP-TV and home radio. The service will be designed to complement other methods of information access such as "traditional" web browsing, use of specialized mobile phone applications, etc. It will provide a tailored, clear interface that will encourage older people to make greater use of online services. The project effort is on customization and tailoring of access for the older user.
See also: http://www.aal-europe.eu/
- NEWS ARTICLE
- New AAL project: Way Finding for Seniors
-
(7 December 2011) A new European Project, WayFiS: Way Finding for Seniors, co-funded by the European Commission under the Ambient Assisted Living Joint programme has started in March 2011 with a duration of 30 months and involving partners from 3 different countries (Spain, Switzerland and Hungary). WayFiS project will be based on the development of a pilot to be tested by approximately 200 end-users in Spain and Hungary; the objective is improving the capability of seniors for projecting personalized route planning and elderly guiding in complex paths (indoor/outdoor/pedestrian/public transport). WayFiS will allow elderly people to overcome barriers and difficulties that often limit their possibility of feeling healthy-well and safe and that severely compromise their indoor and outdoor mobility. Some of the innovative features that WayFiS will provide to elderly people are: Allowing to identify the optimal physical activity route; Identifying routes that match with nutrition needs and disease's restrictions; Avoiding inaccessible routes; Finding necessary facilities along the route. WayFiS will affect the quality of life of elderly people at different levels: it will allow them to maintain mobility, which is a crucial issue for enabling independent and healthy living; it will also guarantee orientation, which is essential for safe moving around in an unknown environment and avoid isolation; it will also enable independent living by allowing elderly people to maintain a high degree of independence and autonomy; it will help elderly people to participate into digital self-service society.
See also: Ambient Assisted Living Joint programme
- NEWS ARTICLE
- Open vacancy for the position of Director of the Ambient Assisted Living Association Central Management Unit (Brussels)
-
(7 December 2011) The Ambient Assisted Living Association (AALA) is seeking to hire a Director for the Central Management Unit, which is the body that carries out the operational management tasks of the AALA, and manages the AALA Joint Programme in close cooperation with the AALA Member organisations. The director is the head of CMU which is staffed with a further six people (2 programme officers, 1 communications officer, 1 financial officer, 1 legal officer and 1 management assistant). The Ambient Assisted Living Association (AALA) is the implementation body of the AAL Joint Programme (AAL JP), a programme of cooperation between the European Commission and 23 Partner States. The Members of the Association are funding authorities and agencies from the Partner States. The objective of the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme (AAL JP) is to enhance the quality of life of older adults through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), whilst strengthening the European industrial base for products and services in this domain. The AAL JP is set up for an initial period of a six-year funding programme (2008 – 2013) with administration of funded projects presumably lasting until 2017. During this period, the planned total public funding will be more than 300 Million €. The first term of employment for the new director will end December 31st, 2013, with the possibility of mutually agreed extension. The deadline for applications is Thursday 15th December 2011 at 17.00 CET.
- EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
- Conference: Vocational Education & Training solutions for e-Facilitators for Social Inclusion
-
12 December 2011 Brussels
The achievements of the VET4e-I project (Vocational Education and Training Solution for e-Facilitators for Social Inclusion) and potential future involvements will be discussed with the analysis of European policy experts in terms of validation, e-Inclusion and e-facilitator's profile and training.
New in the Library
- POLICY AND LEGISLATION
- Strategic Implementation Plan of the Pilot European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing
-
22 November 2011
The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing aims to bring together key stakeholders to define a positive vision for ageing well, establish common priorities for innovation, to identify and address the barriers to innovation and to accelerate and scale up the introduction of relevant innovative solutions across Europe. With this Strategic Implementation Plan, the Steering Group of the European Innovation Partnership on active and healthy ageing delivers its rationale, its vision and its suggestions for addressing the challenge of innovation for active and healthy ageing.
See also: Frequently Asked Questions
- POLICY AND LEGISLATION
- Financing Social Impact. Funding social innovation in Europe - mapping the way forward
-
23 November 2011
The field of innovation for social purposes is developing rapidly all over the world, with new institutions and methods, growing confidence and evidence of impact. Social innovators are changing the way governments work, the way civil society achieves impact, and the actions of business. The field combines commitment, experience and energy. But it lacks the systematic and sophisticated infrastructures of support available to other fields – in particular access to appropriate finance and funding. The result is that although there is no shortage of good ideas, far too few achieve the impact they could. The report sets out a vision for where we want to be ten years from now. It highlights how these various infrastructural gaps will need to be overcome in order for the field to develop to maturity and puts forward recommendations for how we can achieve this.
- AUDIOVISUAL
- Videos of the SRS project: Multi-Role Shadow Robotic System for Independent Living
-
7 December 2011
The FP7 funded SRS project focuses on the development and prototyping of remotely-controlled, semi-autonomous robotic solutions in domestic environments to support elderly people. In particular, the SRS project will demonstrate an innovative, practical and efficient system called "SRS robot" for personalised home care. The videos illustrate the different scenarios the project is working on: Fetch and carry scenario; Emergency help scenario; Situation monitoring scenario.
Subscription Information
This is the newsletter of the e-Inclusion web site on Europa . It is hosted by the Information Society Newsroom - a 'one stop shop' on European Information Society news spanning all Directorates-General of the European Commission.
You may unsubscribe or broaden your subscription from this newsletter by going to Your Profile.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario