user-friendly internet information system
network for elderly persons and people with special needs
|
user-friendly internet information system network for elderly persons and people with special needs concept / project draft for the
|
Description of contribution to EC policies, economic development, management
Part C
Community added value and contribution to EC policies:
The proposed thematic network is oriented towards the EC initiative to accelerate Europe's transformation into an Information Society. This initiative proposes ambitious targets to bring the benefits of the Information Society within reach of all Europeans. One of the key objectives of this initiative, i.e. ensuring that the whole process is socially inclusive and strengthens social cohesion, is a general goal of the planned network. One of the ten priority areas, proposed by the Commission, is entitled "eParticipation for the disabled", in order to ensure that the development of the Information Society takes full account of the needs of disabled people.
"NetofNeeds" will support the integration of research and already existing national and EU-projects concerning different platforms for elderly persons and people with disabilities (e.g. THINK, HELIOS I and II, ADAPT-HORIZON, TIDE, HANDYNET, COST 219bis, EUREKA/ITEA, SOKRATES etc.).
The project will be carried out at European level instead of at national level, due to the following reasons:
European added value is expected by the realisation of the project, since the Thematic Network "NetofNeeds" is to perform the necessary preparatory work for the establishment and technological implementation of a Europe-wide, uniform information-network for citizens with special needs, including elderly and disabled.
The aspired features of the network - "user-friendliness" "cost-effective usability" and "acceptability" - are to present valuable advantages for the elderly and disabled in order to increase their quality of life.
Contribution to Community social objectives:
The proposed thematic network contributes to meeting several social objectives of the Community. It will focus its work especially on the quality of life and health; but indirectly it will also contribute to improving employment. By the provision of appropriate tools and systems for the establishment of a Europe-wide information and service network for elderly and persons with disabilities, social issues will be directly addressed.
Due to the demographic development in the industrialised world - i.e. the average expectancy of life especially of women is increasing, the age group 50+ is growing, there is a tendency towards single-households etc. - and other factors, medical treatment and qualified care of elderly and disabled persons will increasingly become an economic as well as a social problem in many countries. By the utilisation of information technologies, it will not only be possible to cut costs for assisting personnel considerably but also to improve the quality of life for affected persons. Information and service networks will allow to integrate them again into the outside world and to communicate in the same way as non-affected persons.
The access to medical care is theoretically equally possible for all citizens. But in practice, elderly and disabled need support in different respects, e.g. communication with care personnel, specific advise on medical care, search of health-related information etc. This means that the affected group has to overcome more or less high barriers to improve or maintain their health, barriers which are rarely existing for non-affected groups. The project will cover this area by special services of the network and appropriate solutions for the crucial interface issue. But beside health and quality of life, the project will also contribute to the provision of employment opportunities. As a rule, people with disabilities are not or only with high efforts (and costs) in the position to work outside their homes. The use of an information network will contribute to improve their position as well as their chances at the labour market considerably.
These consequences can be expected since a growing number of jobs in the information society of tomorrow will be combined with computer work, which can be carried out almost everywhere, provided that a fast data transfer is provided. In addition to "normal" computerised working places, people with disabilities will in certain cases need additional aids for the input of data / information. These aids have to be specifically designed for their users, tasking into consideration their individual situation. In connection with computer work and employment it is seen as an enormous advantage for employees with disabilities that distant working can to a certain extent "equalise" their physical disadvantages, since network users are only existent and judged according to the content and presentation of transferred data.
The question in which way data are input, read or prepared by disabled persons is a secondary matter and should not have any influence on the working relation. To allow the broad implementation of the information network, its user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness are seen as crucial factors. It is a social objective to facilitate the access to the network not only for privileged user groups (users who can afford it and who dispose on the necessary specific knowledge) but for all levels of society, especially for elderly and disabled persons.
Management for proper management of the project, the following additional measures / functions will be introduced:
Project Steering Committee
A project Steering Committee will be formed to decide about the high-level management issues, including technical and financial planning, control matters and exploitation. Membership of the Steering Committee will comprise one senior management official from each partner. In general this member will be one of the Work package Leaders. The senior managers will meet at least once in twelve months or more often in case of special issues to be discussed. The chairman of the Steering Committee will be appointed at the first meeting.
Work package Leaders
Work package Leaders will be nominated from among the partners involved in a Work package (WP) for detailed co-ordination, planning, monitoring and reporting. Groups will meet according to the specific needs of the WP, under the chairmanship of the WP-Leader.
The Project Co-ordinator
The Project Co-ordinator will be responsible for the day-to-day co-ordination of the project. He will also be the main interface between the Consortium and the European Commission. He will consolidate project planning, progress reports, milestone reports, cost statements and budgetary overviews etc. using the inputs from the other partners, and he will co-ordinate the communication between the partners (see below).
Milestone reviews
At the milestones reviews the progress of the project and the outlook for exploitation of the results will be critically reviewed compared to the planning and criteria described in the work programme. Depending on the progress and the results achieved, a change in the work programme may be proposed. Alternatively, in case of insufficient technical results or poor outlooks for further exploitation of the results, it can be decided to discontinue the project. For the Mid-term Assessment and Final Assessment, workshops which are organised on a regular basis within the EU will be used as review meetings.
Communication strategy
The communication strategy aims at keeping the partners fully informed about the project status, the planning and all other issues which are important to the partners in order to obtain maximum transparency for all involved and to increase the synergy of the co-operation. Interactive management meetings and technical meetings play an important role in the communication strategy. All information (like minutes of meetings, visit reports, WP reports, relevant publications etc.) will be communicated to the Project Co-ordinator, who will be responsible also for channelling this information to the other partners, where appropriate. The communication strategy also aims at effectively communicating with parties outside the Consortium, such as with other European project Consortia, and other potential users of the knowledge accumulated. The communication strategy - which includes planning for publications to be made, presentations to be given and conferences to be attended on behalf of the Consortium - will be a topic at Steering Committee meetings.
Methods for monitoring and reporting progress
The Leader of each WP will formally report to the Project Co-ordinator about the progress of the work, on the basis of regularly updated detailed planning. The reporting includes information about the technical progress, results obtained (e.g. deliverables) and compliance with the work programme. The Co-ordinator will summarise the overall project status and planning. To this end he will also regularly update the bar-chart and the manpower matrix using the data he receives from the partners. The Co-ordinator will provide for the preparation of the project reports and take care of their distribution. This concerns especially the progress reports, the mid-term assessment report and the final report. Every 12 months, the Co-ordinator will prepare a consolidated overview of the budgetary situation of the project (in EURO), on the basis of the cost statements he has received from the partners for submission to the Commission and of the payments that have been made. The budgetary situation will also be compared with the initial costs-per-year planning which is to be made at the kick-off phase of the project.
Project management task
A specific project management task is included in the work packages, to allow the implementation of the management procedures described above. This task covers all manpower needed for the overall co-ordination of the project including measures needed to assure the exploitation and dissemination of the results. Preparation of the detailed planning for the WP and the preparation of the WP reports is included in the manpower for the respective technical WP.
Economic development and scientific and technological prospects
The Thematic Network "NetofNeeds" deals with the provision of an internet platform for elderly persons and people with disabilities. To promote economic development is not an overriding goal of the project since it concentrates on social issues, i.e. how the disadvantaged group of elderly and disabled persons can be integrated into the Information Society in order to increase their quality of life and to allow their active contribution to an economies European-wide product. Economic issues are an indirect topic of the project, insofar as new job opportunities for the target group are created by the utilisation of the information network. It is expected that the network will enable a considerable amount of disabled persons, which are not in the position to leave their homes independently, to take up ordinary job relations.
Consequently "NetofNeeds" may contribute to reduce unemployment rates among disabled persons, though not dramatically but sustainable. Finally, economic development will also be positively influenced by the creation of additional service jobs and IT-based working relations, in order to meet new demands of individuals, which have hitherto been excluded from everyday life.
Results of the project are to be disseminated via different channels:
Concerning the improvement of competitiveness it is to be stated that the proposed thematic network is not related to industrial issues and should thus not be evaluated according to the rules of a market economy. The creation of market activities is only relevant in a second step, when different providers of services start to compete for customers. Furthermore it might be perfectly possible that the envisioned Internet platform will create (new) jobs which might then be filled with people with disabilities.
© Willibald KREMSER 2.2.th february
2003