SILVER (Supporting Independent Living for the Elderly through Robotics)

- THE PROJECT HAS FINISHED.

You find all of the project deliverables (including specific guidelines and templates for the PCP-process) on the SILVER project's official webside.

As people get older, they face increasing risk of some severe condition that will affect their ability to continue living independently at home. The SILVER project searched for new technologies to assist elderly people in their everyday lives. By the use of new robotic solutions, the elderly can continue independent living at home even if they have physical or cognitive disabilities.

The new technologies and solutions were sought by using a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) process. In Europe, the PCP has so far been an under-utilized tool for promoting innovation. One of the aims of the SILVER project was to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach to address societal needs.

As a partner in SILVER the Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark’s aim was to collect and spread experiences regarding Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP). Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark was also the facilitator for the Phase 2 prototype test.

Method

The project developed a generic PCP process and PCP tools. The process was used as the basis for a specific procurement of robotics based solutions that will enable elderly people to live independently in their own homes. The PCP process wass executed in three phases to manage risk.

Results

The European Commission officially expresses the following regarding the SILVER project’s results:

- The SILVER project is the first of its kind. Therefore, SILVER can be considered as the pioneer example of a PCP process at EU scale.

- Overall, the project has achieved its main objectives of a practical implementation and assessment of a transnational PCP process. One of the main project results and contribution to the wider community is the guidelines and templates developed for the PCP process itself, as well as supporting information for contractors (aiming at provision of assistance throughout the whole process). The project has used the developed PCP process to identify new technologies and services to support the independent living of the elderly through robotics.

The Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark has been responsible for gathering learnings and providing recommendations/guidelines – as well as ensuring that these recommendations were incorporated in the generic PCP process template.

Templates:

• SILVER has developed templates for a generic PCP process and concrete materials

Guidelines:

• In SILVER the Health Innovation Centre has developed learning reports from each phase of the PCP process, Phase 0, Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 as well as a consolidated learning report for the whole PCP process.

End product:

• As a concrete robotics based technology, which can support elderly people in their everyday life, an intelligent stroller, LEA, was developed in the project. LEA has already won several innovation prizes.