Emerging Technologies News Information Session on the 3rd Call for Proposals for the Joint AAL Programme Information Session on the 3rd Call for Proposals for the Joint AAL Programme
- 23/05/2010
On 4 June 2010, from 14:00 to 17:30, an Information Session was held on the 3rd Call for Proposals for the Joint AAL – Ambient Assisted Living Programme at LNEC – the National Civil Engineering Laboratory, Av. do Brasil, Lisbon, in the Small Auditorium alongside FCCN – the Foundation for National Scientific Computation. This session was organized by The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), with the collaboration of FCCN (see programme (text in Portuguese) which contains links to the presentations).
Participation at this informative session was free. However, given logistical requirements and the limited number of places available, those interested had to establish contact by 2 June, stating their interest in attending the session, by sending an email to the International Relations Department of UMIC at ri@umic.pt, and indicating both name and institutional affiliation.
The first announcement of this call for proposals was published on 23 April 2010. It stated that the Call for Proposals would remain open until 30 June 2010, up to 16:00 GMT. The second announcement was published on 20 May, and stated that the funds available for this 3rd Call were 54 million euro.
The theme of the Call for Proposals was “ICT Based Solutions for Advancement of Older Persons’ Independence and Participation in the “Self-Serve Society””. This Call for Proposals is designed to approve projects which enable senior citizens to maintain and improve their independence and dignity in all aspects of daily life, and actively participate in the “self-serve society”, and which enhance and support the skills needed to carry out this participation (e.g. physical and cognitive, mobility). The areas of interest for the Call for Proposals are: Living conditions and activities related to daily life – at home, on holiday, visits, and activities relating to transport and travel.
The AAL Association held an “Infoday” in Brussels on the 3rd Call for Proposals for the Joint AAL – Ambient Assisted Living Programme on 31 May 2010.
The European initiative to create new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) applications to improve the quality of life of senior citizens (AAL – Ambient Assisted Living) (involving 150 million euro), was approved at the Meeting of the Council of EU Science Ministers in November 2007, in the Competitiveness Council dedicated to research, under the Chairmanship of the Portuguese Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Mariano Gago. At the time, Portugal played a decisive role with The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC)’s involvement in viabilizing approval of the initiative at a time when technical difficulties had rendered the process unsolvable before 2009.
The AAL Programme is managed by the AAL Association, in which Portugal is represented by The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC). There are 20 Member States of the European Union and 3 Associated States participating in this programme.
The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) is the national managing body for the AAL Programme and the Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) is the corresponding Portuguese public funding body.
For more information, contact the national contact point at UMIC, Dr. Bruno Fragoso (Tel: 21 111 9600, Email: bruno.fragoso@umic.pt).