Emerging Technologies News "Infoday" in Brussels on the 3rd Call for Proposals for the AAL Joint Programme "Infoday" in Brussels on the 3rd Call for Proposals for the AAL Joint Programme
- 20/05/2010
On 31 May 2010 in Brussels, at the Marriott Hotel, Rue A Orts 3-7, an Infoday was held between 10:30 and 18:00 on the 3rd Call for Proposals for the Joint AAL – Ambient Assisted Living Programme, organised by the AAL Association, with a programme aimed at companies, R&D institutions and session for public administration bodies of the participating countries as part of the aforementioned Programme. Taking part in the Infoday was free, but required advanced registration by email as explained in the programme.
The first announcement of the 3rd Call for Proposals for the Joint AAL – Ambient Assisted Living Programme 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 was “ICT Based Solutions for Advancement of Older Persons’ Independence and Participation in the “Self-Serve Society””. This Call for Proposals was 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 were: Living conditions and activities related to daily life – at home, on holiday, visits, and activities relating to transport and travel.
The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) organized an Information Session on the 3rd Call for Proposals for the Joint AAL – Ambient Assisted Living Programme which took place on 4 June 2010, in the small auditorium alongside FCCN – the Foundation for National Scientific Computation at LNEC – the National Civil Engineering Laboratory, Av. do Brasil, in Lisbon.
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 to viabilize obtaining 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).